Positive language is an effective tool to change the way we express ourselves, improve our relationships and increase our ability to persuade. Therefore, it is essential to understand what it is, why it is so important and how to apply it to transform our daily communication.

What is positive language?

Positive language is a communication strategy based on the intentional use of words and expressions that generate confidence, motivation and clarity in messages. It is not simply a matter of being optimistic or friendly, but of constructing a discourse that promotes well-being, cooperation and problem solving.

The way we speak shapes the way we think. The words we use influence the way we perceive reality, feel and react to different situations. When we use negative language, we unconsciously activate the amygdala, a brain region linked to fear and anxiety. On the other hand, when we use positive language, we stimulate the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for creativity, problem solving and rational decision making.

In addition, positive language not only impacts our own attitude and mood, but also the perception and response of those around us.

Some examples of the use of positive language

Let’s look at some examples. Although the meaning is similar, the second option in each case encourages a more proactive and decisive attitude:

• “It’s a difficult and complicated problem.” → “It’s an interesting challenge and we have a chance to find a good solution.”
• “I have no experience in this, I’m going to have a hard time doing it.” → “It’s a good opportunity to learn something new and put my skills into practice.”
• “This customer is very demanding and complicated.” → “This customer knows what he wants; that will help us provide him with better service.”
• “We failed in this task, it was a disaster.” → “We were not right, but this experience has given us valuable learnings to improve in the future.”

What are the benefits of using positive language?

Positive language brings benefits both personally and professionally:

• Generates trust and empathy in conversations.
• Facilitates conflict resolution by focusing on solutions.
• Reinforces self-esteem and that of others.
• Improves the work environment and strengthens the team culture.
• Increases persuasiveness by making messages more attractive.

On the contrary, a negative language-loaded with criticism, pessimistic expressions or aggressive tones-can generate rejection, resistance and affect the motivation of those who listen to us.

Applying positive language in our communication allows us to more effectively influence our daily interactions and obtain better results in our personal and professional relationships.

Strategies for putting positive language into practice

1.- Substitute negative words for positive alternatives. Small changes in the way we express ourselves can change the perception of a message:

• “I don’t know” → “I’m going to look into it.”
• “This is impossible” → “Let’s look for a workable solution.”

Rephrase sentences in a positive way. Instead of focusing on what cannot be done, emphasize what is possible:

• “I don’t know how to do it” → “I’m going to research the best way to do it.”
• “This report has many errors” → “We can revise this report to improve it”.

3.- Use constructive questions. Well-phrased questions direct the conversation toward solutions rather than problems:

• “Why did the project go wrong?” → “What can we learn from this experience and how can we improve it next time?”

4.- Enhance the use of affirmations and positive reinforcement. They always motivate and reinforce a constructive attitude:

• “I’m confident we can make it.”
• “Your work is bringing a lot of value to the team.”

Reinforce your communication with positive nonverbal language. We have already mentioned on many occasions the importance of nonverbal communication. Smile, posture and tone of voice reinforce the message you want to convey. And when it is a written message, read it out loud before sending it. Does it sound friendly, positive and clear?

Integrate positive language into your daily life

I insist, positive language does not imply ignoring problems, but expressing ourselves in a way that fosters trust and conflict resolution. We must not forget that words influence the perception and reaction of others. If we learn to reformulate our messages in a positive way, we will achieve that our communication (with ourselves and with others) will have a completely different impact.

Take the test. During the next few days, pay special attention to how you communicate – with others and with yourself – and try to apply some of these strategies to change the way you express yourself. I’m sure you’ll notice the difference.

La entrada Transform your communication with the use of positive language. se publicó primero en Agencia comma.

What is a spokesperson?

The spokesperson of an organisation, company, association… is the person designated and prepared to transmit its key messages to its internal and external target audiences (journalists, shareholders, employees, investors, suppliers, etc.)….) in a direct, simple and impactful way; It is constituted as the voice of the company and is assumed to always works (or should work) based on the organisation’s business strategy and in coordination with its communications team.

