When We Speak The Same Language

As I may have already stated about a million times already (to myself, at least, but then I’m often the only one who’s listening!), the best teams are those where there is a clear and cohesive collective unit present and not necessarily those that are comprised of the brightest and most talented individuals. Perhaps the most effective means of establishing the kind of collective spirit that breeds the most successful teams, however, is to ensure that there is a shared language that is used by all members of the team at all times. To enable this, leaders need to first of all make it absolutely clear what terminology is to be used (and why!), what manner and tone of language is to be used (and why!) and what phrases are to be avoided at all costs (yes, you’ve guessed it, and why!) Without this scene setting at the beginning, the whole process of developing a shared language can often become lost behind the fogs that come with a lack of clarity or purpose about where the organisation is supposed to be heading or why it is that everyone is doing whatever it is that they’re paid to do each day. The words that we use with each other define the reality of our shared daily existence, so it would be ridiculous in this sense if we as leaders of an organisation made no efforts to shape this reality or to steer it in an appropriate direction and instead simply hoped that everyone was on board with the thoughts that we never really articulated to the other members of our teams. If we want a strong and purposeful culture in our team then we need to make it happen rather than just hope that it will happen and the most effective way of doing this is to clarify exactly how we are going to communicate with each other whilst working towards our shared goals. Andy Buck, in his book Leadership Matters, writes that “All leaders in a school need to feel they are part of a single leadership effort, with a shared set of values and ways of working,” but this is only going to happen if leaders are certain that there are no linguistic mavericks setting different, less appropriate standards in other areas of their organisations. In my own career, I have learned over many years that simplicity and the pursuit of clarity are key players if truly effective and successful teams are to be built and, perhaps most importantly, that there is absolutely nothing wrong with telling other members of your team over and over and over again exactly how things are done around here and what language we will and won’t use on our journey towards achieving our goals. If you don’t actually tell anyone what words or phrases to both use or avoid or define the key terminology of the organisation then you have no right whatsoever to get even a tiny bit annoyed when someone mentions that they didn’t know that those were the words that were to be used. If you have told them about a million times (there’s that number again, but this time I mean it!) that there are very certain linguistic expectations then please do go ahead and feel rather vexed after all, and then, crucially, do something about it rather than just accept that some people aren’t fully on message. What I can never accept, ever, is someone telling me that they’re either too old to learn new ways of doing things or new terminology or that I will just have to let them be because that’s just the way they are! Grrr. When colleagues set up their behavioural camps in this manner I am often very quick to tear them down using a big stick with has something written on it about how such comments preclude the possibility of both personal development and professional improvements and how everybody not only can change for the better but also will seek to relentlessly improve if they wish to be part of this brilliant team that we are building. So there. Each school, for example, needs to have its own clearly defined way of doing things with its values writ large upon everything that they do; if there are others who are obviously opposed to either the ways of doing things or the values of the school then, let’s be frank for a moment, this isn’t the right place for them to work anymore and they are unlikely to make any genuinely positive contributions to the whole-school aims over time. Sir John Jones, in his book The Magic-Weaving Business, offers the following guidance to school leaders who are seeking to establish a shared language within their own settings: “Practise will fix them <the phrases and terminology you are trying to implement> in the subconscious until they become (the) default setting – the way you are. A simple process of developing sound, neuro linguistic habits.” Earlier, in the same book, Mr Jones also writes about how anyone who states that they just can’t pick up new neuro-linguistic habits (if that’s even what they’re calling them, which in my experience is probably unlikely) is flying solo in the face of a vast amount of published research on the topic: “The message is clear. It is possible to affect and change the way we are, what we believe and how we behave. There are patterns of behaviour which are hard-wired forming part of our first nature, our hard-drive, our inherited characteristics and our genetic make-up. But that is only part of the picture. For we have a second nature which can be changed and shaped to become a powerful influence over our first nature.” To some, of course, it may not be all that easy to change and some support may be necessary to aid its development, but for others (those who get that change is possible and are actively seeking to learn) then all that is necessary is the consistent daily modelling of the way that we do things around here. But the development of a shared language within an organisation, school or otherwise, big or small, really is possible and really is perhaps the most important first task of any leader in any setting.

 

In a school setting, there are some very obvious benefits of ensuring that an appropriate and effective shared language is in place. The words that we use around young people, obviously, are picked up and then subsequently used by them, as is the tone that we use when we are addressing both each other as colleagues and the students in our care, so we need to always be mindful of the intent of not only our verbal interactions but also our non-verbal behaviour in every situation. We set the tone as leaders at all levels in a school, and if we allow aggressive or negative behaviour (verbal or non-verbal) to gain even the slightest of footholds in our organisations then we must also be wary of the potential impact of this becoming learned behaviour amongst our communities. In a high EAL setting, for example, it is vital that all of our words are chosen with the utmost care so that English becomes an effective language of learning amongst our students with every interaction seen as an opportunity to upskill and embed new linguistic habits. We are role models for the young people who attend our schools and if there are any adult members of our communities who are sending out very different messages about how to communicate with each other then we need to address these issues immediately before they are able to harm the development of our students and the values that we have chosen to promote.

 

Always, whenever I have begun the process of establishing a shared language in a school after taking on its leadership, I come across colleagues who either tell me that it’ll never work or it’s a waste of bloody time or even ask me (with varying degrees of politeness) what difference it will make if we’re all communicating with each other according to a clearly defined set of linguistic expectations. Once I’ve responded with my own semi-scripted answer, which goes something like a shared, common language provides a focus for all stakeholders and it is most effective when created together by the team; working together to develop common language helps to define clearer goals and ensures that team members have a common understanding which can help us to become the successful school that we are all aiming to be, I also give examples of how many much more famous organisations have used the development of a shared language to make their own teams work. You may, for example, have heard of a relatively successful (if world domination is any indicator of success) company called Disney who refer to all of their staff as imagineers, or how the staff members at Apple (another fairly well-known brand) stores are called geniuses (the tech support station is referred to as the Genius Bar!) or even how Ikea founder Feodor Ingvar Kamprad wrote The Testament of a Furniture Dealer in 1976 at the beginning of his efforts to set up his company and how this led to the development of what the people who have worked there since know as The Ikea Way. In the schools that I have led, I insist on many terms, such as consequences not punishments when we are dealing with behavioural issues (the former is a natural part of both the learning process and putting something right whereas the latter, in my opinion, is something that is done with the intent of harming something, and that will never do in a place of education!) or lesson visits rather than lesson observations (the old way of judging or grading lessons once a year instead of constantly seeking to make improvements in a low-stakes, informal manner is surely something that no one does any more, right?) Again, not only do the words that we use define that we reality that we exist in, how we refer to people impacts upon how we treat them; in a school setting, I insist upon everyone being viewed as a teacher of children, whatever their ID badge may state, because each person’s interaction with a child can be just a valuable as another’s and I don’t want there to be a perceived hierarchy of who is able to teach the most important lessons in the school. My view, put simply, is that we first shape the language in our schools but then the language shapes us, making us into the community and the organisation that we seek to be because we understand its importance and the role that it can play in moving us forwards together. When we speak the same language, we understand each other; if we all have vastly different neuro-linguistic habits in a school, the organisation will splinter into many directions instead of being pulled together by a united leadership effort.