Impact of positive language
The way people frame situations, interactions, and views of people affects their expectations, actions, decisions, and further perceptions. The way they speak?the language they use to frame conversations?also shapes thoughts, experiences, and behaviors. In their jobs, the leaders we studied and interviewed used positive and generative language that affected their corporate culture, work productivity, and quality of relationships.
For instance, at Gore the company refers to workers as associates. Titles include ?human resources associate,? ?product associate,? and ?sales associate? instead of ?manager? of a certain group or ?director? of a particular project. They don?t have ?bosses? who help new associates learn the ropes, but ?sponsors? who act as mentors. Company members are not just using different words to communicate and replicate the traditional concepts of employees and bosses. Their language generates different relationships and lines of communication.
Usage of languageResearchers has shown how other uses of language can change frames, thus changing work situations. For example, in the context of bargaining and negotiation, Harvard University Business School professor Max Bazerman showed how two different frames of a similar situation evoke different responses from individuals. Research on framing bias has shown that during negotiations, often whether the decision-maker is evaluating the prospect of gains or losses is only a matter of the way a question is presented or worded (e.g., ?is the glass half full?? or ?is the glass half empty??). Thus the way a decision is framed?that is, positively in terms of gains or negatively in terms of losses?can influence a decision maker?s risk propensity and thereby his or her decisions.
The following simple examples show positive and negative frames, or ?blame? and ?aim? frames, in business negotiations. In both cases, a business unit leader wants money to purchase new tools or equipment for his or her group. Their contrasting frames and language, a unit leader might talk about how he or she hasn?t received new equipment for three years or how his or her unit has received less seed money than any other in the company.
The language does not lay out concrete steps to proceed with a purchase or specify what the likely outcome of such a purchase would be. Instead, the conversation points a blaming finger at someone real or hypothetical who has denied resources in the past.
The result may be to provoke defensive reactions in the other party of the negotiation. A positively framed negotiation, on the other hand, would focus on the financial gains that might be possible from such an investment. It might mention who would use the tools or how the expenditure might make the unit more productive. The unit leader might talk about putting together a budget or how easily the tool could be ordered. The conversation moves to the aim?the end goal of getting new equipment?and offers suggestions for what would work.
Analogies/metaphors
Another way to create frames through language is through analogies or metaphors. Architect Greg Radford used an architectural metaphor to show those around him how to see things from a different perspective. ?My job when doing a building is to take my idea and construct a plan, an elevation, and a section (three types of architectural drawings to show a building from different angles),? he said. ?It is three ways of looking at the same things so people can see parts and relationships. That?s what people need to do all the time in all things?see parts and relationships.?
The leaders we studied also provided or interpreted data that others already had so that they could see possibilities for action in situations that appeared difficult. In the case of Rotary?s polio eradication programme, local business leaders knew that they could organise large groups of people and complex projects, communicate through technology and the media, arrange transportation, and earn money. Yet, according to Herb Pigman, who was a driving force behind the programme, typically business leaders wouldn?t understand that they had the overview of the ways they would assist a nation?s health officials in a large-scale immunisation project.
?I had to convey to them, ?Your knowledge can be applied to the problems of health ministers,? said Pigman. He worked in-person with Rotarians worldwide to help them realise their value to the project, and he wrote a booklet about the ways business people could help. His efforts paid off in Peru, for instance, where an insurance specialist became the leader of Rotarians who helped the country pull off its National Immunisation Day. Rotarians, working with health workers, provided ice to keep the vaccine cold, lunches for workers, and transportation for vaccine and health workers. Pigman told the volunteers, ?This is not rocket science to Rotarians?we can do this.?
Appreciative intelligence is also expressed through positively oriented persuasion, beyond the ?can-do? hype, to fill in gaps or recognise progress, especially when people begin to struggle or doubt themselves. For example, when Shareholder.com faced a major challenge last year, ?we talked about what we are good at,? said company president Ron Gruner. Through the discussion, the company harnessed the strengths of its individuals, as well as its unique strengths in the market, to create a competitive advantage. The ability to encourage others verbally or articulate their potential for growth is certainly another instance of appreciative intelligence.
There are even stronger expressions of it in exceptionally challenging circumstances. The 2004 film Hotel Rwanda unearthed a powerful story of Appreciate Intelligence. The film depicts the heroic actions of Paul Rusesabagina during the 1994 Rwandan massacre, which claimed the lives of about one million people and created three million refugees. Paul was the manager of the Mille Collines, a luxury hotel in the Rwandan capital. Over the years, he had sustained good relationships with the military and government officials who visited his hotel to drink and socialise. When the genocide broke out (which at its peak claimed 8,000 lives per day), Paul was quick to reframe reality to save the lives of 1,200 people who were staying in his hotel.
He reframed guests as refugees, the luxury hotel as a refugee camp, and the hotel?s pool as a source of water after their supply was cut off. Instead of feeling helpless and giving up after the international peacekeepers deserted him, he saw an opportunity to cash in on his social capital he had built with the military and police.
Using his positive attitude, exceptional capacity to see possibilities amidst the violence and darkness around him, and positive language, he worked the system and began cashing in every favour he had ever earned.
After a technology team at Shareholder.com completed a major, time-consuming project, the chief technology officer expressed appreciation to them by renting an expensive sports car. Each team member was given the keys for a few days?and the time off to make use of them?and was photographed with the vehicle. While the rental car fitted the budget better then employee bonuses during the country?s economic downturn, it also fitted the bill as a valued and memorable reward for team members.
by-
Moderation Team
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