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How To Speak Like A Leader In A Remote World

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2020 is the year that nobody will forget in a hurry, for the impact on each one of us has been significant. From titans of industry to small business owners, frontline workers to CEOs of large organizations and university students to pre-school children, nobody has escaped the coronavirus effect. And as we reach the first anniversary of the first lockdown, we can be sure that the planet has changed, if not forever, then certainly for the foreseeable future. Because from a working perspective, we’re now in a world where more people work remotely than ever before. At best, some organizations can manage agile working, but the overriding situation is that we interact face-to-face less than ever in our working day. So the big question is, how do we lead this new landscape?

Drew Povey, a leadership expert with more than twenty years of experience in elite-level sport and education, thinks he may know the answer. “All leaders, or nearly all, are familiar with the leadership by example model. We effectively model what we want to see; behaviors, expectations, how we execute and develop excellence in our businesses.” Povey continues, “All leaders that use this technique are endeavoring to, according to Gandhi,’ Be the change you want to see.’” In a remote or agile working world, however, this tactic is at least partly removed. So, what are leaders to do?”

It’s a good question. And over the past 12 months, Povey has refined some powerful leadership phrases that allow leaders to take back some control in a remote world, which are as follows.

What do you think?

This is extremely powerful and can draw people into conversations and encourage them to think more deeply about an issue. Though the key to this language is that it’s empowering, but be warned – once you ask the question, you have to actually be prepared to listen and take the view onboard! By allowing your people to share their thoughts, you will learn a lot about them, but the onus is on you as a leader to listen and learn about where your people are. Povey believes that this language also encourages people to drop the 1980s notion of the Hero Leader, who can see, know and do all, and instead show demonstrate no one can know everything about everything all of the time. And the perfect language combo? Twinning ‘I don’t know’ with ‘what do you think’ – this is particularly powerful.

Thank you

This is the language of appreciation. Business author Tom Peters encourages leaders to say ‘thank you’ to ten people by 10:00 am every day. But there are a couple of points to bear in mind about this. Firstly, make sure that it’s genuine appreciation and thankfulness, which is the difference between praise and flattery according to Dale Carnegie. Secondly, some people wonder if gratitude could become too much, so on this point, Povey concludes that maybe it could. But really, how many people do you know that finish a long day at work, arrive home and say to their loved ones; ‘Do you know what? I’m sick and tired of being appreciated at work’? This was probably said by no one ever!”

We

This is a key part of plural pronouns’ power and has always been of vital importance, in Povey’s opinion, but never more so than now in our remote working landscape. From the latest Gallup research, we can see that employees feel more unheard, more unseen, more disconnected and less part of the company culture than ever before. Therefore, using words like ‘we’, ‘us’ and ‘our’ can help people feel part of and think like a team. Povey even goes as far as to suggest wholly or significantly eradicating the use of ‘I’, ‘you’, and ‘them’. If we want a team, we have to talk team.

Having considered Povey’s ideas, we must be cautious and remember that the language we use can make or break people, cause our teams to fly or fall, or the ship to sink or sail. In conclusion, Povey says, “The (above) Language of Leadership has been road-tested and has proven to be useful for leaders when having to navigate this complex Covid era. So keep leading through the power of language and seize that remote control!”

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