We have been facilitating a large number of leadership programs over the last month. Participants have been asked to explore and challenge themselves around the language they use when engaging in conversations.
Conscious effort to be more constructive in the language chosen has created different impacts for most people – like dropping “but” and replacing it with “and”; removing “why” questions and instead asking people to “tell me more about………………what happened to get you to that place”.
Changing the language creates greater engagement, encourages openness and has people wanting to collaborate to achieve high performance.
For a whole day notice your language choices – do you build on what people say or do you look to find flaws and critique? Your language is highly responsible for the impact you create – so make the right choices for the kind of leader you want to be.
