As executive leadership coaches, we understand the power of language.

Language has the power to connect, co-create, and to generate real action. We typically see two types of communication with our clients: Descriptive and Generative.

 

What’s the Difference?

• Generative language puts people into action through intentionally designed conversations that create dialogues that lead to action by making clear requests, offers, and promises with others.
• Descriptive language explains, tells, creates one-way monologues, and describes situations and experiences; it does not create action.

 

Example: Descriptive vs Generative Communication

Descriptive Communication	Generative Communication
Describes a Current State Using vague language that creates a monologue and generates not action.	Creates a New Future Able to use language that generates action through words.
Controller goes to CFO’s office and states that he/she is frustrated with the VP of Sales. The VP of Sales is always late with reports which leads to an inability to make key decisions.	Controller goes to CFO’s office and states that he/she is frustrated with the VP of Sales. The VP of Sales is always late with reports which leads to an inability to make key decisions. The Controller requests support in designing an intentional conversation with the VP of Sales.
CFO states that he will go and speak with the VP of Sales to sort out the issue.	CFO agrees to provide support. Together they design a conversation that empowers the Controller.
CFO speaks with VP of Sales and tells him/her to start getting the reports in on time. No excuses.	Controller goes to VP of Sales and has a generative conversation regarding the late reports. The VP of Sales explains why the reports are often late and the Controller explains the impact the late reports have on his/her job.
The Controller and VP of Sales have not spoken. The VP of Sales is upset about the CFO not allowing him to speak, and the Controller is uncertain if the reports will continue to be late or not.	Together, the Controller and the VP of Sales create a clear agreement on when the report will be sent and agree to connect if there will be a delay in the future.
Descriptive Communication Led to No Action!	Generative Communication Led to Action!

 

5 Key Distinctions of Generative Communication

1. Deep Listening
2. Make clear requests and real promises that create quality agreements
3. Able to enroll (commitment) vs convince/sell/persuade others
4. Design intentional conversations (purposeful) vs. vague conversations (automatic speaking)
5. Asking empowering questions

• Who needs to be in action with your issue?
• What is missing for action to occur?
• Is this a threat or opportunity?

 

Leadership Challenge:

Design one intentional conversation that leads to action.

My partner and I were recently conducting a two-day Strategic Planning session with an 8-member Executive Leadership team. The session was going very well; there was a great energy in the room.

Within two hours of the session, the CEO became emotionally triggered by some critical information that was shared and proceeded to engage in a very negative rant for two minutes.

You could visually see the high level of intense discomfort throughout the entire team. Body language turned inward, arms crossed, smiles faded, and heads nodded down.

There was a very noticeable shift in the room. Suddenly the atmosphere went from productive and friendly, to very unsafe, which caused everyone to shut down, stop being vulnerable, and everyone stopped speaking openly.

Seeing this discomfort, I asked the team to close their eyes and breathe deeply. While they were breathing I requested that they ask themselves one question to become grounded,

“Is this experience right now a threat or an opportunity?”

I asked everyone to open their eyes and I went around the room and asked them to respond to my question.

During the first round, everyone responded with, “it feels like a threat to my career right now.” I thanked everyone for being authentic and honest. Then I asked them to close their eyes again and asked them the same question,

“Is this experience right now a threat or an opportunity?”

Then I added one more insight for the team to ponder – “Is your CEO scared right now or is he a jerk?”

When I went around the room to get everyone’s insight, their answers were unanimous – Our CEO is scared right now and what he needs from me is my support not my judgement.

This example is a great illustration of the power of Ontological Coaching, which is the ability to shift another person’s “Way of Being”.

Your Way of Being is your reactions, behaviors, perceptions, and your mindset.

How you perceive a situation, leads to how you react to it, which leads to how another person receives and processes it.

The ability to reframe your communication is important because the way you communicate has a large impact on how your communication lands for another person.

The mindset shift that occurred above was asking the question – is this a threat or an opportunity and getting the team to look at the situation differently (reframing) and to perceive their CEO differently when he is expressing anger. The CEO’s anger was a reaction to fear but came out in a negative way and therefore triggered a negative reaction.

 

Leadership Challenge:

The next time you get triggered, ask yourself, “is this a threat or an opportunity” and see where the answer takes you.

Chris Anderson is all about “ideas worth spreading”.

He has a passion for the creation and distribution of great, innovative ideas that start or change the conversation.

