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3 Changes of Expression to Change Your Business Forever

  By Christina Lattimer • July 6, 2014 - 3:21 pm ,

 

BusinessBusiness “Speak” Can Close Down Employees

My son had a bit of an “Aha moment” at the weekend.  He has been struggling with motivation, which isn’t uncommon for a 17 year old with his life before him and a multitude of opportunities to choose from.

We were sitting in the car and he was talking about going to University.  Of course, being practical I trotted out my singular mantra “You only want to go and get £36k + in debt if you know what you want to do”.  Little did I realise my flippant and black and white logic was actually paralysing him from moving forward.

His “Aha moment” was when he realised that my tunnel vision type logic was flawed.  It sounds so simple, but he figured out he could still plan to go to University, go on visits, work towards it etc., but it didn’t mean by doing so, he had to close down his options to do something else, when decision time came.  He figured out that actually if he worked hard and got good results it would hold him in good stead either for Uni, a good job, and to start up a business if he wanted to.

After he realised this freedom, there was a definite spring in his step which made me realise how inadvertently I had been shutting him down from keeping his options open.  I was mystified why it was such a big “Aha moment” for him.  It hit me like a big sledgehammer that I already assumed he was keeping his options open, but that the language and way I expressed my concerns made him think I expected him to make a decision now.

The incident with my son, made me think about some of the common expressions and practices we use at work from a business perspective and how instead of motivating excellence or great business outcomes, they actually leave employees strapped into a culture of “business speak”, and “norms” of behaviour, leaving them feeling as if their hands are tied, or even worse maintaining a trance-like approach to these practices.   Of course, like the incident with my son, leaders often assume their people understand that they don’t literally mean what they say.  However, in my experience, that’s not always the case.

Here are some of the most common and badly interpreted names and expressions for business practices which can close down thinking and help maintain the status quo.  With some imagination, the way these practices are expressed can help keep minds and conversations open.

  1.  Holding a Performance Review/Appraisal

This much maligned business practice has got such a poor reputation, with connotations of a mechanical approach to giving feedback that any business leader who really wants to make a difference, must think again.  Even if the practice is good, the mere naming it of a performance appraisal or review simply dulls the brain.  Find an alternative way to express the one-to-one time a manager has with his team.  Make the process a continuous dialogue, and have milestones which enhance the way managers interact with their team.  Call them “Driving up performance” sessions” or “How you contribute” meetings”, or even just “One-to-one time”.  Of course it doesn’t matter what you call the sessions if they are mechanical tick box exercises, but by naming these valuable times with employees something meaningful, it can help people see just how important they are.

  1. Business Planning Cycle

This expression implies an especially tedious routine for people who simply hate planning.  For people who enjoy planning, it implies a process related way of approaching the business, in a set formula which might bear no resemblance to the actual issues in hand.   Replacing the traditional business planning cycle with some inspirational language can transform the whole approach to business planning.   Make the coming year a journey, with a story attached to it.  Make it interesting, amusing and exciting.  Alternative ideas could be “Our Journey of Success For 2015”, or “Involving All for Success ….”, or even “Continually improving xxx during….”    Story telling can excite and catch the imagination of your people.

  1. Achieving Results

I would love a £1 for every time I’ve heard an employee tell me the biggest problem with an organisation is their focus on results and targets to the exclusion of other things that matter in a business.  Of course, businesses have to achieve results, but at this time when ethical and values based leadership is becoming more essential, the goal posts have changed.  While any good business leader will of course understand that good business is about a multitude of factors, they may be inadvertently stifling other successes because their language is all about “Achieving Results”.   Instead of simply focusing on results, focus on “Achieving Brilliant Outcomes”,  “Our meaningful Impacts”, or even “Delivering on our Customer Success Criteria”.  Find ways to celebrate success which harnesses the conceptual and emotional sides to your customers and people.

