If you work in an international setting, it is not always easy to grasp every message conveyed or to share your thoughts and vision in a different language…
If you are not writing in a language that is yours, you have to get your point across all while being careful about what you say and how you say it.
Quillbot is an AI-based paraphrasing and grammar checking tool that guarantees a greater understanding and an adept communication style, tone and language.
If your writing is feeling flat or inappropriate for your audience, Quillbot helps you craft topic sentences from your own ideas and drafted arguments and keep the message of your sentence.
Furthermore, Quillbot provides the tools to refine your writing, vary your vocabulary by giving you several word options, and articulate your sentences in the style that you need whether your style leans towards formal, fluency, standard, creative or shorten.
This paraphrasing tool can even highlight grammar errors and include citations.
Finally, Quillbot facilitate your language improvement by providing feedback on the structure and sense of your sentences.
Journey To Leadership curates the best apps available on the market to satisfy the needs of our readers and leaders.
You’ve got a great app and want to promote it on our website, make sure to check out our prices and to contact us.
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Words are powerful and can have a long-lasting effect on people…
Leaders are responsible for employee engagement, for setting goals, giving feedback and reinforce positive feedbacks.
Therefore, leaders have to be careful of the words that come out their mouth.
On one hand, they can say annoying things from time to time.
On the other hand, it’s not always easy to find the right thing to say.
Wondering what are the most annoying things that leaders usually say?
1. “It’s my way or the high way!”
Leaders who want everything they way tend to hire talented individuals to do the job but don’t trust them to do so or don’t give them the opportunity to exercise their expertise. By doing so, their team gradually lose confidence and morale.
2. “You’re wrong” or “Why didn’t you do this instead?”
There is more than one solution to a problem and there is more than one way than doing things.
3. “It’s none of your business” or “Stay in your lane”
Leaders who pull rank or hold back information try to retain power as much as they can and wish to establish a certain distance between themselves and their team.
4. “Let me finish…” or Interrupt people while the are talking…
It is important for leaders to actively listen before they speak and to value their team’s knowledge.
5. “I don’t pay you to think!”
By saying that, leaders reduce their team members to mere tools or objects.
6. “I’m not going to do your job for you”
Team members usually come to leaders for advice and reassurance but don’t require those same leaders to do their job for them.
7. “Don’t waste my time”
Time is indeed a precious commodity but by saying that leaders impeded their team from suggesting innovative ideas.
8. “I don’t have time right now”
Leaders are definitely busy bodies but they make time for what is important.
9. “That’s not important…”
This statement has a tendency of devaluing team members.
10. “I don’t care” or “That’s not my problem”
Helping team members find solutions to problems is part of the job description of leaders.
11. “You are not as good as you think” or “You are lucky to even be here”
If a leader needs to remind a team member how great his or her job is then it is not that great to begin with.
12. “We have always done it that way”
Through that statement, leaders emphasize that there is no room for improvement or innovation.
Last words of advice!
When you have said a few annoying things, you can always recover by:
Being aware of your words.
Observing the impact of your words
Admitting your mistakes.
Calmly explaining yourself.
Letting go and moving on.
Hope that I’ve helped you get it together on your way to leadership!
Don’t forget to like, share and leave a comment below.
Most people don’t share their ideas or go after what they truly want because they are afraid of rejection and don’t know how to use the right words at the right time…
Below are 23 magical phrases that will get you to start conversations, share ideas, influence people, assist people in taking decisions and achieve personal success.
1. “I’m Not Sure If It’s for You, But”
This phrase is an opening statement, used to introduce a person, an idea, product or service, to remove pressure and to spike interest without going through rejection.
2. “How Open-Minded Are You?”
In general, people love to think of themselves as open-minded. Everybody wants to be open-minded.
Before making any statement, asking people whether or not they are open-minded allows you to introduce new ideas, gain their support, and having them agree with you.
3. “What Do You Know?”
