We Have Always Done It That Way

On an association listerver discussion recently, several members debated the pros and cons of what to call their volunteer leadership group: board of directors or board of trustees. The consensus conclusion was that it really doesn’t matter. What matters is the way the Board does its work, not what we call it. We have heard this argument before. For example, since the first release of the book, we have engaged people in the association community in conversations about different approaches to strategic planning. When we propose a new way of doing strategy work, people often respond with, “Well, that’s what we do, but we call it strategic planning; this is an issue of semantics.”

While I agree wholeheartedly that action is critical, I think the association community is underestimating the power of language. Dee Hock, the founder of VISA International, has said, “Language is only secondarily the means by which we communicate. It is primarily the means by which we think.” The words we choose can actively change the way we see the world, and this can then change the way we behave. We are frequently not aware of the impact it has, so it is important that the association community pay more attention to the language it uses. Better execution is fundamentally about different action, and this requires careful attention to the words we use.

Michael Roberto is an expert in decision making, and he has done research that demonstrates the power of simple word choice. For example, at a hospital in Minnesota, a manager was trying to address the issue of medical accidents. She noticed that the language that was used in the official reporting of these incidents was focused on “accusing, blaming, and criticizing” individuals. The leader changed the language that was used in reporting so that it emphasized both the systemic causes and the importance of learning from mistakes that were made. When they changed the language, the hospital actually started reporting MORE accidents, but was also able to learn from them and make improvements.

It is rarely a case of changing a single word, like director to trustee. But if you wanted to change the behavior of your board away from individuals who seek to control and direct the operations, towards a group that worked to protect the interests of the enterprise, changing that word (and a host of other words) could be critical. You would also have to change some processes and have some important conversation with the Board members, but attempting to make the change without addressing issues of language can slow you down. The same is true if you want your staff to think more strategically on a regular basis, and the same is true if you want your people to place more attention to quality control.

Language matters.

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