Thursday Thought: A Four-Letter Word I Want You to Use!
?? Susan Rooks ?? The Grammar Goddess
Editor/Proofreader: I help writers and podcasters & their guests look and sound as smart as they are.??BIZCATALYST 360° Columnist??Cruciverbalist????The Oxford Comma????Dog Rescuer??Spunky Old Broad??
I was at a networking event a while back, and a man used a four-letter word I wasn’t expecting.
I was surprised — shocked, actually — and I told him so.
And I know where your mind is going … but hang in there, please.
We were discussing how his firm helps companies with customer satisfaction surveys, among other things, and he said something like “We help the companies do an even better job than they’re currently doing with customer satisfaction.”
Did you spot the word?
No?
Well, read on.
I realized the positive power of this particular word many years ago when I was helping a credit union create better employee reviews. You know what I mean, right? Those are the dreaded annual reviews we sit through, praying our boss actually likes us enough to keep us in our job (or maybe promote us to another one), and we go in all hopeful but too often leave dispirited (for many reasons).
We discussed how they could help their employees really feel the praise that is intended, and we talked about the language they could use to achieve that.
For instance, a boss might say something like, “You had a great year. You did A, B, and C — but something you could do better would be ...”
Sigh. He’s not happy with me.
Maybe he’d be a little nicer (or smarter), and not use “but” and say, “You had a great year. You did A, B, and C — and something you could do better would be ...”
We discussed whether either version of those words would really make anyone happy, and the consensus was no.
Not really.
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Not quite.
The words were meant as praise, but they fell a little flat.
Suddenly someone asked, “What if we said, ‘You did A, B, and C — and something you could do even better would be …’ ”
There it was!
A truly magical four-letter word that changed the tenor of the comment from so-so to really good.
Maybe even great.
Yes, the word is?EVEN. With just four letters, it packs a strong, positive emotional punch. Suddenly the employee goes from “she hates me” to “I think she likes me!” without really knowing why.
And isn’t that a great outcome?
Why does it work? Well, it allows the employee to believe they are already doing a good job (phew!), and they could go from good to great — with just one additional word being used.
And isn’t that what we all hope our boss thinks?
Most of us learned as kids that words have power, but have we as adults taken a step back and looked at how to use words to gain the result we want?
The result that works for both parties?
How does this strike you?
Are there situations where you could use this word in a conversation and see how it helps?
Advocate
5 个月this insight Susan Rooks The Grammar Goddess is one year old but it truly has no stale date or shelf life… Fabulous shar again
Write Your Book. Grow Your Brand. Let Me Help.
5 个月Loved the storytelling and loved the word “even” too… you sure had me looking for it! ??
Struggling to Sell in English? I Help You to Speak Clearly, Write Effectively, and Close Deals— No More Confusion, Just Results.
6 个月The power of simple words should never be taken lightly as you have pointed out. Here is one that drives me every day HOPE.
Increasing the Emotional Intelligence (EQ) of Business Leaders & Teams to Reduce Turnover, Optimize Culture, Boost Morale, and Increase Productivity
1 年I like it!
Senior VP, Creative Director/Writer at Gale Martin Advertising, Ltd.
1 年But Goddess, if you're tuned in on Olympus, I do like the power, if used only every leap year, of the word "effin'. I.e. "to you it's the intermittent windshield wiper, to me, it's the effin' Mona Lisa. You read it here first, Goddess. And my new website will further discuss this. Especially since the Heart B never got its full day in court but did get #1 in recall, unaided by name, in a National AOL POLL. POLL