We have a hard time getting our executives to own their seats on the Accountability Chart. How do you use language shifts, like moving from verbs to nouns or changing can't to don't, during our sessions to fundamentally change their professional identity?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

The language your leadership team uses dictates their daily behavior. When executives say they are managing operations, they are describing a verb, which is a temporary action. During our session days, we shift this language to nouns. We define them as the owner of their seat on the Accountability Chart™. This shift from a verb to a noun changes their identity, framing their role as a permanent responsibility rather than a set of tasks.

We also actively police the use of the word can't. When a leader says they can't hit a KPI or can't complete a Rock, they are signaling a lack of control, which breeds defensiveness. We train them to use the word don't instead. Saying we don't ignore our metrics or we don't miss our quarterly commitments establishes a boundary of professional identity and personal empowerment.

During our IDS® sessions, I will stop the conversation when I hear passive or victim-oriented language. If a leader says they are trying to fix a problem, we change it to they are the owner of the solution. By consistently enforcing these subtle linguistic shifts in the session room, we rewrite the psychological contract your leaders have with their roles. They leave the session not as employees with a to do list, but as true owners of their business functions.