Need to Motivate Employees Through Tough Times? Use These 47 Compelling Words

And to increase the degree of difficulty, you can’t just sequester yourself in your war room solving problems; employees need you to be more visible and accessible than ever.

That’s why you need to make communication a priority. Even when you’re feeling tired, stressed and overwhelmed, it’s important for you to square your shoulders and fulfill your critical role of providing direction and encouragement to your team members.

Here’s one key factor in successful communication: the words you choose.

George Lakoff, emeritus professor of cognitive science and linguistics at University of California, Berkeley, explains why. He writes that every word or phrase fits what he calls “a frame”—a connection to the beliefs or values that the audience holds dear.

Frames are part of what psychologists and scientists call “‘the cognitive unconscious’—structures in our brains that we cannot consciously access but know by their consequences: the way we reason and what counts as common sense.”

Put simply, words or phrases that support a person’s beliefs are more compelling than other words. So especially during a crisis, the words you choose will be more successful if you focus on the frames that address what employees care most about:

• Purpose: What the organization seeks to accomplish
• Empathy: That you’re listening and understand employee challenges
• Community: The sense of connection among employees
• Motivation: Support and encouragement
• Action: Direction on what to do
• Recognition: Acknowledgement of employee contributions

Here are 47 words that support the most important frames:

Purpose: “Why we’re here. What we seek to accomplish.”

Use these words:

1. Ambition

2. Aspiration

3. Direction

4. Focus

5. Intent

6. Plan

7. Purpose

8. Reason

9. Mission

10. Vision

Empathy: “I know what you’re going through.”

Use these words:

11. Aware

12. Believe

13. Get

14. Hear

15. Listen

16. Realize

17. See

18. Understand

Community: “We’re in this together. And, together, we can make it through.”

Use these words:

19. Accept

20. Agree

21. Belong

22. Connected

23. Include

24. Join

25. Part (as in “be a part of)

26. Rally

27. Rapport

28. Together

Motivation: “You’ve got what it takes to help us succeed. I’m counting on you.”

Use these words:

29. Achieve

30. Commit

31. Dare

32. Opportunity

33. Overcome

34. Persist

35. Succeed

Action: “Here’s what you need to work on. Let’s do this!”

Use these words:

36. Accomplish

37. Act

38. Build

39. Create

40. Do

41. Now

42.Today

Recognition: “Thank you for everything.”

Use these words:

43. Achievement

44. Appreciate

45. Acknowledge

46. Recognize

47. Thanks

Once you understand which words to select, create a key message document, which articulates the story you want to tell and includes:

• An elevator speech—a short summary (2-3 sentences) that quickly and simply articulates what you want to say.
• Talking points—conversational statements used to explain in greater detail
• FAQs—questions employees are likely to ask with answers you’ll provide

These key messages become the foundation for communicating in every format: emails, presentations, internal social media posts and small-group conversations.

Here’s an example of one leader’s core message:

During these challenging times, I’d like to remind you that our purpose hasn’t changed: to provide our customers with quality products in a timely and helpful way. I understand that we’re all facing big obstacles, which makes it more important that we join together to overcome those obstacles. Just keep doing your best work and I’m confident that we’ll make it through. Thanks for your commitment and support.

Ready to be a more compelling communicator? A great place to start is by choosing the right words.