I believe our language patterns have the power to influence two things: what we see and how we feel. This, in turn, influences the results we get!

Our words have the ability to hypnotize our view of reality and the opportunities that actually do exist.

I remember recently browsing through the pantry looking for the salt and after looking for a good 10 seconds I began saying ‘its not here, I can’t see it, it’s definitely not here’. It wasn’t until my wife physically came over and grabbed it off the top shelf that it appeared to be there. Have you ever had one of those experiences?

Our language patterns also have the ability to shift the climate of our emotions.

Repeat the following words out loud to yourself: angry, sad, tired, depressed, lonely, you’re terrible, it’s not working, I’m a failure, disaster, chaos, incompetent people… All these words and phrases carry negative energy that is transmitted via our emotions and shifts the culture and energy within any gathering of people. We block our creativity and opportunities for insight when we feel stressed, fearful or threatened.

A common workplace scenario where teams communicate from a passive or problem focused state can sound a bit like this: “This whole project has been a complete disaster; why couldn’t everyone just do their jobs properly? We could have easily avoided this problem!”

This type of passive communication not only heightens stress in the work environment but it also empowers the problem instead of creating solutions. We get what we focus on and what we focus on we feel. Words that empower a problem usually begin with ‘why’ – ‘Why is she like this?’… ‘Why can’t we find good people?’… ‘Why is our team not performing?’.

High performing teams must master a language of leadership and elevate the power of words by staying proactive and not reactive. This is important because it sets the environment to empower a situation.

Teams that avoid problems are different to those that focus on excellence.

I’m curious how could your team think through situations and problems in a proactive way instead of a reactive way for their next big project?

I would love to hear your thoughts about some of the challenges your team overcame by staying proactive and asking powerful, solution focused questions …