When sharing ideas, some people feel the need to be right or demonstrate that they know best. By finding out what the other person knows before sharing your knowledge, this statement helps you overcome preconceptions, avoid debates and arguments when trying to share new concepts.
4. “How Would You Feel If?”
“How Would You Feel If?” allows you to understand what motivates people and what emotions trigger their decision making process.
The truth is that emotions and motivation tactics are used in all “areas of negotiation, influence and persuasion”.
Indeed, motivation is a reason to step into action and emotions are reason enough to make a decision.
Used effectively, motivation and emotions can be used to make people step into action.
5. “Just Imagine”
“Just Imagine” is employed to use people’s creative mind, to prop people into action by setting a powerful preface and to bring a decision into reality.
People tend to imagine the outcome of a decision in their mind before actually implementing that decision in reality.
That is why sharing a story before asking someone to make a decision is helpful and creates a picture in the mind of the other person.
6. “When Would Be a Good Time?”
This phrase prevents people from telling you that they don’t have the time to listen to you and subconsciously sets the idea that their will be a good time for you to make your point.
7. “I’m Guessing You Haven’t Got Around To”
“I’m Guessing You Haven’t Got Around To” is used when you want to indirectly ask someone whether or not they have gotten the time to do what you asked.
“I’m Guessing You Haven’t Got Around To” allows the other person to feel proud if they have accomplished what you have asked for or it allows them to save face and it gives them the opportunity to step up to the plate.
8. Simple swaps
Asking open-ended questions instead of closed ended questions is more effective for conversation-making.
9. “You Have Three Options”
Presenting people with three options reduces their choices and subsequently helps them through the decision-making process.
10. “There are two types of people in this world”
“There are two types of people in this world” is a sentence that assists people in making up their minds by making wonder what kind of people they actually are, by reducing their choices and allowing them to choose.
11. “I Bet You’re a Bit Like Me”
“I Bet You’re a Bit Like Me” is an opening statement that gets people to quickly agree with you.
12. “If… Then”
“If you don’t do this, then this will happen!” are conditional statements that we have heard since childhood, that most people still believe in and that will guarantee an outcome.
13. “Don’t Worry”
This phrase helps in keeping a highly stressful situation under control and improve someone else’s level of anxiety.
14. “Most People”
Putting “Most People” in front of any sentence, when making a case, makes people feel confident about their decisions.
15. “The Good News”
“The Good News” puts a positive spin on a negative situation and shifts people’s perspective.
16. “What Happens Next”
This statement explains the next stages of the interaction and leads the conversation towards a conclusion.
17. “What Makes You Say That?”
“What Makes You Say That?” maintains control over the conversation, allows the other person to openly express their objections and make a decision.
18. “Before You Make Your Mind Up”
The phrase “Before You Make Your Mind Up” is useful to make someone change their minds, switch their refusal to a potential agreement.
19. “If I Can, Will You?”
Some people find excuses or reasons why they cannot go along with the suggested idea.
Asking “If I can do this for you, will you do this for me?” opens the door for more agreement.
20. “Enough”
Finding out what someone else considers to be enough can encourage them to agree with you or your concept.
21. “Just One More Thing”
The words “Just One More Thing” allow the continuation of the conversation and the introduction of an alternative idea.
22. “A Favor”
People secretly wish that someone would do them a favor and make their lives easier.
Therefore, when someone ask them for a favor, people oftentimes commit to the task at hand or tend to agree with the idea.
23. “Just Out of Curiosity”
“Just Out of Curiosity” provides clarity on the other person’s thought process.
Review
In Exactly What To Say: The Magic Words For Influence andImpact, after years of studies, Phil M. Jones shares the chosen words that are able to create results, help influence and direct conversation. These 23 magical phrases could be used personally and professionally, in all areas of leadership, negotiation, and sales.
This book is recommended for people who:
Regularly speak for a living, who want to change the way they speak and are serious about their personal success.
Want to know what to say, how to say it and to whom in every situation.
Always wish to be prepared for almost every conversation.
Exactly What To Say: The Magic Words For Influence and Impact by Phil M. Jones is a demonstration of the power or words and the reason why they have to be used carefully.
