We've Tried That

Have you ever heard a leader say the words "We've tried that, it doesn't work". Are these the words of a true leader. I don't think so. I have heard that phase used a lot by people in influential positions. I have never understood why they would utter such defeat. A leader needs to utter encouragement and use gentle guidance.

Today we are looking at leadership language and how words can shape your leadership role and shape the future leaders. Uttering negative comments will defeat those around you and they won't want to offer up suggestions in the future. Your leadership and the group you lead will plateau and become stagnant.

A leader needs to offer up hope and even if an idea was tried before and didn't work that doesn't mean you don't have the players in place now to make it work. What if in baseball the manager called for a suicide squeeze (That is when a runner on third takes off during the pitch and the batter bunts the ball to hopefully score the runner) and the runner is out. Does the manager immediately say we will never try that again. No they practice make sure things are correct and try it another time.

Leaders need to be positive. In the situation described above the leader should state the challenges they had before and explain why it didn't work. Then tell their people see if you can make it work and we can revisit the idea. That is encouragement and empowerment.

In all situations the leader should follow the three E's to success.

• Engage
• Empower
• Encourage

Are speaking the language and doing these three things or are you uttering words of failure?