Using Empowering Language to Revolutionise Business
October 13, 2023

As children we’re taught how to speak and listen – so, we must be pretty good at it, right? Wrong! Forget everything you think you know. Throw away the rulebook. 

Language is a tool, a tactic, that when used deliberately and with genuine honest intent can be used in a way that absolutely works for everyone concerned. Ultimately, the aim is to establish and maintain rapport with your conversing partner, allowing for a positive, trusting and relaxed relationship to form, whereby both parties feel completely seen, heard and understood. 


Find commonality or a shared interest – be warm, flex your personality, allow an acquaintanceship to flourish. Ideally, you should have at least four anchor (talking) points with each of your clients, showing that you take a legitimate interest in them. 


In business, you absolutely have to have hard-hitting, difficult conversations. Plain and simple. But, when you’re trusted and respected, free and open conversation is much easier, and more effective. Without rapport, long-term business isn’t possible. The relationship will feel cold, unnatural and often defensive or combative.


Add to these communication challenges how home-working and virtual calls can create an additional barrier to creating genuine rapport, and we see that it’s more important than ever to be conscious and mindful. If all else fails, focus on listening. Utilise what the person you're communicating with is saying – listen out for indications of their preferences, in terms of: the language they use, hot buttons, their desired communication style, and the like. Talk their language. Reflect and match how they’re communicating with you as this is how they understand communication, this is their truth, and this is how you ensure your message will land best for them. 


Most importantly with all of this though, you MUST be ethical in your intentions. This is not a trick or a con. You’re not trying to deceive your client. Quite the opposite. You’re aiming to genuinely enhance how you engage together – advocating for a mutual win - allowing for truly compelling communications to exist, allowing them to feel heard and understood. 


For further insight, listen to Felicity chat with Steve Timmis on the Sempar Talks Podcast: https://sempartalks.libsyn.com/episode-10-5-value-bombs-for-using-empowering-language-to-revolutionise-your-business-with-felicity-wingrove. 


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Mastering the Art of Corporate Storytelling

By Felicity Wingrove • August 13, 2024
Storytelling is certainly a powerful art - both in the creation of intentional stories released into the world to entertain, enthuse, or inspire, and in the internal dialogue which has evolved to keep each of us safe. But it also holds significant weight as an effective corporate communication tool… We recently shared our insights about the importance of determining your truth in amongst the truth when it comes to the tales we tell ourselves as a response to the world around us. But once this has been mastered, storytelling can help you to further connect and engage – whether at Board level or communicating with your entire workforce.

A Tale as Old as Time: Storytelling Myths We Tell Ourselves

By Felicity Wingrove • July 10, 2024
From early childhood we’re taught the ancient art of storytelling. We start with ‘once upon a time’ and end with ‘happily ever after’, and we carry on telling ourselves stories as we grow and step into the world around us. But they don’t always serve us well. And that’s in large part because we’re each so unique and we view the world through our own personal stained-glass window sunglasses. Each pane of glass has been shaped and coloured by our own lived experiences, the culture in which we were raised, and the many ‘truths’ we’ve been taught along the way. And these impact how we interpret, respond and react to the stories we’re told, and that we tell ourselves. We read into a person’s intent, decipher what they ‘really’ mean, or work to sense what’s coming next. It’s all perfectly natural and it’s ultimately how our brain has evolved to keep us safe, but it’s rarely the truth and very much more often our truth. Take a lunch with friends as an example. Imagine walking into the restaurant and seeing them all together over the other side of the room, laughing and having a great time. You walk towards them and as soon as they see you, they fall quiet and look a bit awkward. You could make that behaviour mean that they were talking about you, or that they were planning a surprise birthday party for you. Neither may be the whole truth but just think about how you’d act if you believed either of those stories, how your friends would respond, and how the end of that lunch might look and feel… So few of us realise that our inner narrative doesn’t come from a neutral place, instead, just like our stained-glass sunglasses, it’s moulded by our experiences, self-image, and personal filters. And this is ever-applicable in the corporate world too. Two individuals receiving the exact same email, can have wildly different interpretations, and that comes down to their filters and how they read or process it. When we assume the intent behind a message based on our inner storytelling narrative, it absolutely impacts our response to that message. Our reaction may be defensive, potentially leading to a negative exchange that may have been completely unnecessary in reality. So always pause. And bring conscious awareness to anything that a communication (regardless of its form) brings up for you, and then ask yourself if the messaging you took from it was the truth, or was it your truth?

Download our guide to learn the five secrets to compelling communications.

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