Let me know below what you think about this book!
Favorite quote(s)
The subconscious brain is a powerful tool in decision-making because it is preprogrammed through our conditioning to make decisions without overanalyzing them.
Success in life and business is rarely achieved without the support of others. If you can do things that allow other people to help you achieve your goals, then the chances of you reaching them significantly increase.
By continually learning, you grow and open yourself up to new experiences and ideas.
Acquiring good learning skills builds up your confidence and your willingness to explore.
Wondering what are the essential learning skills that every leader should know?
What are learning skills?
Learning skills are thinking skills and habits that you acquire in your childhood to help you learn and that you can perfect in adulthood.
Furthermore, learning skills is all about processing useful information, acquiring knowledge, self-regulating and making a sound decision.
Learning include reading, listening, focusing, remembering, confronting your understanding, practicing what you have learned, using the right tools and using time effectively.
1. Critical Thinking Skills
Learning is acquiring knowledge but not all knowledge is useful or will have a positive impact.
Therefore, leaders must develop critical thinking, become attentive to details, be selective of the knowledge that you acquire and store in your brain.
They must be able to think critically, make their own opinion and think independently, create their own experiences and increase self-awareness. They must also be able to classify and track their thoughts and ideas.
Furthermore, leaders must be able to break down, analyze, compare and understand a situation, an event or concept in order to reach a conclusion and take a measured decision.
2. Creative Thinking Skills
Creative thinking is the ability to be creative and to generate ideas.
With a sense of creativity, leaders are authentic, curious, open-minded, adapt easily and are capable of expressing themselves.
They are able to innovate, brainstorm with others, creatively assess a problem and come up with new and out of the box solutions.
3. Communication Skills
There are several ways to convey a message. Some leaders enjoy public speaking, some one on one conversations and others prefer reading or writing down their thoughts.
Leaders must be able to describe, share, argue, persuade, clarify, defend an idea, explain themselves and reach a solid conclusion. That way, they confront their own ideas and understanding.
They are also able to actively listen, evaluate an idea and engage with it.
4. Organizational skills
Organizational skills include time management, goal setting, schedule and event planning, productivity tracking, and progress measurement.
When leaders are organized, they tend to favor a clean and tidy workspace.
Being organized helps them alleviate the mental load, organize their thoughts, focus on the tasks at hand and meet their deadlines.
Organized leaders run the day and don’t let the day run them.
Last Words Of Advice!
Everybody learns differently.
It becomes useful to identify your preferred learning style as soon as possible.
Hope that I’ve helped you get it together on your way to leadership!
Don’t forget to like, share and leave a comment below.
If you are like me, then you have a serious case of the “Foot In Mouth Syndrome” which consists of saying things that inadvertently offend or embarrass people or yourself.
It is basically the art of saying things that you regret.
It is a real disease that plagues some of us, whether you are talkative or not, introverted or extroverted, thoughtful or not, mature or not.
To overcome this issue, we have to develop communication skills and tactfulness.
We just have to be extra careful to who we talk to, how we talk and what we say.
We just have to constantly monitor ourselves, filter ourselves more than usual, be more quiet than necessary, educate ourselves on our audience at all times.
We spend time fixing things and explaining what we meant.
We spend time avoiding expressions, topics and certain people.
In the workplace, there are a few phrases that are tactless and unforgivable and that you must avoid at all cost.
1. Silence as a cure
Staying silent doesn’t help circumvent the issue.
I have learnt this the hard way.
When you are too quiet, people will usually fill in the blanks with negative thoughts. Nobody will say: Tim is quiet because he is shy, introverted or cares a lot about the words that come out his mouth. Instead, they will say: Tim doesn’t speak to us because he doesn’t like us or because he thinks he is better than us.
Moreover, when you are too quiet, people will soon disregard you and forget that you exist.
It is better to minimize or actively filter the words you say than to stay silent.
People make mistakes all the time. You will just apologize if you have to.
