This Leadership Asset Is the Key to Building a Team of Peak Performers
Craft masterful language to catalyze the champion qualities within your team
Source | www.entrepreneur.com | Malachi Thompson
As a leader, your mission is to develop and sustain a dynamite team that can achieve performance and deliver results yet unseen. Heavy pressure is upon you to bring brand new, unconventional ideas, which inspire your team to greatness. Gone are the days where you were only expected to impress those who hired you. Your team members are really the ones whose trust, respect and loyalty you need to earn and gain. You have to act fast.
To achieve quick wins, we often look to slice, dice, improve systems and radical ideas. However, there is a key under-used asset we have at our fingertips which can unite and accelerate performers to achieve dynamic results in a heartbeat — our language.
We communicate thousands of words every day. In fact, research from the University of Maryland has reported women use three times as many of these than men. However, we fail to capitalize on the powerful influence our words can have when chosen wisely, delivered at the right time, in the right way. To unleash your team’s potential, here are four key ways you can craft masterful language to catalyze the champion qualities within it.
1. Apply the winning combination of positive psychology + growth mindset.
Errors and mistakes stick out like a sore thumb. When the finger is pointed in blame, people feel guilt, shame and embarrassment and will likely avoid trying again than risk experiencing repeat humiliation. Positive psychology approaches are proving not only to be more powerful, but more enjoyable as they actively recognize and capitalize on individuals’ strengths and potential. It is easier to point out where your team has gone wrong, but when you create conversations that also explore what your people enjoy, what energizes them and what they find effortless, the positive flow-on effect is exponential:
