Introduction We all read reports about women facing challenges progressing in business. There are numerous reasons for this such as childcare, lack of role models or mentors and work-life balance. However, in some cases, our use of language in the workplace could be an issue. The way we speak and interact with colleagues is a key means by which we make a negative or a positive impression in the workplace. This guide takes several real-life scenarios in business meetings and explains how we can use language to create a really positive impact with our colleagues. It is based on research conducted in seven multinational companies in the UK. This chapter offers advice on using authority.
Using Authority Case Study: Gemma and the Finance Director Gemma is managing director of a branch of a national company. She has just learnt that the finance director and his team have kept quiet about some income that the company has accrued. She has already filed her financial report for the quarter to Head Office, which did not include any reference to the trading accrual. While the FD has a perfectly
reasonable excuse, Gemma knows that Head Office would not be happy about the branch failing to report some of its income, so she needs to make it clear that their action was unacceptable. How can Gemma use language effectively to handle this situation?
What not to do: 1.
Tell Colleagues off Publically:
E.g. ‘You have made a complete fool of me! How many times have I told you idiots that you should send me the complete financial picture!’ This accusation combines a number of errors of linguistic judgement. It is abusive and uses insulting terms; it sets the manager against her team in its use of the pronouns ‘I’ against ‘you’; it uses theatrical expressions as if the speaker is declaiming from a stage; and finally, it issues commands in a threatening way.
What did Gemma Actually Do?: She used three linguistic strategies: 1. Visualising A Scenario E.g. ‘Just imagine, I now have to go to Head Office, knowing that they have received the quarterly financial report, and tell them that I have made a mistake and the figures will need to be redone…’ Gemma described an imaginary scenario so that her team would picture her predicament in having to admit the mistake and accept the blame on behalf of her team. In so doing, Gemma helped them to appreciate the consequences of their actions for her personally, and for the branch as a whole. 2. A Collaborative approach to problem-solving: ‘OK, what’s done is done; now, how can we solve this problem together? Let’s have some ideas about what we do next?’
Gemma draws a line under the indirect ‘telling off’, and uses an open question to encourage her colleagues to come up with solutions together, rather than imposing a solution upon them. She uses the inclusive pronoun ‘we’ to suggest togetherness. She also uses an inclusive command (‘let’s have…’) to show that she is the boss, but that she wants to work collaboratively with her team. 3. ‘Double Voicing to Achieve Closure: E.g. ‘I know you are not happy about this but you have to understand HQ will go mad when they find out. That’s why we need to revise the figures for HQ.’ Double-voicing is a technique leaders may use sparingly to register their awareness of the suppressed viewpoints of their colleagues, or to comment explicitly on ‘the elephant in the room’. Here Gemma comments on her decision to caution the team, and gives an explicit justification of her leadership approach.
Visualise A Scenario
Use A Collaborative Approach to Problem Solving
Tell Colleagues Off Publically
Use ‘Double Voicing’ To Achieve Closure
Summing up: Suri used a series of linguistic strategies to prepare the ground for changing the direction of the conversation and raising it to a more strategic level. These included using a combination of politeness, inclusion and framing strategies in order to voice her viewpoint. If you found this short introduction the Handling Conflict useful you may be interested in the other parts of the Using Language Effectively series: Achieving Business Goals and Using Authority, available via the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce website: www.Birmingham-Chamber.com/WiBLanguage
This Using Language Effectively series was created by Professor Judith Baxter, Aston University, in partnership with the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce.
About Judith: Judith Baxter is Professor of Applied Linguistics and Head of English Language in the School of Languages and Social Sciences at Aston University, Birmingham. She is Deputy Director of Aston’s Research Centre for Interdisciplinary research in Language and Diversity (InterLAND), which brings together researchers and practitioners in applied linguistics, social sciences, leadership and business studies (see http://www1.aston.ac.uk/lss/research/ research-centres/interland/). Judith specialises in the relationship between language, gender and leadership in educational, business and professional contexts. She recently worked on an Economic and Social Research Council funded project entitled ‘Leadership Talk and Gender in Senior Management Business Meetings in the UK (http:// leadershiptalk.blogs.aston.ac.uk/), which ran from January 2010 until May 2012. She has published numerous books and articles including Double-Voicing at Work (2014) and The Language of Female Leadership (2010), both with Palgrave Macmillan. Her research has received considerable media attention, including a feature on BBC TV’s Women at the Top, Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour as well as press articles in The Guardian, The Observer, The Mail and The Telegraph.
About Leena: Leena Patel is a research placement assistant for InterLanD, Aston University. She currently works on projects which focus on gender and leadership talk, youth inequality and accents in the West Midlands.
About Henrietta: Henrietta Brealey is the Patron and Policy Advisor at the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce. She is currently leading on the Chambers’ Women in Business work . The Chambers’ are partnering on and delivering a number of Women in Business initiatives and activities. For more information on our Women in Business work please go to www.Birmingham-Chamber.com/ WomenInBusiness or contact Henrietta on H.Brealey@Birmingham-Chamber.com.
About The Chambers: The Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce is one of the UK’s oldest and largest Chambers. It has nearly 3,000 member companies that employ over 200,000 plus affiliate organisations representing 15,000 people. It offers extensive services to industry and commerce, having served the interests of business for three centuries, promoting trade locally, nationally and internationally.
Based in central Birmingham and ranked 12th out of 113 UK Universities by the 2010 Complete University Guide, and 19th in the Guardian rankings 2010, Aston is recognised for its world-class research, teaching and strong links to industry, government and commerce. Aston is based on an attractive, green campus in the heart of Birmingham. Over 1200 people work at the university in a wide variety of professional, technical, academic, manual and clerical roles. Aston University is:
Ranked within the top 1% of universities in the world, and consistently in the Top 20 in the UK
In the Top 5 for Graduate Employability in the UK and Top 40 worldwide
Focussed on the needs of business and the professions, with all Aston undergraduate students taking part in integrated work experience
Carrying out world class research that leads to the creation of practical and applicable solutions for the challenges of the future, and contributes to the development of research leaders and entrepreneurs
Putting sustainability at the centre of all we do, ensuring that Aston is one of the greenest and most sustainable of all UK universities, in the Top 5 of the People and Planet League.
Click here: www.aston.ac.uk for our website.
Professor Judith Baxter is Head of Applied Linguistics and English Language at Aston University. She leads a friendly, energetic and expanding department, which is one of the largest subject groups within the School of Languages and Social Sciences. All members of the group teach across Applied Linguistics, and we work closely with groups in the regional community such as business leaders, the police, community leaders and local schools. We are renowned for the high quality of our teaching and in 2014, we were ranked 15 th in the 2013 Guardian League tables, and achieved a 100% satisfaction rate with our undergraduate students. All areas of specialism have recently been successful in securing significant external research funding.
Contact Henrietta Brealey, Policy Advisor Chamber House 75 Harborne Road Birmingham B15 3DH H.Brealey@Birmingham-Chamber.com 0121 607 1786