2. Unintelligible speech
Fear of saying something unforgivable can make us do crazy things like speaking unintelligibly.
Fear can make us do crazy things. Period.
Speaking unintelligibly constitutes an attitude of avoidance. By doing this, you are straining your interlocutor and creating misunderstandings.
Very soon, nobody will want to talk to you. It becomes imperative that you build up some confidence, articulate and speak at a respectable volume.
3. Offensive speech
When we find ourselves in a stressful situations, it feels convenient and relieving to swear.
Studies show that the people who swear the most are very honest (very honest about their feelings, I’d say).
However, in the workplace, not everybody is comfortable with offensive language and you wouldn’t want to damage your self-image.
The best option is to stay from curse words all together or replace them with better language.
4. “It’s not fair”
Life is hard. Everybody has their personal challenges and unfair moments.
If you have put in the work and have not been recognized or recompensed, it’s OK. Your prince will come someday.
Sometimes, you have been doing something wrong that you are not fully aware of and you may want to discuss your performance with your trusted circle.
If you have been on the receiving end of continual unfair treatment, it’s time to move on to another job where you can put your skills to work.
5. “I didn’t double check that”
Unless you are the most perfect being walking the face of the earth, you will want to double check your work.
This comment makes you seem full of yourself and you open yourself up to criticism.
Everybody is susceptible to mistakes and need to pay attention to details.
6. “I’m busy” or “I don’t have time for this”
In the workplace, you should be able to prioritize your tasks and manage your own time.
By saying this, you are stating your incompetence, your lack of organizational skills, lack of patience or your laziness.
You can find ways to communicate your business without being rude or ask to reschedule.
That being said, some toxic leaders give their employees more work load than a regular person can handle. If you have a toxic leader, just make it clear that the task is not feasible in the time demanded.
7. “I’m bored” or “I have nothing else to do”
If you are bored at work, then you are in the wrong job or you are not being challenged enough.
To get out your boredom, you can either ask for more responsibilities, show some initiative or just be quiet about it.
8. “I’ll try”
This phrase implies the possibility of failure.
It is better to say “I will” or “I’ll do my best” because you make yourself accountable for your actions and means that you will put your best foot forward to succeed.
The worst that can happen is that you fail to deliver. But, you did your best, you will learn from your mistakes and grow as a person.
9. “That’s impossible” or “There’s nothing I can do”
That is a self-defeating and limiting phrase.
It means that you are not solution oriented and that you don’t even want to try.
10. “But we’ve always done it that way”
Well, this phrase might sound familiar to a lot of people.
It has been said by a lot of people, especially if they are experts, have been in the same position for the longest while or are resistant to change.
Truth is, not because you have been doing it one way that it is the only or that it is the right way.
Instead, it is best to state the reasons why you may want to keep doing it that way.
11. “I know that”
No, you don’t know. Stop.
If you did, you would be working for yourself and conversing with yourself. You wouldn’t need to exchange information with somebody. You would be the greatest and surest source of information of the universe.
Even if you really did know something, you should discipline your ego and your need to demonstrate your intellect.
Chances are the person sharing information with you will not want to share again.
Chances are when you will want information, people will assume that you already know.
Chances are when you will want information, you will feel embarrassed to come forward.
12. Strong No
There is an unwritten rule in the workplace which is to never openly use the word no.
If you are a straightforward person, you might be tempted to use it. You may think that you are decisive and that you know what you want or don’t want.
However, you will look harsh and it would be very hard to come back on the no without looking indecisive.
There are different ways that you can say no without employing the word in itself.
You can simply give the real reason why you are implicitly saying no or say something to effect of “I have prior engagement” or “I’ll think about it”.
13. Unwilling yes
Saying yes especially when you don’t want to oblige may be just as bad as saying no.
It is better to grow a backbone, stop people pleasing (easier said than done) and learn different ways to say no.
14. “Sorry but…”
You can apologize sincerely (once) if you have made a mistake but sorry is rarely enough and you will have to put in the work to fix things.