It’s time to become aware of our propensity to close down innovation, creativity, inclusion and participation, and think again.  Next time my son talks about his future, I would simply say “Just do your best, it will all become apparent, and keep your options open”.

Do you have any pet expressions you think close people down in the workplace?  Or have you or your organisation found inspirational alternatives to standard business -speak?

 

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It’s Only Words

  By Christina Lattimer • August 1, 2013 - 6:41 pm
Very powerful but it’s only words

I’ve been hearing a lot of speeches and conversations lately particularly from leaders of companies, organizations, and political candidates. They all got me thinking about language and what a powerful influence for good, bad, or indifferent words can have, how they can stick or simply slide away.

I recently published my eBook on the topic of communicating in today’s market and I must say that I have learned a few revealing truths during the process. I also changed the format a few times. Writing about words and how they should or should not be used can get, for lack of a better word, wordy.

We’ve all heard that it’s not what you say but how you say it and choosing words carefully for best effect can be more productive; best to be succinct and get to the point. This can be easier said than done, particularly when what we say is often linked to our egos, fear, expectations, and past experiences. It’s also interesting to note the statistical fact that 55%-80% of all human interactions are nonverbal. This means that our gestures and movements, no matter how subtle, can provide more impact than a spoken word.

They can also reveal whether we’re lying or not. Having knowledge of body language and being a keen observer can save a lot of wasted time and heartache but, being the emotional addicts that we are, we tend to have selective hearing and choose to believe what we need to at any given time.

Words can make us cry, laugh, make us angry, upset our world and change our lives. They trigger our psyches for better or worse and how we respond is usually based on the past, our fear of failure, our need for acceptance. If we allow them in, words can fool us, diminish our accomplishments, humiliate, and cause great stress. They can also lift us to new heights, provide hope, motivate us, reinvent our attitudes, and create great possibility.

 

 

 

 

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If you are a leader, you are continually developing and "Sharpening the Saw".  If you lead and manage teams, then you must read about our Inspirational New Leadership Programme.  Sign up now to find out more details when we launch in July 2014.  There is no obligation to undertake the programme, if you sign up today, you will simply be sent more information about the programme.  You can unsubscribe at any time!  Click below to register for further information.

   
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Are Your Relationships on Purpose?

  By Guest Post • May 24, 2012 - 6:44 pm

Welcome to our latest Guest Blogger.  David Klaasen is an inspirational coach, facilitator and trainer, specialising in profitability, high performance and people and solutions.   We met on-line fairly recently after “bumping” into each other in our respective social media communities!  We quickly realised we shared some common ideas.  David very kindly agreed to give me a review of my latest E BOOK – The 6 Secrets of Great Emotional Intelligence – For Inspirational Leaders and Managers. His help was invaluable.  Below he examines relationships in the workplace and whether they are purposeful or not.  A great post.  Thank You David!

 Are your relationships ‘On Purpose’?

Every relationship has a purpose but all too often it is unspoken, undefined and ambiguous.  When things are going well we naturally assume that our purpose is aligned and there is a good mutual understanding.  However this allows many interpretations and both parties may have completely differing views and expectations of the relationship. 

When a shift of personal priorities or external pressure begins to affect the relationship things can become fraught, especially if there is a lack of clarity about the fundamental purpose.

While it is fascinating to look into how this affects personal and intimate relationships, this blog focuses on relationships in a work context.  However I will invite you to reflect on all the relationships in your life as you read on!

Over the many years that I have been coaching and advising clients, I have met a number of Directors who feel totally ‘betrayed’ when a senior manager decides to resign; did they have an unrealistic expectation that the manager was as ‘wedded’ to the long term success of business as they were? (As in ‘until death us do part’!)

I’ve also met Managers who believe that the purpose of their employer is to further their career and financial aspirations, and who then complain when they have to put in a few extra hours to fulfil the responsibilities that they do not enjoy, or do some learning out of normal hours.

Just fix our staff!