An organisation may have more than one spokesperson, usually related to different specialities within the organisation, but it must always have a spokesperson of reference who is the most representative image of the company;

The main spokesperson is usually the president or CEO of the organisation and his/her charisma and profile should match; In other words, there must be coherence between what the brand says it is and its main representative. The reality does not always coincide with the most advisable and it is not unusual to find spokespersons who do not adequately represent the role that corresponds to them, which will directly affect the perception of the brand;

It is therefore essential that the spokesperson is aware of the role he or she represents, of the responsibility he or she has as the main voice of the organisation and of the importance of taking that role very seriously;

The importance of the spokesperson in corporate communication

The spokesperson is like the captain of a great ship and must be aware that he/she is the highest representative of the ship; Knowing where you are going and which sailors you have, knowing the route to take, the risks you may encounter, weather forecasts and other possible unforeseen events are on your list of responsibilities;

A bad spokesperson can spoil an organisation’s reputation or confuse its target audiences by portraying an image that is inconsistent with the raison d’être of the company he or she represents;

Giving voice to an organisation is essential; What you don’t say about your organisation, others will say for you, so it is essential that the importance of good spokespersonship for brand perception is taken seriously; Everything a spokesperson does, he or she communicates, that also includes what he or she does not do;

Efficient communication

In 1967, anthropologist and psychologist Albert Mehrabian of the University of California (UCLA) presented a study that collected the percentage that each element of communication – words, body and voice – represents in conversation. Although Mehrabian focused on emotional communication, his conclusions are very timely to understand how important the role of a spokesperson is and what must be taken into account in order to communicate effectively;

La entrada The spokesperson and his role in corporate communication se publicó primero en Agencia comma.

Communicating effectively is, in essence, about convincing. In this post we will address the keys to place an interview in the most appropriate medium to conduct it. In short, how to make a convincing pitch.

The first step: does it make sense to do an interview?

First of all, we have to take an essential first step, asking ourselves what is the point of conducting this interview. As Silvia Albert recently explained in this blog, strategy is the backbone of communication. It is not uncommon for communications departments to receive an unexpected order that this or that manager “wants to do an interview”, or that a high representative of company X is coming to visit our country and “an interview must be done”. Ideally, interviews should not be done just for the sake of it or for the sake of pleasantries. Interviews have to make sense (there is a relevant message to communicate) and must fit within a communication strategy. Forced interviews usually give a bad result and end up generating a bad rapport with the media who, in some way, end up being forced to consider an interview that is not of interest to them.

Once all the pieces fit together and the strategic decision is made to move forward, it’s time for the pitch. We are going to approach it in four very simple keys.

It is a long-term job

A pitch actually begins long before it is put into practice. It is not possible to start from scratch. It is necessary to have a thorough knowledge of the media. The aim is to monitor the topics published by each media outlet, the style used to approach the publication of reports, the prestige of the media and how it is perceived by the sector of reference for the interlocutor we want to place in that media outlet. At the same time, it is not only about knowing the media, but also the journalists. We must know very well how they write, what kind of topics they are interested in, what image they have of them in the sector. A third line of action is the relationship of trust that you establish with the journalist. This relationship is based on mutual respect, transparency and a professional exchange of information. With these three pillars: knowledge of the media, knowledge of the journalists and a professional relationship of trust with them. By using them, we will be able to correctly determine which journalist and which media is the most appropriate and most likely to be successful for our interview.

Get to know your spokesperson and what he or she stands for

But this is only part of it. Not only do we have to know the medium, we also have to know our spokesperson. Knowing the character of the spokesperson, his or her professional background and personal trajectory are elements that will help us to build a solid pitch. On the one hand, we need to identify those elements that make our spokesperson unique. The spokesperson has to be special and attractive to the media. A spokesperson has to be well prepared. For this it is always advisable to have carried out a training of spokespersons.

