Leaders take ownership of their recommendations and establish accountability across their organizations. Writing or speaking in the “active voice” can help ensure these outcomes. What’s active voice? Active voice “names the doer” as the subject of the sentence instead of leaving the doer unknown. Consider this example: “A meeting will be scheduled…” (By whom? We do not know who will “do” the action – maybe nobody will.) vs. “Sanjay will schedule a meeting.” (Now we have a better chance of having a meeting.) Why say, “it is recommended that we accept the new software,” when you could say, “I recommend we accept the new software.”? In the second instance, you get the credit – or the blame, but it’s your recommendation, so own it!
© Beth O’Sullivan 2019