Use Affirmations in Your Exec Suite to Boost Capacity for Success

Yes your team is full of accomplished C-suite leaders. Do it anyway.

During a recent day spent with one of my CEO clients, the cofounder and longtime leader of a fast-growing healthcare-technology company, I observed a vivid example of the power of a clever, wildly useful tool for boosting capacity in fellow leaders.

My client and his CFO were meeting to consider a provocative new finance strategy. I sat across the room listening as they walked through the ins, outs and technical details of what the company might do. And then unexpectedly, for a brief moment, the nature of the conversation changed. Unprompted, the CFO said casually to his boss, “You know that I’ve never run a finance strategy of exactly this type.” (I’ve removed a bit of detail for confidentiality.) The comment came and went, and they were immediately back to the substance of the topic at hand.

What might the CEO have done other than keep the conversation clipping along? He might have noticed the subtle but golden opportunity to deploy a powerful conversational device for boosting a follower’s capacity for success. It was an opportunity to remind his talented CFO that he (the CFO) is exactly the right person for the consequential task at hand, and the goal would assuredly be achieved.

The affirmation

The specific conversational device that was in order is the affirmation. An affirmation highlights the positive — the strength — in what you just heard or observed. It comes from behavioral science and motivational interviewing, which studies show is highly effective for helping people explore and embrace change. It has real utility in the CEO’s or other executive leader’s toolkit. Affirmations build confidence in the receiver, they boost resolve, and they strengthen team bonds.

Saying something positive sounds easy enough, yet doing so in the form of an affirmation requires real intention. The affirmation requires noticing when an opportunity arises to make absolutely sure that the thinker (in this case the CFO) is fully aware of the great thing you just heard or observed from them, and being in ready position to do something about it.