And beyond the personality of our spokesperson, there is the company he or she represents. In the end, we cannot forget that our spokesperson is the representative of the company to which he or she belongs, whether it is a large multinational, or even a personal project of the spokesperson himself. In other words, there are two ‘spokespersons’ to be deployed: the person to be interviewed and the company he or she represents. Therefore, we need to define and know in depth the values, mission and key messages that the company wants to convey.

Being in this world

We understand how important it is for our spokesperson to transmit the messages he/she wants to convey and the importance that our spokesperson attaches to the company he/she represents, but all this must be adapted to the circumstances of the moment, to current events. That is why it is necessary to know how to fit the messages we want to convey within the topics that are relevant to the audience. In other words: convince that our proposal is relevant and pertinent at the time it is taking place. We must make a thorough exploration of the true value and uniqueness of our interview and keep abreast of the topics of conversation that are moving the press. What is presented to the journalist has to be a unique and valuable opportunity for him or her that he should not let slip away.

Clarity and conciseness

That quality is more valuable than quantity is something that has been known in Spain at least since the Golden Age. It has been 400 years since the famous priest and writer Baltasar Gracián coined the famous phrase, “what is good, if it is brief, is twice as good”. This is an example of what is needed for a claim to stand the test of time. To be effective, a pitch has to be clear and direct. If you have to stun the journalist with a torrent of words to convince him or her of the importance of the subject matter, something is wrong. Journalists must understand the importance of the opportunity provided.

It is not an exact science

One of the great dramas of communication is that it is not an exact science. Using the same ingredients in the same exact proportions does not always result in the same dish. The list of imponderables that can alter the course of events is like the universe: it is constantly expanding.

The course is therefore uncertain. In J. R. R. R. Tolkien’s famous novel The Fellowship of the Ring, the elderly hobbit Bilbo warned his cousin (not nephew) Frodo of the dangers of setting foot on the road, because you never know where it might lead you. But well-equipped, we will substantially increase our chances of taking our pitch to a good port. Hence the importance of carrying out long-term work that puts the wind in our favor. The only way to perform this task effectively is to build a relationship with the press based on professionalism, trust and transparency.

La entrada Interviews: the art of making a good pitch in four key points se publicó primero en Agencia comma.

The discourse is literature read and interpreted, and in that sense, it has something, a lot, I would say quite a lot, of theatricalisation; That is if it is to be effective; Those who do not interpret their speech well, because reading it is not enough, leave the audience cold, even if the author of the text is a genius of the word;

Originally, the speech was the work of the speaker, but things have changed and the writing has become professionalised, with the result that – for over a hundred years now – there has existed in Spanish a rather crude and racist expression – that of ‘negro’ – to describe what English speakers much more elegantly call ‘ghost writer’.

The fact that in Spanish it has such a despicable name has to do with the contempt we have here for those who work for someone else’s ego; However, in English the word is precious: ghostwriter; Someone who is perceived but not seen, because he or she puts words at the service of another, of ideas, of an argument;

The expression ‘giving a speech’ is also frowned upon in Spanish and is often synonymous with something boring and long, tedious, even false, that takes time away from our lives and/or puts us to sleep; This week, on the occasion of Feijóo’s investiture, we have had the opportunity to see some of his colleagues nodding their heads in their seats;

Pure theatre

Those of us who have written speeches on occasion or on a recurring basis are not only privileged but also more than aware that the person who is going to read it can destroy the most brilliant of texts;

It is not always the fault of the speaker; But other times, it is; either because it destroys a brilliant text by reading it without soul, without intonation, without life: or because it has not counted on professionals of the spoken word to interpret it; Or both; Because it has to be interpreted and rehearsed; Like the theatre;

In fact, one of the best manuals on orality is the one written by the actor Pedro Mari Sánchez, a beast of the stage, and Ana Martín, a journalist; In “The Magic Word” there is much in the two’s project to improve the speaking skills of those who must address others in public who have no choice but to listen to them.

