Leadership, like other fields, has specialized vocabulary, but from the perspective of business coaching, this vocabulary is not a jargon-laden one. It features clear, easy-to-understand, and often-used phrases, questions, and affirmations. Here’s a closer look at some of the most important components of leadership vocabulary.

Leaders are people who get others to want to work towards common goals. Leaders inspire others to become more, dream more, do more, and learn more. To achieve these seemingly farfetched but ultimately practical goals, leaders must be outstanding communicators. Speech is our best (albeit not the only) tool of communication, and leaders are masters of speech and vocabulary.

The language of leadership and inspiration is not technical jargon. Intelligent leadership makes great use of common affirmations, interjections, and phrases. The language of effective leadership is one everyone understands and appreciates.

The language of intelligent leadership is simple and effective. 

Leadership communication aims to achieve two distinct, but interdependent objectives. A leader’s first objective is to earn followers’ trust. Unless people trust their abilities to lead, leaders can’t be effective.

The second objective is to get people to assume psychological ownership of organizational goals and throw their best efforts behind them.

Leadership coaching has identified a handful of phrases that help leaders earn trust, motivate, and inspire reports.

Go for It

Empowerment is the hallmark of intelligent, effective leadership. Leaders are not mere managers of resources and mindless tools of production. They must engage and involve people to allow them to assume psychological ownership of organizational purposes and goals.

“Go for it” is a powerful way to hand people the reins. It gives them the freedom to handle assignments, turning them into opportunities to prove their mettle and learn.

Some organizational cultures facilitate dithering through complicated decision-making. When leaders trust employees, succinctly delegating work to them is not only a straightforward decision but also a great way to empower and engage them.

I Trust You

Leadership coaching recognizes trust as the universally accepted currency of leadership. The top objective of an intelligent leader is to earn people’s trust. By handing out trust, leaders reap trust in return.

When leaders tell employees they trust them, they hand them the keys together with responsibility and accountability. Knowing their leaders trust them and count on them empowers and motivates people to do their best.

How Do You See it? 

People like to contribute to objectives and goals. When leaders ask employees for feedback, they empower and involve them, offering them psychological ownership of goals on silver platters.

Reaching out for input allows leaders to tap into the expertise, perspectives, and abilities of their teams, lending a multi-faceted dimension to problem-solving. If they know how to listen actively and act on the input of reports, leaders prove they value collaboration and the individual contributions of employees.

I Made a Mistake

To err is human. No one is immune to making suboptimal decisions. Leaders with authoritarian tendencies hate to appear human and weak, but intelligent leaders know people never buy the image of invulnerability. They understand leadership vulnerability is a powerful tool that can earn trust and buy-in from employees.

Executive coaching values and encourages vulnerability and the honesty it entails. By modeling such behaviors, leaders sow the seeds of organizational cultures based on honesty, trust, cooperation, and coaching.

I Appreciate You

Executive coaching encourages leaders to express gratitude towards peers and employees. Intelligent leaders understand how motivating genuine appreciation and praise can be.

Genuine appreciation is incredibly empowering and motivating.

Genuine appreciation is specific, honest, and personal. It proves leaders pay attention to what’s going on and value the contributions of employees.

Here’s the Deal

Trust and transparency go hand-in-hand. To be transparent, leaders must communicate the truth to employees. No one likes to be in the dark about essential issues concerning the organization. Keeping people uninformed is disempowering and condescending at the same time. It tells them they’re not worthy of the truth.

Business coaching deems transparency healthy for several reasons. In addition to empowering and engaging people, it defeats toxic rumors and cultivates healthy, reality-grounded organizational cultures.

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