TED started in Monterrey, California in 1984, and at the end of 2001, Chris’s foundation (Sapling Foundation) acquired TED. With a desire to grow the concept and take the conversations to the next level, Chris utilized the power of online platforms and expanded it’s focus from technology, entertainment, and design to include science, business, and key global issues. This expansion has led to the global phenomenon that is TED Talks.

In 2015, the organization posted its 2000^th talk online, and viewership had grown to approximately one billion views per year. In 2009, under a strategy of “Radical Openness”, Chris introduced the TEDx Initiative, allowing free licenses to local organizers. Over 8,000 events have been held, creating an archive of over 60,000 TEDx talks. (TED profile)

 

About Chris Anderson

I am a: Change Agent, Connector, Event Planner, Global Soul, Idea Generator, Journalist, Philanthropist, Employer, Producer, Social Entrepreneur, Curator

Personal Profile

“We don’t know what the final destination is, but we are guided by a philosophical and deep belief in the power of good thinking, the power of good ideas,” he said. “With TED, the end of the talk should not be the end of the idea, but just the beginning.” – Chris Anderson

Peter Diamandis is a Greek American engineer, physician, and entrepreneur. He has been featured in Fortune Magazine as one of the world’s 50 greatest leaders.

As the Founder & Executive Chairman of the XPRIZE Foundation, he is a leader in designing and operating large-scale incentive competitions whereby large cash incentive prizes are offered to inventors who can solve grand world challenges.  He is the Executive Founder of Singularity University, a graduate-level technological institution that counsels the world’s leaders on exponentially growing technologies.

Diamandis has started over 20 companies in the areas of longevity, space, venture capital, and education. He is also co-Founder of BOLD Capital Partners, a venture fund with $250M investing in exponential technologies.

He earned degrees in Molecular Genetics and Aerospace Engineering from the MIT and holds an M.D. from Harvard Medical School.

Peter’s favorite saying is “the best way to predict the future is to create it yourself”

About Peter Diamandis

One-on-One with Peter

Diamandis.com

 

8 Exponential Technologies Converging: 

1. Computation
2. Internet of Things (Sensors & Networks)
3. Robotics and Drones
4. Artificial Intelligence
5. 3D Printing
6. Materials Science
7. Virtual/Augmented Reality
8. Synthetic Biology

 

 

                 

A common frustration amongst CEOs is that when they promote internal Managers to C-Suite Executives, they often receive lackluster results. A lot of times, Managers are exceptional with operations, management, and overall performance of their respective departments, but struggle to make a successful transition to the C-Suite.

 

Why is that?

As a Manager, there are different expectations attached than with a C-Suite Executive.

As an Executive, a CEO is expecting Game Changing Value that affects the organization’s bottom line in a real way. These new expectations require new conversations and different skill sets, knowledge bases, mindsets, and ways of being (behaviors, actions).

Managers usually have different role and responsibilities, and typically different views and perspectives than C-Suite Executives.

Managers tend to be short-term, task-orientated, day-to-day thinking, immersed in the day-to-day. They focus more on the immediate future and generating action.

C-Suite Executives focus on the long-term and view decisions from the vantage point of “how will this affect the organization as a whole”, “how is the company aligned or not aligned”, and “what opportunities are out there to capitalize on, and what potential threats do we need to be aware of?”

Overall, C-Suite Executives think strategically and analyze situations and information from a strategic point of view.

Thinking strategically is a mindset shift. It is not simply adding new skills, learning a new technique or following a new set of steps to achieve a certain outcome. A mindset shift is thinking differently and developing new perspectives and views. The transition of Manager to C-Suite Executive requires going from a concentration of just a department, team, or area of concentration, to a focus on the organization, and viewing situations and experiences from a mindset of how it affects the entire organization.

This transition can be quite difficult and will likely require some training and support from the CEO to the future Executives on what Game Changing Value means to the organization.

 

What is Game Changing Value?

It is new ideas and possibilities that affect revenue and profits positively, or reduce organizational costs – basically, it is bottom-line value.

For example, introducing new, innovative technology to the company that creates a new product that leads to a new revenue generation stream that did not exist previously.

Finding a new way to utilize large equipment that increases overall equipment utilization and generates increased revenue and profits.

 

How does a CEO make this conversational shift of tactical to strategic with Managers?