That public, possibly at an event, at an investiture, at a rally, is surely hijacked to a certain point: you can’t leave. To succeed, let’s make them feel ‘Stockholm syndrome’ and make our lecture short;

How to do it to succeed?

First recommendation: keep it short; Since always, but more so since the COVID pandemic, the length of speeches has shortened for many reasons; First, that attention spans have shrunk. Secondly, that even without a pandemic, there was an urgent need not to be so much of a nuisance; Time is money, it has always been said; Five minutes to express one or two strong ideas is more than enough; Why so few ideas? In order not to lose focus;

But one of the determining factors in this shortening of speeches has been virtual or online events and meetings, whose formats make any intervention that exceeds five minutes far more tedious. For this reason, and because hybrid formats (direct and streaming), are here to stay, it pays to cut to the chase.

Second recommendation: be passionate about it; Just a little bit of passion, just enough so that you don’t sound like a great lady of the song if you are presenting the results of the quarter, but still talk with a certain enthusiasm about what you want to convey; Some say that people without a soul can’t transmit anything; I agree that some people are soulless, but sometimes they are very good performers, and that is the key;

Third recommendation: if you are not the author of your own speech, make it your own; It is not advisable to present yourself at the key moment without having read several times what you are going to say; As much as you trust your ghostwriter, confirm that you feel confident in what you are going to tell and that you can convey it in form and substance;

In short, to interpret a speech is to give it all the force that the written words themselves do not give; it is to give value to witnessing the speech, as opposed to reading it; It is watching theatre as opposed to reading theatre;

Lorca and his half a loaf of bread and a book

One of my favourite speeches is the one that Federico García Lorca is said to have given at the inauguration of his village library; I cannot imagine Lorca as anything other than an actor, because I have never heard his voice, nor have I seen him at rallies or in theatres, nor have I heard him in recordings of the time; But I can imagine with a twinkle in his eye he would say: “If I were hungry and helpless in the street, I would not ask for a loaf of bread, I would ask for half a loaf and a book;

Another brilliant speaker was Pedro Zerolo; A few days ago I was talking to those who worked with him and wrote speeches for him, such as the one in which he replied to intransigent people that “I don’t fit in your model of society, but you fit in mine”; These and other brilliant phrases from those who worked for him were masterfully interpreted until they became Zerolo’s skin, words more his own than his own; Was Zerolo expressing something he did not feel? I don’t think so; Did he express it in better words than his own? Of course; What did he do to transmit them with passion? Perform them;

On one occasion he made all of us journalists covering the Madrid City Council plenary session cry in the press tribune, because he spoke of feminism, recalling how it was “our mothers, our sisters and our friends” who had supported homosexual people like him in coming out of the closet; He was a tremendous performer; None of this was written by him, but it raised an applause like few others I remember in that dark hall of the Casa de la Villa;

But do all the events, speakers and occasions give enough power to put so much force into the word? The short answer is no; Performing is also about knowing how not to overact; The speaker must be comfortable in the role, and the listener must believe what he or she is saying without the form dragging the substance to the bottom of the ocean of our attention;

And here I link to a fourth recommendation: the closer what you say is to what you think, the more convincing you can be; This may seem obvious, but it is not, for in politics as in business, the speaker sometimes represents a collegial position in which, if left to his or her own devices, he or she would perhaps speak in accordance with his or her own vote; This is where the theatre comes in again; An actor does not own himself, but puts his body at the service of a character, a story, a play, a director and an author;

I realise that writing for others is a real privilege; And getting paid for it is a luxury available to very few; This is why I believe that the profession of speechwriter,(no more ghosts) must be asserted without complexes.

