If you’re a new leader, with a larger team, you might want to know how to give a pep talk. There is some science to pep talks. It’s called Motivating Language Theory, and it uses three different kinds of speech.
3 Kinds of Speech
The first kind of speech is direction-giving, which is language that’s meant to reduce anxiety. Think of it as useful instruction about how to do the task at hand.
For instance, when you show your team of direct sales people how to reduce negative self-talk, you calm them down and make them feel that they can do the job better. This mode of communication focuses on the what or how of the task at hand.
Meaning making language explains why the work is important. When you emphasize the importance of team or family or the legacy of the institution, you are engaged in meaning making.
Third is empathetic language. This is when you see an individual catching on and doing better. Positive encouragement, congratulations, and demonstrations of trust in the person can be very helpful to them.
Researchers Theodore Zorn and Sarah Ruccio did a study of people selling ads for college phone books. They found that their study matched up with the theoretical model.
When they interviewed the sales people and the managers they found that the reps liked three kinds of communication:
- Modeling success, which is similar to direction giving, which reduces anxiety
- Individualized attention, which is empathetic communication
- Exuding energy, important for any communicator trying to inspire
5-Part Formula
What about military pep talks? Stanley McChrystal ran the Joint Special Operations Command from 2003 to 2008, and later, all forces in Afghanistan. While leading the JSOC, he commanded Seals, Rangers, and Delta Force operators–seasoned soldiers who were risking their lives on a daily basis.
He had a standard five-part formula:
- Here’s what I’m asking you to do
- Here’s why it’s important
- Here’s why I know you can do it
- Think about what you’ve done together before
- Now let’s go out and do it.
In all these examples, there is a push and pull between practical instruction and emotional appeals.
Stay Calm and Carry On
When Admiral William McRaven was getting ready to capture Osama bin Laden, some people said he gave a fabulous speech that included describing a scene from the movie, “Hoosiers.”
But one former seal said that the Admiral’s talk was entirely instructive and unadorned. “Nothing he said stuck with me. I focused on what was about to happen,” he said.
It turns out that McRaven did both in the same speech. He described the scene from “Hoosiers” when Gene Hackman (“Coach Dale”) gets the players into the huge arena for the state championship basketball game, and in order to make them realize that the big arena is the same as their hometown gym, he has one player measure the distance from the foul line to the basket (“fifteen feet”), and the height of the rim from the floor (“ten feet”).
McRaven did the same thing with the SEAL team. He told them that the mission was no different than any other mission they had done before.
Apparently, it was not a particularly emotional speech. In fact, he may have caused the SEALS to calm their emotions and go about their business, as the British did when they papered London during the Nazi bombing of WWII with posters saying, “Stay Calm and Carry On.”
McRaven’s approach seemed to work. During the hour-and-a-half helicopter flight to bin Laden’s compound, some of the SEALS fell asleep.