On Monday we presented an idea that everyone knows but not everyone practices with intention and attention: Words have Power. We talked about the frequency of disempowerment in words; in today’s Quick Tips we present using words to empower to achieve positive results.
There are two critical ingredients to communicating effectively to employees: what you say and what you do. Neither stands alone. Words without action are either lies or false promises; actions without words fall short of effective communication because actions alone are open to interpretation – some of which may not be favorable (based on the perceiver).
Effective communication starts with well thought out (aka: intentional) words that frame your intended message. And equally important to what you say, is how you say it (your tone and corresponding body language), and how often you say it—meaning your consistency if needs to be a repeatable/reinforced message.
For example, if you want to get your team to focus on improving your contribution margin, you must:
- Explain what you want to do (the “what” factor)
- Explain why you want to do it – what you stand to gain (the “so what” factor)
- Discuss risks and consequences of not doing it (more “so what”…)
- Provide examples of how it can be done and any relevant guidelines
(the “what next or now what” factor)
Then you must repeat this message in meetings (both group and one-on-one), in conversations with employees, in your newsletter, emails and other forms of internal communications. We often tell our clients that when you are tired of saying the same thing over and over again, the staff is just beginning to hear you. Exaggerated, perhaps a little, but less than you may think.
And, three general tips to empowerment language are:
- Be focused and concise in your use of words – don’t’ use filler language-fluff- or ramble with unnecessary stories
- Be honest and transparent (hidden agenda’s will surface and create distrust)
- Stay on the “high road” with appropriate, professional, and respectful and courteousness in your word choice—simply stated; be neutral or positive vs negative in word selection to reduce defensiveness in your receivers and potential offensiveness by/of you!
In addition to the words (which is all you’ve done so far), you must take action. You must identify actions that will achieve the desired result – improve contribution margin – then implement those actions. And as the leader you, personally, cannot make exceptions for you or your team, you must lead from the front. You must be taking actions everyday to demonstrate ways to improve the contribution margin. Then you must be talking about it and reinforcing it through words and your consistency in behavior.
It’s like a circle. You explain what you want to do, why you want to do it, you do it, and then you reinforce through words what you’ve done and explain it again.
If you behave like we described above, your future words will have more power and more meaning because it will become clear to your employees that you mean what you say.
Copyright 2010 Kubica and LaForest
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