Did I say what I mean? Understanding the Power of words in Corporate Communication

Feb 3, 2023 India Shipping News

By Dr. Saamta Jain

Words can be like X-rays if you use them properly — they’ll go through anything.’

                                                                                                                                          — Aldous Huxley

In the corporate world, there can be illusive truths and deceptive words, and this is true even when we are into professional and corporate communication working with the most successful organization as well. In organizations, different departments work in symbiotic relationships with each other so to give the best results and outcomes. We handle good volumes of written, verbal and non-verbal communication to interact with others and to meet the business objectives. An effective and efficient communication is a key to business success. Appropriate, consistent and frequent communication- both internally with the employees and externally with the stakeholders and customers are important for Brand advocacy and Brand association. A right approach to communication builds transparency, collaboration and trust among all employees and stakeholders.

Making conscious use of correctly and rightly placed words can avoid the Freudian Slips and make the communication more official and professional. The everyday choices of communication can reveal a lot more and deeper about the characteristic of individuals, their personality and philosophy of the organization if practiced appropriately.

Power of “We” over “Me”

The partnering power is reflected when “I” gets substituted by “WE.” The use of We gives a sense of plurality and teamwork with a deep collective perspective. It proves an indication of higher quality interactions and more collaborated decision making and problem solving. These pronoun patterns reveal and surface lot about the power and status which are exhibited in real life situations.

Performance Conversations

Language in use can incite action, prompting us to dive in with excitement about our project  or the associated work. Building a performance culture through crucial conversations can lead to high energy and efficiency levels and facilitate the employees to focus on career paths and career goals through appropriate anchors. The power of words and dialogues can’t be underestimated for their impact on the morale and productivity of team.

Constructive feedbacks

Constructive Feedbacks can lead to improvement, efficiency enhancements, development and excellence. It can create a healthy environment and can stimulate growth and development. Learning to provide feedbacks is important as it can reinforce and reaffirm corrective action and helps in creating a Learning Organization and optimize growth and transformation. Acknowledging with positive affirmations can build a healthy, promotive culture with engaged leaders and associates in the team.

Avoid negative contractions

Eliminating negative words and statements from daily communication can have amplifying effect on motivation and productivity of the individuals. Leading and communicating with positive language can have more empowered and motivated employees and can lead to a fostering work culture. But we must also beware of “Toxic Positivity” which means that an over positive outlook throughout can also be dangerous and may not provide for the expected outcome always, so it is essential to have establish a balance.

Dismissal of Inhibiting language and tone

The negative impressions can be ruled out in the organization by the dismissal of the negative language and tone that are detrimental to the affirmative state of an individual and organization. These words like Can’t, this will not work, this cannot happen etc. curb the brainstorming and creativity in the organization and hinders the lateral thinking pattern in the team. This inhibitive language and the enormity can have a negative impact on the culture and growth of the organization.

Paint a Vision:

Leaders must appropriately communicate and paint their vision to the team members. A typical elevator pitch can co-create brands and a compelling story can inspire and aspire team to work towards attainment of the vision. The company’s vision statement can be a good driver of performance and well curated vision statements, crafted with words and seasoned with energy can help the team members to internalize the goals and provides the direction and guidance to the C-suite. Aligning the goals of the team with the organizational goals ascertains more cohesive approach and leads to more transparency.

Author:

Dr. Saamta Jain, CHRO, Jewelex India Pvt Ltd, Mumbai

Dr. Saamta Jain is a Psychologist and a Senior HR professional. She is an author, HR consultant and Soft skills trainer with an overall experience of 23 years across industries including academics
, logistics and currently associated with manufacturing industry in capacity of CHRO. She can be reached on drsamtaj@gmail.com