If you are the leader, then you are the most important person in this situation, right?
The others are just followers. They have their skills and their uses – you’d be the first to acknowledge that. But, bottom line, you are the leader, the one who has the ideas, the vision, who holds the whole thing together. so it’s all about you, your vision, your plans. When they succeed , it will be your success.
In the first 73 words of this I’ve used the words ‘you or ‘your’ 8 times. More than one word in ten is about ‘you’. Did it make you feel that you are focal to what this article is about?
That is the feeling you want your people to have when you are speaking to them. People will not think that the talk you are giving is all about them if you use ‘I’, ‘me’ or ‘my’ all the time.
“My vision is…
“What I want to do first is…”
“I’ve always found that…so I want to…”
“My experience has shown me that…”
‘We’ is a good step forward. It’s inclusive but as you outline plans for what ‘we’ are going to do the sceptics in the group will be aware that ‘we’ comprises you in your air-conditioned office and him/her doing the scut work.
The surest way to bring your group onside is to speak to ‘you’. If nothing else it changes your mind-set from yourself as the central, important figure to remembering that other people are involved and they have mind-sets too.
Their mind-set -and your mind-set are not the same. As you address the group your job is to align mind sets so that their thinking about this project pretty much mirrors yours.
What is their mind set? They may be apprehensive – newness tends to create apprehension. Talk to some of the group ahead of time and get an idea of what they are thinking. What are their concerns? What positives or negatives are taking up mind space?
Perhaps they already know that you have an MBA from Harvard and a twenty-year brilliant career with XYZ company, but how does this affect them personally?
Your vision may be superb but does that mean I have to work overtime, and will I be paid for it?
Get the ‘I, me,myself’ moved from your mind to the mind of each person who is listening to you. This is not a weakness; you are not giving up some of your power. You are tying into the thoughts and ideas of others. Understanding their ‘I’ thoughts and turning them into ‘you’ phrases in your leadership speeches connects you faster and more effectively.
That’s what you are aiming for.
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