Here are 3 questions to ask:

1. Finish this sentence – “Strategic Thinking is…”
2. What are 3 ideas or possibilities you see that could lead to game-changing value for the organization?

Definition – Game Changing Value to the organization means to create a meaningful, sustainable difference to increase revenue and/or profit and reduce costs.

Example: 15% increase in revenue, make new subsidiary arm of business profitable, and reduce organizational expenses by 15 – 20% without reducing personnel or sacrificing quality.

3. How could you turn your game-changing ideas and possibilities into reality over the next 3 – 5 years within the organization? Include any data, research, or related information to support your ideas.

This exercise is a great way to begin having higher level, strategic conversations that can lead to action. When a CEO provides this level of support to new, emerging C-Suite Executives it shows a high level of care and commitment to the future growth of both the individuals and the organization.

 

Leadership Challenge:

Make a request from your C-Suite Executive Team to come up with 3 – 5 Game-Changing Value ideas and possibilities for your next Executive meeting.

How does a great leader become a great leader?

How does an entrepreneur go from being great at what he/she does to being great at managing the operations of a company?

Transitioning from one state to another involves being a true learner. When you embrace being a true learner, you make a commitment to grow, develop and evolve yourself to close the Performance Gap between the leader you are now to the leader you want to become.

 

What is the Performance Gap?

The Performance Gap is the space between the leader you are now, and the leader you want to be. Within the Performance Gap there is Resistance that shows up as Resignation, Complacency and Cynicism.

All 3 dimensions of resistance cause leaders to get stuck and frustrated.

When a leader goes into “resistance mode” their mindset becomes narrow and their focus is on “what’s wrong”, “nothing works”, “it’s hopeless”, versus being open-minded and creating momentum through new possibilities and taking action, and asking themselves and others, “what if” or “how can we?, which encourages different perspectives and new ways of thinking.

 

The Performance Gap

When you make the commitment to become a learner, you also make a commitment to embrace the “Performance Gap”.

When you embrace learning you are going to encounter moving from being comfortable to being uncomfortable. While this is often quite challenging, it is also the most beneficial growth.

The mindset and language of a present leader versus a future leader.

Leadership Challenge:

Review situations where you or your team has shown resistance to ideas or change, and discuss what could possibly happen if the resistance was removed.

When someone says, “we have a great company culture”, or “we need to improve our company culture” – what are they really saying?

What makes up a company culture, and what makes it desirable or not?

At Awesome Journey our definition of a “Healthy Culture” is:

“A Network of intentionally designed conversations that are built from the organization’s core values and mission/purpose statement to drive a set of specific behaviors to create the right outcomes like quality products, service, people, and teams.”

Your organizational culture lives in your conversations and language, and the outcomes you are able to achieve together.

A sign of a healthy and happy culture is a lack of negative background conversations.

Background conversations are water cooler talk and side conversations where true feelings are often revealed, frustrations are aired, and disengagement brews.

If there are background conversations occurring, they will dominate all internal conversations in your organization, and they will strain and hinder trust, engagement, communication, and performance in negative ways.

Organizations that have “Healthy Cultures” are able to leverage their culture to differentiate themselves in the marketplace.

Bridgewater Associates The whole organization is committed and aligned to living by a set of principles to become great. This alignment creates a shared culture that is understood and practiced daily. Some of their guiding principles: Be radically open minded Give and receive Real-Time Feedback to my colleagues Own your outcomes to be great Hold yourself and others accountable See problems as an opportunity to learn Book about their healthy culture is entitled, “Principles”, by Ray Dalio (CEO)

Google Google’s belief that “High Performance Teams Need Psychological Safety” is the guiding force behind their culture, their commitment, and their secret to building great teams. Some of their guiding principles: Radical Candor – “Caring Personally and challenging directly” Constant Innovation – through collaboration, time to dream, fun and give staff Challenging problems to work on = innovation Intense Hiring Process to attract the best people

Disney From personal experience, the Disney culture is real and deep – it makes you truly believe you are in the happiest place on earth! Some of their guiding principles: Defined language that is embedded into Disney personnel that creates a unique experience for all staff and their guests Customers/visitors are called “Guests” Staff are either “on stage” or “off stage” – commitment to magical atmosphere Staff in research and design are called “Imagineers” All staff are called “Cast Members” Deep commitment to training staff to be great through Disney Institute Commitment to live 4 core values – Safety, Courtesy, The Show & Efficiency Clear understanding of ideal target client and world-class value and service