There is no need to beg for forgiveness because the best apology is changed behavior.
15. “That’s not my problem”, “That’s not in my job description” or “I don’t get paid enough for this”
I understand this approach or why someone would use these phrases.
Sometimes, we want to mind our business, don’t want to step on people’s toes and get out the scope of our job descriptions. Meddling in others activities can be a huge source of conflict or seeming to eager to please can lead you to be overworked and underpaid.
However, these specific phrases give off the vibe that you don’t care, that you hate your job or that you don’t want more responsibilities. If there is an opportunity to evolve, you will not be chosen.
Instead, you can recommend someone for this task, express that you will take care of this as soon as you finish your more urgent and adequate tasks (which may take a while).
Appreciate the situation for what it is and take the opportunity to try new things and get out of your comfort zone.
16. “I don’t need help”
Employers value people who are autonomous, who don’t expect hand-holding or for other people to do their job.
The reality is we all need help from time to time whether we want to admit it or not.
Permanently locking yourself off is simply an ego move and asking for help sometimes is OK.
Furthermore, people will like you more if you ask them for favors or for help.
17. “You are wrong”, “You make no sense”, and “You misunderstood”
Even if this is true and even if the situation is heated, there is no need play the blame game.
The blame game never results in resolve but in more blame shifting.
When in conflict, you either want to convince the other person of your point of view or put an end to all exchange.
The easiest way out is to ask for further clarification or clarify your point of view and move on.
18. “You should have…” or “You could have…”
These phrases are confidence killers whether you say them to yourself or to someone else. Relax, mistakes happen all the time and eventually you have to keep swimming.
The most important part is to take responsibility for your mistakes and quickly find solutions to the problem.
19. “I may be wrong, but…” or “I don’t want to steer you in the wrong direction, but…”
These phrases denote your lack of confidence.
The truth is that you dismiss yourself before others do.
To boost your confidence, just state what you are thinking. If your statement is wrong, then it is wrong. There is no need for a full disclaimer.
20. “It’s not my fault” and “I am only following orders”
Well that’s an easy way out!
Some people refrain from taking initiative or making decision just so they can shift blame.
Shifting blame is the fastest to create tension in the workplace. Even if you have nothing to do with the mistake, find different ways to fix the situation.
21. “At my last job…”
This statement immediately puts people in defense mode whether you or talking about people or work processes because you start gossiping, comparing and criticizing.
It implies that you feel like you have been better places and you are not able or willing to adapt to your new environment.
Making nonconstructive or judgmental statements can ruin a career.
22. “I quit”
Sometimes, you are just going through a phase where you want to quit and give up.
There is no need to speak your mind out loud and let everybody know that you are on the brink of quitting.
Instead, take a break from what you are doing and if you are about to quit, move in silence.
Last Words Of Advice!
Communicating with tact is a skill that you can acquire with time.
Everybody puts their feet in their mouth from time to time.
So, don’t beat yourself up.
Hope that I’ve helped you get it together on your way to leadership!
Don’t forget to like, share and leave a comment below.
They understand themselves, pay attention to people’s non verbal cues and are able to perceive the emotions of others. As a result, they are able to easily relate to people.
#2. Empathetic leaders are a great judge of character
Empathetic leaders are true to themselves and notice inauthentic people.
They can easily distinguish a lie from the truth, which makes them highly ethical.
When someone is talking to them, they give them their full attention in order to sense their feelings and to access their emotions.
#5. Empathetic leaders are peace makers
Empathetic leaders enjoy their peace of mind. They want to get rid of conflicts or negative situation at all costs.
They cannot stand chaos or conflicts. So whenever a negative situation arises or whenever they sense negative emotions, they take it upon yourself to restore peace.
#6. Empathetic leaders create a healthy workplace
Being an empathetic leader is critical to the workplace.
Empathetic leaders have a tendency to calm people down and to build trust.
They set up their environment so that everyone can succeed.
Their behavior induces greater collaboration, increase performance and creates a healthier workplace.
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