Intentional use of language is another important factor for effective leadership. Through awareness of how we’re communicating with others, as well as with ourselves, we can make the necessary adjustments to ensure that our message will have the impact that we intend. In this post we will explore two commonly used speech acts (Assertions and Assessments),which when understood and differentiated properly can have a very strong impact in your leadership.
When we talk about Assertions, we are referring to a statement that describes an object, person or situation in away that can be measured and verified by a third party or observer. Assessments, on the other hand, are statements that describe an object, person or situation as perceived by the individual who is making the statement.
Here are a few examples to help clarify the two concepts.
*It is common for people to assume that assertions are facts while assessments are opinions, while this may be the case at times, it is not always necessarily true. An example of an assertion that is not a fact would be someone claiming that a car is blue while pointing at a car that is actually red.
If we can become more aware of the type of language that we and others use, our chances of communicating clearly increase drastically. The impact of a leader saying that a team member is unreliable, for example, is very different from claiming that a team member missed a deadline. Think about it, who defines how many deadlines someone has to miss before we consider them “unreliable”? And would the label of “unreliable” change depending on the reason why the deadline was missed? As you can see it is not clear until we make it clear… In the meantime, the person being called unreliable, and those who heard it, will most likely accept the label and eventually even internalize it as a fact.
The same concept applies when we are having inner conversations. The impact that a statement such as “I’m a total idiot”has on our self-confidence is very different from that of saying “I made a mistake”. Similarly, “I’m a failure” is very different from “I lost money on that deal”. Again, this may feel like a small thing, but the message that these two statements send are very different and messages are powerful.
Let’s also talk about the potential for confusion and misunderstanding when a leader uses assessments such as “This project is very important, and we need it to be done fast”. Notice that while the statement implies some sense of urgency, there is no way to know if by “fast”we are talking about minutes, hours, days, months or years. It is very much up for interpretation.
Now what if the leader says, “This project is our priority, and it has to be done by tomorrow at 7PM”? How does that assertion feel compared to the other assessment? Although it may be clearer, we could discuss if the idea of the project being “done” an assertion or an assessment? Is it possible that one team member feels that the project is done while another team member doesn’t? The more aware we are about what words and speech acts we are using, the better our chances getting our message across as intended.
Reminder
The invitation here is not for you to become obsessed about the exact words that you are using and how they may be impacting others at all time, but simple to become more aware of how you and your team use Assertions vs Assessments, and to become more intentional about which one you decide to choose depending on the impact that you want to have.
If you would like to have a 15-minute, free of charge, zoom conversation with Dr. Furth to discuss your specific situation and determine if leadership coaching is right for you, feel free to find a time that works for both of us here.
