- October 27, 2017
- Posted by: portkeyseo
- Categories: conversational intelligence, culture, emotional intelligence, leadership, Uncategorized, workplace communication
Work culture’s an important thing. It’s usually invisible, outside of conscious awareness – but it effects everything! What we understand, who we trust, whether we love our work or hate it, even what we believe about ourselves and our place at work.
It can be the difference between going to work fully engaged, eager to contribute, looking forward to being there – and showing up to do the minimum, furtively looking for another job. Which kind of culture do you have?
Conversations – how we talk to each other – can make all the difference. Our words can trigger different reactions – some toward trust & engagement, some toward fear and anxiety. We’re often not fully aware of the effects of our words. One of my students was writing about a pretty toxic workplace culture, where the Boss was telling everyone what to do and everyone disagreed, felt disempowered, and was shutting down – and then sealed it with “I’ll interpret your silence as agreement.” Words create meaning, and this was an absolute dominance move, enforcing that the Boss has all the power. Can you imagine the effect on the employees’ engagement?
And it doesn’t take a huge effort. Leaders don’t have to become transformational leaders. Changing isn’t about showing up completely different – it can be as simple as “Say more of this…” and “Say less of that…” Not a 180-degree shift (at least, not all at once).
At the lunch at BBB, we’re going to try out some things, to see what reactions they trigger. Should be fun! Everyone will have a list, based on their own and others’ experience, of phrases that tend to create positive and negative.
There’s still space available, if you’d like to join us just click here.
