[luciferous]

Forget the other replies. The key to avoiding social awkwardness is all about broadcasting your expectations, and reading (then responding to) others' expectations.

Socially awkward people tend to be poor broadcasters of what they expect from others, similarly they tend to be poor at reading what others expect from them.

If you want to be less socially awkward, you must communicate your expectations to others. Look at yourself in the mirror and make sure your face and body language are communicating what you intended.

Once you've learned this, you'll see that the real problem is how to deal with people who communicate their expectation of you for a response that you don't want to give.

[ChrisMac]

I'm not sure what you mean. Can you give an example of an expectation that someone would need to broadcast to others?

[luciferous]

Let's bring back the example in the parent: you see a coworker down the hall, wave, then walk towards him only to pass him awkwardly. In this scenario, the wave coupled with walking towards a person sends a signal like "I have something to say to you." The awkwardness is caused because there was an expectation set up that was not what you intended. Also, the next time he sees you down the hallway he'll feel like he has to wave since that is what you did before.

Instead, consider this: just ignore the guy, if he waves or says Hi, just nod while you pass him. It might seem rude/dismissive at first, but if you have no underlying reason for malice and you can prove that at a subsequent interaction (e.g. conversation at a water cooler) then what you'll have done is set up an expectation that you don't want to be bothered when you're walking from point A to point B.