This is a summary of the book “How to say it for First-Time Managers” written by Jack Griffin and published by Prentice Hall Press, 2010. This book teaches winning words and strategies for earning your team’s confidence.

Managers must be able to communicate with their reports. If newly appointed managers can’t communicate their ideas, directions and instructions, the areas they supervise will fall apart. By paying attention to what needs to be said and how and when it needs to be said, this books provides invaluable advices to newbies. The author suggests the best words to use and those to avoid and even the body language that an inexperienced manager must adopt.

The language of leadership is both verbal and non-verbal. Effective leadership requires effective communication. The best posture is one that imparts a sense of relaxed energy. The eyes must be wide open during direct communications. Fidgeting or yawning must be avoided. Signaling an engagement by nodding or leaning forward is necessary. Eyes, ears, or nose must not be rubbed because they signal doubt. Similarly, scratching your head signals confusion. Smiling is very helpful.

Leadership language fluency helps new managers establish authority and credibility.  The language of business concerns money and time. Words explain, motivate, encourage, discourage, inspire, depress, demand, invite, guide, mislead, clarify, confuse, hearten, and terrify.  The author mentions ten touchstones for day-to-day communications which include 1. Accountability where someone is responsible for something, 2. Collaboration where teamwork is essential to business, 3. Decisions where conflicts are resolved and trade-offs are balanced, 4. Ethics for guarding against falls, 5. Evaluations for making value judgements, 6. Excellence – for leading the reports to high-quality work, 7. Learning to involve distilling knowledge from experience, 8. Mission – for a well defined sense of purpose, 9. Performance for continuous improvement, and 10. Quality for business that can succeed with excellence.

“Every Manager needs a useful, effective, and productive vocabulary.”  Part of the vocabulary builds with “active listening” because by repeating what the other person says, co-operation is earned. Avoiding shaking the head that signals a rejection, keeping eye contact for the person to feel engaged, never lowering the chin because it signals defensiveness and avoiding or alleviating “rapid breathing” because it suggests anxiety, are some of the ways in which negatives can be balanced.

On the first day as a manager, always speak from knowledge, says the author and if there is doubt, not to say anything. Plan how to conduct the meetings, the preamble, body or the epilogue. Pausing before speaking can imply confidence and self-assuredness. Focusing on what one is going to say is mutually helpful to the speaker and the listener.

Clarity in written and spoken communication depends on speaking to the point and staying focused. The five W’s approach delineating who, what, when, where, and why  can help in this regard. Using a step-by-step format in chronological order is much better than a long narrative. All rules, policies and procedures must be written out. Do not delegate work by starting out with a pep talk. Goals must be specified in the order where the intent is laid out, the benefits explained, the fit within the big picture, the reachability of the goal discussed, calling out the tasks that are necessary, delegating those tasks, and explaining what and when a task must be completed. Praise is much better than criticism for motivation but give it with a story. Supportive words include reset, overcome, self-starter, and retry. Negative responses must be provided with an explanation. Meetings must have agenda; it must never be a monologue and ideas must be requested. Ideas must also be examined.