Leadership Is Language: The Hidden Power of What You Say and What You Don't

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You’ve just engaged in the two primary modes of human activity: thinking and doing. You thought about where you wanted to go, and then you went. In your private life, you switch between these modes several times a day. Everybody does. But in the working world, most of us are categorized as either thinkers or doers. That’s because most companies are still run according to models developed in the Industrial Age. The concept of management that emerged in the nineteenth century focused on command and control principles. Managing entailed planning and implementing strategies, tactics, and policies from the top down. Later studies made a distinction between "managing tasks" and "managing people." Managers need to influence people to achieve objectives, which is a leadership skill. Flatten the power gradient – to create a culture in which people feel safe enough to dissent, to be confused, and to admit mistakes. The power gradient is “the amount of social distance there is between one person and another” (p. 220) and manifests through the censoring of information.

Leadership is Language: The Hidden Power of What You Say

It's unclear why nine minutes passed before this conversation finally took place. Either way, when it was activated, the blowout preventer did not operate properly and failed to seal the well. The subsequent investigation revealed problems with the assembly and maintenance of the device, including dead batteries and mis-wired coils. The delay in attempting to seal the well may have been a contributing factor to the disaster. With the well unsealed, the oil and gas mixture was able to flow rapidly to the platform, feeding the existing fire. Eleven people died. Over the next four hundred days, 5 million barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico, making the Deepwater Horizon oil spill one of the worst environmental disasters in history. In a complex, fast-changing world, long-term survival is more about adaptation than achievement” (p. 287). The red-blue operating system gives organizations and leaders the tools to adapt. Let’s imagine an alternate reality in which the crew of El Faro felt psychologically safe enough to question the captain’s decision. In this scenario, the captain took the time to meet with his first mate before departure. “I’m excited you’re on the team,” he told her. “Our differences in age and gender probably mean we’ll bring different perspectives to the table. I encourage you to share your opinions, and I commit to listening to what you have to say.” We need to always remember that the organization is perfectly tuned to deliver the behavior we see, and people's behaviors are the perfect result of the organization's design. As individuals, we should embrace our responsibility for being the best we can be within the design of the organization. But as leaders, our responsibility is to design the organization so that individuals can be the best versions of themselves.

What does a book published in 1911 about steel mill management have to do with the 2017 Academy Awards fiasco? Why are so many airplane crashes ultimately attributed to poor communications between pilot and copilot? Theories of 'ethical leadership' started emerging after the financial crisis of 2008. They emphasise the need for core values and a sense of purpose. Ethical and people-centred leadership became even more important during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Leadership is Language: The Hidden Power of What You Sa… Leadership is Language: The Hidden Power of What You Sa…

In his book David gives six plays that all leaders should use to improve how their teams operate. He says a big problem with leaders today is that they are trapped in an industrial-age playbook. In the industrial age leaders gave commands and employees followed, and that was it. But that way of leading is no longer effective, it is outdated. Performance management is going through a renaissance,” Sandhir told Business News Daily. “The importance of that conversation and how it’s done [is changing]. It was typically one-sided, judging individuals based on numbers. But neuroscience research on how the brain reacts to conversations shows that [this communication style] can trigger a threat response.” All hands" is an old nautical term referring to getting every crewman up to pull on a heavy line. It was, literally, about using your hands. The words were false comfort designed to keep people on task, conforming to their roles, and continuing course. Are the questions you ask your people making them comply or providing them with the energy to drive discretionary effort? We’ll explore the Seven Sins of questioning next blog.They were in prove mode when they should have been in improve mode. This was a result of being in a can-do mode when they should have been in a can-think mode. ROSS, S. (2019) Why some talented leaders succeed while others derail. Human Resources (online). March. pp38-40. We all seem to be agreeing on x - before we make a final decision, let's flip to What would be the case for not doing x? What could be bad about it?' Overall, I found "Leadership Is a Language" to be a compelling and enlightening read. Marquet's writing style is engaging and accessible, and his personal anecdotes and case studies bring the concepts to life. Over the years, different descriptors and signals have evolved to describe each group: leaders and followers, salaried and hourly, white-collar and blue-collar. The primary – and totally arbitrary – difference between them? One group is charged with making the decisions, and the other with executing them.

Language Sunk the El Faro – Leadership is Language How Language Sunk the El Faro – Leadership is Language

When teams are prone to continuing, plan a pause and run The Complete Play. This will allow teams to switch to bluework. They can assess their redwork and decide to continue or not (pp. 252-254). They continued following a monolithic plan to take the Atlantic route when they should have completed one section at a time—to the first decision point at the top of the Bahamas and then to the second decision point at Rum Cay. Dan Pinkonce said, "at some level, leadership is about creating other leaders." Yet, it is still not clear if leaders can be developed and how. What qualities and competences make an effective leader? And how can organisations foster such qualities in their employees? The real-life example of how David changed his leadership style while captaining a nuclear submarine Give the pause a name – to make sure employees know how to call a pause. The pause could be called a “time-out,” saying “hands-off,” or raising a yellow card or a hand (p. 91). A pause is “practicing resilience.” And “there are no unnecessary pauses. Regardless of whether it turns out the pause was justified, every pause is necessary to establish a culture in which people are comfortable raising their hands” (p. 92).Listen carefully when people ask questions, express concerns, even if it's not forcefully done. They may be hesitant because they are getting the message that the decision is already made.