A lack of time isn’t an excuse for a lack of focus on enhancing your language and communication skills. Nor is a lack of access – there are brilliant books, podcasts, and resources available for free. And choosing to let your ego get involved and taking the ‘this is how I choose to communicate, so they better damn well listen’ approach also categorically doesn’t work. Trust us.

Because it is your responsibility (and your responsibility alone) to ensure that your message lands exactly as you intend. That it’s completely and utterly understood. And that your conversing partner wasn’t made to feel overwhelmed, intimidated or offended. 

Becoming a compelling communicator doesn’t have to be a long-winded process, or require some big personal revelation. The power is in the small changes. In identifying and recognising filters, preferences, and biases. In understanding that each and every one of us has our own unique window on the world – built upon our lived experiences, the cultural paradigms that we grew up within, and even the current state of our health and nutrition. And the understanding that you must pivot your language, style or approach to best suit your conversing partner to ensure they truly understand what you’re saying, and can completely get on-board. 

Now, we’ve had people question this – isn’t this all really contrived? Isn’t this all really controlling? Not at all – it’s deliberate yet authentic. By taking command of how we’re perceived, and communicating with impact as well as integrity you can become the very best version of yourself. But also the version of yourself that your team deserves.

And what if you don’t? Well, this is bound to create a disconnect. And in turn, this can lead to recruitment issues, a significant decrease in productivity, and also greater sickness or absence rates. If your team doesn't feel psychologically safe, they won’t be okay and this will absolutely be detrimental to business. They need to know your collective ambition: what you stand for, why you’re doing it, and how they play a part in it. 

Great communication is not just a ‘nice to have’ but is absolutely integral to ensuring you keep the very best team by your side, promote a positive culture, and keep operations running efficiently and effectively. 

As an applied psycholinguist, Fliss believes that it isn’t enough to just have this knowledge and expertise, but it’s actually about understanding the language within the corporate culture and construct, and putting it into practice. And it’s more than just the words used - it’s about your physicality, your voice, and your body language. 

Passionate about sharing these insights, she recently spoke to Tony Brooks for his podcast, Leadership Mindset – which is dedicated to changing how you think and feel about the world. Listen here: www.thetonybrooks.com/065-the-language-of-leadership-felicity-wingrove, as she explains how to avoid common communication mistakes, the small changes you can make to truly take responsibility for your language, and to always ensure your message lands as intended.