Is there anything wrong with a professional ensuring that a leading figure in any field speaks well, expresses himself clearly and convinces his audience? Nothing; It’s just that in Spain we have a self respect that is well above the standards and therefore, sometimes, it may seem reprehensible that one does not write what one pronounces.

Professionals must be able to write for people who do not think like them as fluently as they would write for those who do; That’s what professionals do; Do you want to be a professional? Read on.

Reading and listening: writing takes a lot of time;

The first thing to write in order for someone else to speak properly in public is to read; Read a lot; Reading takes time; Time which, if you are a professional writer, should be included in your working hours; Read if you want to in your spare time, of course, of course: the more references you have, the better for you, for the recipients of your speeches and ultimately for the audience who will listen to it; But if you read specifically to write about a topic, read in your working hours because it IS work;

The second is to think; This also takes time; But it is not always properly paid for; And you can’t always stop your thinking and make it only work from nine to six; It’s a pointless fight: the best ideas will come in the shower, on your bike rides or when you make love; There is nothing you can do about it, but try to hold on to the idea that came to you if you have nothing handy to write it down;

The third thing: step aside; Yes, once you have read and learned and thought about it, move on; Those who read and think often have ideas of their own; However, to write a speech, you have to adapt to the speaker’s ideas, tone and language, as well as to his or her thinking; However, there are times when, without forcing the machine, and seeing that the speaker’s ideas are well aligned with yours, you can propose something of your own that is brilliant, that he likes so much that he makes it his own; It’s like a mutual gift: the speaker benefits from your idea as if it were his own, but in return he projects your ideas to an audience that you, poor paid writer, usually an anonymous character, will never have;

This chapter of stepping aside has a very important appendix which is listening; Listening to your speaker, the one you are writing for, is essential; Sometimes you will be lucky enough to have an open and talkative person, with the capacity to transmit what he or she thinks and feels, and who enjoys transmitting his or her ideas and proposals to you, writer, so that you, writer, can order them and prepare them for the more or less formal orality of a lectern, a rostrum or a meeting;

Sometimes luck is not on your side; Sometimes you don’t even have direct contact with the person you have to talk to, the person you have to write for, and it is a challenge to try to understand what is going on in the mind of a third party on a certain topic you have to talk about; What he thinks, how he thinks and how he can convey it; Writing for people you don’t know sometimes becomes a fool’s errand; It’s the only time you can regret being a ghostwriter;

Pray hard;

I always say that, while in science two plus two equals four, in literature everything is open to opinion; There is not only one way of saying something, but a thousand ways, except in legal language where the aim is precisely the univocity of words to avoid ambiguities; If you write for someone you don’t know, who you don’t have the opportunity to listen to, whose ideas are barely sketched in a sketch… how do you get the register, the tone, the rhythm right? There is no other option than to use 120% of his previous interventions and to use his trade and intuition;

The voice and its infinite inflections can be your ally or your worst enemy; There are chanting people and people who speak with a tonal line identical to that of Buddhist mantras; There are those who speak very slowly, so slowly that they put the staff to sleep, and others who speak so fast that they run over, choke, suffocate and finally give up on being understood by the audience; There are those who always read, and there are those who prefer just two or three ideas sketched on a card; Knowing how to adapt is the only way to make a living as a speechwriter; We have written for all these profiles, even for those who do not read anything you have posted for them at all;

And here comes the sixth and last recommendation, perhaps the most important; Train your frustration tolerance; Temper your ego to that of the lowliest worker ant on the world’s last ant hill; Because if you don’t, when a speaker destroys your idea, your brilliant prose, your rallying flair or your formal and philosophical creativity, you will want to give it all up, to deny as Peter denied Christ three times that he had written anything that was said there;

It grows, and starts again every day; With every speech there is a new opportunity to do better, to leave an idea in the air that will go far and change things; It is very worthwhile;

La entrada Writing for others: discourse as a genre in communication se publicó primero en Agencia comma.