Barry-Wehmiller Some of their guiding principles: Clear set of core values to support staff – Leadership, People-Centric, Transformation & vision that fosters “Care, compassion and human connection Deep commitment to learning for all staff through “Barry-Wehmiller University” their foundational course is entitled, “Truly Human Leadership” that all staff take Clear set of Guiding Principles that is driving 12,000 employees with revenue around $2.8 Billion They are in Demand! Book about their healthy culture is entitled, “Everybody Matters: The Extraordinary Power of Caring for Your People Like Family”, by Robert Chapman (CEO)

Pixar Some of their guiding principles: Extraordinary results in the marketplace – 15 Blockbusters that went from idea to being in the theaters in 5 years (Disney’s average is 7 years from idea to theater) Deep commitment to creativity through collaboration, challenging the status quo, being great when you show up to play, and embracing real time quality feedback through their “Daily Review Process” Achieve greatness through High Performance Teams Core principle that makes greatness at Pixar is – “Everyone must have the freedom to communicate with anyone!” Book about their healthy culture is entitled, “Collective Genius: The Art and Practice of Leading Innovation”, by Linda Hill

A Healthy Culture creates a differentiating factor that is almost impossible to compete against. A company can compete on price, service and products, but they cannot simply copy your culture (network of conversations), which makes culture incredibly powerful.

 

Challenge:

In your next Executive Meeting initiate a dialogue about all the different conversations that are impacting your organization (two examples – meetings and onboarding new staff).

Are the conversations in these meetings built on your company’s core values and mission/purpose statement?

The Las Vegas Golden Knights (Knights) roared onto the 2018 hockey stage and left with a bang as they competed in the final round for the Stanley Cup again the Washington Capitals.

Although the Knights ultimately lost to the Washington Capitals, their stunning first-year achievement of making it to the Stanley Cup Finals deserves a celebration and reflection on what may have taken the team from obscurity to almost winning the biggest prize in the NHL.

The Knights were the epitome of the power of teamwork and what creates a high performance (HP) team. They created a system and placed the right people in the right spots. The players were able to play based on their strengths and where they excelled.

7 Components of a High-Performance Team:

1. Trust – They can be very real and honest with each other

2. Clear Vision – There is alignment on what the envisioned future looks like. Everyone is pulling in the same direction.

3. Clear Understanding of Roles and Responsibilities – Everyone on the team knows why they are there, what they bring to the team, and how their contributions bring value and are necessary to achieve the vision and goals

4. Enthusiasm and Fun – Genuine liking between the people. It is said that if people like you they are more likely to buy from you. The same goes for HP teams. If you enjoy spending time with and working with people, the chances of experiencing great success together is much higher.

5. Challenge Each Other and Provide Feedback – Everyone gets stronger when ideas are challenged and there is regular feedback, both positive and constructive.

6. Cohesive through a Shared Language, Way of Being, Attitudes, Desire for End Result – When a team is cohesive, they are individual puzzle pieces that have found their perfect spot. They are one piece of a larger puzzle, and without that piece, there is a gaping hole that leads to an incomplete picture.

7. Mindset of Intention vs Expectations:

• An intention is taking a stand and serving a purpose (internal focus).
• An expectation is a prediction, with attachment and assumption around conditions and situations (external focus).

When you come from an intention, the language shifts from “this is how good we should be” based on external factors, to “we can achieve anything” based on internal factors. This language shifts the conversation to “we have no boundaries, no constraints, and no limits” which dramatically shifts your mindset regarding what you can and cannot do. It leaves no space for “but”, it only has space for “how”.

HP teams function and perform through a commitment to something larger than just a goal or objective. The commitment becomes the driving force behind the perseverance and dedication necessary to achieving greatness. It goes beyond a goal, beyond a success metric, and beyond achieving an objective: it’s your purpose, it’s your stand – there is no plan B!

Well-designed structures and systems can turn a team from good, great, to amazing, simply through the trust the team has in the system and a commitment to an outcome regardless of whether it seems achievable or not. HP teams are usually functioning within structures and systems that are designed with the intention of delivering excellence and to create the desired outcome.

The Las Vegas Golden Knights = Welcome to Impossible

The Knights were an expansion team made up of players that were plucked from other teams that were willing to give them up. They started as misfits with a desire to prove what they could do.

