It’s often the small details that separate great leaders from good leaders in business. One of the most important leadership skills you can have is understanding the impact of your language. When providing feedback, we need to be aware of our choice of words, and understand how these sound.
Leadership with Empathy for Business Owners
People-skills are an essential skill for business owners to have in 2023. Empathy is needed to manage your team and help them grow in the most healthy way. This allows your business to grow in the process.
By understanding how your team is feeling – whether they are stressed and feeling overworked, whether they feel they are not getting the support they need, etc – you can learn the most effective ways to get the most out of them. This won’t just be beneficial for your business as a whole, but individuals as well. A team of well-supported people who have a leadership team that’s empathetic to their problems will buy into their work far more than a team who feel due consideration isn’t being given to them. A happy, progressive team will only attract more high-quality employees who want to work in such an environment!
People Management and Language
An empathetic leader in business is aware of the impact their language has on their team. I often discuss this with my clients in coaching sessions, and a word that comes up in our conversations time and time again is “but”. This might seem like a small, insignificant thing to focus on, but look at the following example to see the impact of “but”.
“Jimmy, that presentation was great. It was well paced and to the point, but it lacked substance”.
Do you see what “but” does to the sentence? It takes away from the praise that precedes it and instead the focus goes to the negative at the end. For Jimmy, it’s likely that the praise will not have an impact at all.
It is not easy to give balanced, constructive feedback without using words like “but”. However, it’s not impossible! By giving a bit of thought and being mindful of what we are saying, we can easily avoid offending or upsetting people by drawing too much attention to the negatives.
As a Glasgow-based business coach, I’m used to, shall we say, “colourful” language being used! But this is also something that business owners and people in management positions should be aware of. Different people react in different ways, and it wouldn’t be hard for someone to take it the wrong way.
Creating a Good Working Environment
People expect to be supported by their employer today. Empathy is needed on the behalf of the management within a business – from owners to team leaders – to cultivate a happy, healthy working environment. How someone feels they are being talked to by their manager has a massive influence on their happiness within the workplace. So, it’s important that your choice of words don’t belittle your team or come across as overly harsh when providing feedback – even if that is not the intention.
In short, being empathetic towards our team and understanding the impact our words have on them is a vital part of people-management in 2023. The small details go a long way, and the words we use contribute towards the overall working environment. So, say back to yourself some of the things you say to your team. Are you mindful of your choice of words? Or are there things you could rephrase to provide more effective communication and generate a happy workplace?
See my leadership and management training to learn more about skills that will improve your business.
