What Is Your Leadership Language?

Every organization has a language by which they communicate their true beliefs. The leaders, the employees, even how the customer talks about the organization make a significant impact on the moral and future opportunities. How we talk determines how things end up. Words have creative power and they have destructive power. They have the ability to shape the culture and mind-set…good…or bad. It is one of the most overlooked and underestimated force that can literally make or break an organization’s effectiveness. Changing the way you talk can change the outcome of your future.

There is a distinct difference between how highly successful companies talk and how highly dysfunctional companies talk. In fact, if I were to spend one day with your team I would easily be able to tell you the future potential of the organization based on how they communicate.

Let me tell you how unsuccessful companies talk. You will hear these phrases commonly used.

• We don’t have what it takes to grow.
• There isn’t enough time in the day to get done what needs to get done.
• I cannot take on one more thing.
• We are doing enough!
• People drive me crazy.
• I am so sick of how we do things.
• I cannot wait till the weekend.
• It’s good enough.
• People don’t care, it’s not that big of deal.
• I’m so tired of dealing with problems.
• I am not going to do that, it’s not in my job description.
• I wish people would pick up their slack around here, I’m tired of carrying them.
• If I have to deal with one more customer today I am going to walk-out.

Notice all these phrases are what I call “Language Limitations.” They are all built around what can’t be done, why it won’t work, how hard it is, and when we can quit. This type of language absolutely sabotages an organization. In literally eats it away like a cancer from the inside out. When your team is always looking for how to make things smaller than they can be, it becomes a toxic wasteland that limits EVERYTHING. Just the other day I was with an organization that was filled with people who constantly used negative, worn-out, limiting language. And guess what? The company is struggling because it is filled with poisonous beliefs. The way someone talks reveals the way they live.

However, companies that are life-breathing, life-giving, and limitless are the ones who are going somewhere. You can spend just a few hours with them and you will be energized by the excitement, passion, and vision they speak about. They say things like…

• We are going to move forward.
• I’ll figure out how to get more time or free up time.
• I figure out how to make it happen.
• Let’s not settle for where we’re at.
• People are our greatest asset.
• We have great strengths and we have some things we are going to improve.
• I love what I do.
• It will work…but can we make it better?
• Let’s offer the best of what I’ve got and what we’ve got.
• Let’s work together and figure out how to compliment each other.
• I appreciate our customer base, they are why we exist.

Notice the language is a can-do type of belief. You will never find a successful person who uses limiting language to describe their life and their work. They will communicate the good. Great organizations talk about what they can do to get better, not what they can do to settle. A great leader has to shape the language dialect in their organization. They have to model positive language and eradicate limiting language that is destructive.

Every organization has a language…what is yours? How does your team speak about tasks? People? Co-Workers? Customers? Bosses? Systems? Opportunities? Start to take notice of how people choose to use their words. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. What is your organization speaking?