From the outside and on paper, the Knights should have been D.O.A. and fighting to be noticed in the fiercely competitive NHL, but between their GM, coaching staff, playing structure and system, and lots of empowerment, they were able to put the right players into the right roles that would enhance their strengths and align to the other players around them.

“It’s a credit to coach Gerard Gallant’s philosophy of having a well-conditioned, confident group of forwards who work well together, focus on short effective shifts, and exude confidence on the ice – all while, as he reiterates it daily, playing 200 feet of hockey. “

 

Leadership Challenge:

Where does your team need to upgrade their commitment to being High Performance?

What does it mean to be stuck? Being stuck means you are unable to move forward and generate action.

When a company, team or organization is not achieving its goals, fulfilling its promises or producing the desired results, the first place to look is at its leadership.

Effective Leaders generate ACTION.

Effective leaders create and direct the path for the team and organization. They empower and guide others to create the conditions that enable the organization to generate action to move forward.

Absent conscious action, we find leaders reacting, frustrated and analyzing why there’s no action, or panicking over the lack of action; lots of activity, but no action and few results.

For many leaders, they often get stuck but are not aware of it.

 

What causes Leaders to be stuck?

Leaders get stuck when they move from being empowered to being entitled. In fact, we say they’ve become a VERB. Listen carefully; it is easy to hear a VERB.

Example:

I arrive for a client meeting and I am told that they have mis-scheduled my appointment. I leave upset so I call my assistant and blame her for not confirming the appointment and wasting my time.

A VERB is an acronym – a way of Being.  It is who we become when we get stuck.

A VERB is an acronym for:

V = Victim – (This is a persistent complaint: no one appreciates me)

E = Entitlement – (I deserve ___________.)

R = Rescue Me – (Someone needs to get me out of this mess)

B = Blame – (It’s not my fault, something’s wrong with you, them or it.)

VERBS are enforced by your perceptions of how things “should” be. That little voice in your head that says:

“There is a way things should be, and when they are, things are right. When they are not that way, something is wrong with you, them or it!”

A VERB finds you STUCK in this reinforcing thought:

Why did this happen to me?

What’s wrong?  

Who’s to blame

(someone else or circumstances)?

Breaking free of your VERB mindset requires transforming your reinforcing thoughts with a new ACTION language:

What happened?

What’s missing?

What’s next? 

 

What Happened?

If you are committed to action, observe only what was said or what was done. Notice if you begin to ask “why” something happened. That leads to an interpretation or assumption, not a FACT.

Focus again on only “What Happened?”

Be aware of your interpretations or assumptions. They move you into a story that distorts the facts and keeps you stuck.

To generate action, focus only on what was observable.

Stop, pause, and declare:

What happened, then look at the facts and what was said.

Example:

You are excited to share an idea with your boss. You stop by her office to share your cool idea and she says, “Not now, I am too busy to talk, get back to me later!”  You leave dejected. Immediately you begin to think: “She rejected me, or I feel lack of appreciation.”  You might also think: “Why bother, my ideas are not important to my boss.”

Notice that you are now thinking about “what this means.”

Stop, pause and return to “what happened?” In this example, what happened is what was said: “My boss said she was busy and to get back to her.”

 

What is Missing?

Here you are concerned not with “what is wrong or who is to blame” (which is where most leaders go when a problem or failure occurs), you are focused on discovering “what’s missing” which has something to do with a key conversation.

Fundamentally, a conversation for action is missing.

Key conversations for action include a Request, a Promise or an Offer.

Example:

So instead of getting wrapped up in your own story, you simply make a clear request to your busy boss and ask, “When would be a better time for us to discuss my cool idea about marketing to new potential clients?”  And your boss comes back with a promise to meet you at 3pm this afternoon. You walk away feeling engaged to share your cool idea with your boss at 3pm. You are excited.

 

What’s Next?

Again, what’s next is always a conversation that will forward action. Email a clear request to ask your busy boss for a time to meet to discuss your idea, “When can we meet this week to discuss my idea?”

Your leadership depends on your capacity to communicate action and creating conversations that move things forward. Here, you are focused on creating action rather than focusing on your story about your boss. Remember, your story constitutes you as a VERB that does not generate action. Instead, a conversation for action generates results.

Practicing the script:

What happened?

What’s missing?

What’s Next?

Become Decisive, Proactive and Able to Transform Stuck into ACTION!