Learning the Language of Leadership: A Proposed Agenda for Leader Training

This paper proposes a training/research agenda for teaching leaders strategic language. Strategic language is defined by motivating language theory (Sullivan, 1988) as leader-to-subordinate oral communication that increases the likelihood of such desirable worker outcomes as high performance levels...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Journal of leadership studies Vol. 2; no. 1; pp. 132 - 136
Main Authors Mayfield, Jacqueline R, Mayfield, Milton R
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Flint Sage Publications Ltd 01.01.1995
Subjects
Communication
Language
Leadership
Leadership training
Motivation
Theory
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Summary:This paper proposes a training/research agenda for teaching leaders strategic language. Strategic language is defined by motivating language theory (Sullivan, 1988) as leader-to-subordinate oral communication that increases the likelihood of such desirable worker outcomes as high performance levels and job satisfaction. Motivating language has been further specified as appropriate use of the following speech act categories: 1) Direction-Giving, 2) Empathetic, and 3) Meaning-Making. Motivating language theory and its predictions have received strong support from previous research, including scale development and model testing. The proposed next step is implementation through organizational diagnosis and training programs.
ISSN:1071-7919
DOI:10.1177/107179199500200111