Tweet

Mind Your Language!

Written by: Sean McPheat

Article Overview: In this article you will learn how to mind your language.

Mind Your Language!

Growing up in the 70's and 80's I always remember that my Nan always used to love watching a comedy programme called "Mind Your Language".

For those of you who do not remember the show it was about a night school class that taught English to ethnic minorities.

For those of you who do remember the show you are showing your age along with me!

Thinking back about the show I don't think you would get away with airing the programme now in our very politically correct environment.

The reason why I mentioned that is because I was driving back home from Capital One Bank in Nottingham having just had a successful one on one coaching session and I was reviewing over in my mind what we had just covered.

We were talking about the language patterns that he was using when communicating to people and how to improve this.

I said to him "You need to mind your language!" and hence I thought of that show!

Now, it's not language as in swearing or slang or anything like that.

The language I mean is the intensity of the words that you use.

Let me give you an example from the session:

My client said to me that he wanted to talk about how good his team were to his boss and what their current workloads were like so that he could ask for an additional member of staff.

"I'm going to show him all of the work we complete and what achievements we have made and then I am going to ask him to attend an issues meeting with me to discuss the additional headcount"

"Issues meeting?" I said "That sounds like trouble to me?"

"Oh no" replied the client "I just want to go over my plan of what additional resource we need and why"

"So why are you calling it an issues meeting?" I said "Issues to me mean problems and BIG PROBLEMS at that"

"I don't view issues as problems" said the client

"I appreciate that, but I DO and your boss might do as well"

The learning from that example:

You need to be very careful with the terminology that you use when communicating with people.

What do issues mean to you?

Small problems?

Big problems?

A challenge?

Niggly problems?

There are no right or wrong answers here It all depends on the meaning that you give to the word.

You see, if I were asked to an issues meeting I would think that we are going to cover some major issues!!!

If I were asked to attend "A meeting to discuss resourcing" I would know why I was attending and would have some idea of what we would be covering.

Let me give you an additional example of where the use of the wrong word can lead to all sorts of assumptions!

Many years ago, just before I set up MTD Ltd, I was project manager for a new company launch. Everything went so smoothly it was too good to be true and to be honest I was the talking point of the company of how well the team had done under my leadership.

The Chief Exec flew over from Canada and sat me down to review what I had done.

"Yes, well done" he said "You did a reasonable job"

At that point I had to bite my lip!

"REASONABLE?" I thought "Is that all he can say REASONABLE?"

I was so angry it was unreal!!

"What sort of a word is reasonable?" I thought afterwards

Reasonable to me was never good enough, reasonable was not even a good job to me.

Well, to cut a long story short, I went to one of the break out areas for a "calming down coffee" and proceeded to tell one of my fellow Directors what had just happened who replied with..

"Reasonable? Is that what he said Sean?"

"Yes!" I said in a really miffed voice

"You got a reasonable out of MR X? - WOW, you must have done an awesome job! He never gives praise to anyone and when he says reasonable it's the equivalent of AWESOME to us"

And with that I learned a lesson and I would like you to learn the same lesson as well.....

MIND YOUR LANGUAGE!

Be careful with the words that you personally use and be mindful of the words that others use to you.

What does good mean to you?

What does excellent mean to you?

What about reasonable?!

By saying the right words with the right tonality and inflection in your voice you can literally move mountains or start wars within your company.

And on that note, all that's left to be said is to have a great day.............if great means anything to you that is?

Related Articles
  The Language Of Music - A Form Of Musical Communication
  Stop Negative Self Talk Now!
  Careful: Your Words Might Say More Than You Think
  Person First Language
  Special Alert! Announcing Special New Sales Closing Incentive To Make Black Friday Sales, Every Day Sales

Article Tags:



Related Forum Posts
Re: New McDonalds McCafe concept... - When it comes to Japanese service and quality control, I tend to take it for granted... until I return to Britain! Mind you, when it comes to cafes... You can't beat a good old British tea shop!
Big Button! - Hey Evan, there's a big button bottom right! Mind you, it's always interesting when people miss what might seem obvious to others - how many others might be in the same boat? So it's always great value to consider all feedback! Personally, I liked the button, yet perhaps it could be a bit brighter maybe...
Re: What the Best CEOs Know by Jeffrey Krames - [quote="ideasuniversity":w31gke82]Where can I get this book? Two of my mentors are in the book[/quote:w31gke82] I would check where ever you normally buy books. I checked Amazon and they have new, used and Kindle editions. These are the book details - # Paperback: 250 pages # Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (September 19, 2005) # Language: English # ISBN-10: 007146252X # ISBN-13: 978-0071462525 Lots of great content and lots of useful info. Shri
Re: Books for the Entrepreneur - I like "A Whole New Mind" by Daniel Pink, and "Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape our Decisions" by Dan Ariely.
Re: Soul Crushing Cubicles - There are lots of "crushing cubicles" in Japan too! Last Saturday I had three hours to kill in town and rented a cubicle in a cyber-cafe, drank coffee, checked my email and snoozed in the reclining chair. Very pleasant! But for some people cyber-cafe cubicles are their only homes. Another "crushing cubicle" experience is a "capsule" in a "capsule hotel". The guy in the first photo reminded me of the kind of desk space occupied by some "ALTs" (Assistant Language Teacher) in Japan. Japanese school staffroom desks are notorious for being cluttered with junk and endless piles of papers and forms. I was a part time ALT for a while and enjoyed the experience - but full time? No thank you!


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Are You Fulfilled

Why Marketing Outsourcing is Growing So Quickly

The Pure FUN of Learning & Using NLP

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.