Back in the mid 1990’s when I was Training and Development Manager at the Waldorf hotel in London the managers thought the purpose of my relationship with them was to ‘fix’ their staff.  If someone was underperforming they would send them on one of my courses and then expect them to suddenly be 100% competent without considering the need to change their own management style or behaviour (which was often part of the problem).

It took a few years to change the culture and the managers’ understanding of the real purpose of their own relationship with staff.  But just after I left the Hotel to go walkabout in India and Nepal for 3 months, the Waldorf was re-recognised as an Investor in People.  It was nice to know that the managers did it all by themselves.  They had become clear about the purpose of their relationship with their staff; to Lead, Manage and Develop them.

What is the purpose of the important relationships in your work (and in your personal life)?  Are you able to define it?  Would your definition match how the others in the relationship define it?  I invite you to explore this and if you want some tips on how to do it see below.

Check out what’s really important

Asking about or discussing the purpose of a relationship can seem like ‘indulgent navel-gazing’ and might get you some strange looks, so it is not a great way to start a conversation.

It is much easier to explore what is important to someone in a given context.  Most people can easily respond to a remark like; “I was just wondering  . . . what’s most important for you at work . . .”

Their answer is a way for them to describe their ‘criteria’ or ‘values’ in that context.  Our values are like ‘Hot buttons’.  If they get mentioned we cannot help but have an emotional response.  Just ask anyone with teenagers – they have a natural talent for pressing parent’s hot buttons in a variety of contexts!

Some other questions that uncover their values in a particular context are:

  • What has to be there?
  • What can’t you do without?
  • What’s important to you?
  • What would you like to be there?
  • What really matters?

Being able to identify what someone values at work (or in any other context) can provide you with a very powerful way to motivate them by relating what you are discussing (or what you want to achieve) to their hot buttons.  These are particularly useful questions to ask during recruitment.

People usually get very engaged and motivated when you start to discuss what is most important to them.  It makes them feel listened to.  It is then easier to explore how you can help them achieve more of what they want and avoid what they don’t want.  This in turn begins to touch on the purpose of your relationship and you can begin to discuss or agree a mutually beneficial purpose.

Relating on purpose

Once the real purpose of a relationship is clear it becomes possible to challenge, explore and help one another grow.  In a working context it can mean the difference between having a fractious or difficult relationship and one that may not necessarily be easy, but respectful and genuinely helpful.

On a personal level if there is an upset in a relationship it is just a signal that there is a misalignment of values.  By clarifying expectations and what is important to you (and them) it can take a lot of heat out of the situation and enable deeper understanding, empathy and the removal of unhelpful judgments.

If knowing what really motivates you and the people you work with is important to you, and you would like to find out more about how to identify their key drivers, .

If you have any particular questions about this blog post or any other communication issues why not drop me a line by .

Remember  . . . stay curious!

[message type="custom" width="100%" start_color="#FFFCB5" end_color="#F4CBCB" border="#BBBBBB" color="#333333"] About David Klaasen:  Ten years of intense experience in the furnace of Michelin starred kitchens has given David a very practical and pragmatic approach to HR issues.  After 24 years of working strategically with demanding clients his focus is on profitability and high performance at all levels of the business while ensuring there are robust foundations in place to motivate and help people succeed.  His website is www.InspiredWorking.com


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Join us on this amazing journey!

This great article is from the our 6 months themed series based on the Centre for Creative Leaderships Report of 2013, in which they identified the 6 top challenges for leaders across the globe:   Don't Miss Out! Sign up here to be notified of subsequent issues and posts

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If you are a leader, you are continually developing and "Sharpening the Saw".  If you lead and manage teams, then you must read about our Inspirational New Leadership Programme.  Sign up now to find out more details when we launch in July 2014.  There is no obligation to undertake the programme, if you sign up today, you will simply be sent more information about the programme.  You can unsubscribe at any time!  Click below to register for further information.