The Bible also has much to say about language. James, when discussing the power of the tongue, compares it to the rudder on a ship (James 3:4-5). If you want to change the direction of a ship, focus on the rudder; if you want to change institutional or societal culture, focus on language.
You can see this leadership concept when companies re-brand and come out with a new slogan or when a CEO rolls out a new strategic plan with core competencies that every employee needs to memorize. Some companies, like Starbucks, "flip the script" and create new vocabulary that represents a new industry direction (e.g. a "tall" drink now means small, a "venti" drink now means medium). Starbucks changed coffee culture through language, so that when the world thinks of coffee, we think of Starbucks coffee vocabulary. Chick-Fil-A trains their employees to respond to every "thank you" with an "It's my pleasure," and they are the top fast food chain on the Customer Satisfaction Index ; they have a culture of customer satisfaction. Churches (or church groups) looking to change the culture often begin with a carefully chosen name and a bullet point vision statement. These new terms reflect a new direction, and hopefully a new culture.
Schools also have names, mission statements, mottoes, core competencies, outcomes; all can be used by administration to foster a culture among staff, but the complexity comes when you add students. School leaders may have 50 employees who can rally behind the language chosen to lead a culture change, but schools have 10 times that number of voices in students.
How do you ensure students embrace the language that has been chosen to lead culture?
Here are a few steps ...
1. Recognize that words matter.
Unfortunately, negative examples swirl around us daily. Words can hurt personally, and can negatively impact a culture, especially if used / allowed by leaders of that culture. Not that anyone really believed the "sticks and stones" adage, but the ridiculous claim that "words will never hurt me" has provided mean people a license to use words to tear others down. Every single person has personally felt how inaccurate this children's rhyme is.
I can still remember comments that classmates made 40 years ago that hurt deeply, and I remember with deep regret comments that I made that hurt others. In schools, it is more than just saying mean things and calling names, intellectual bullying (more so in higher education than in K-12 education) also occurs. The really intelligent (professors) sometimes can use their knowledge to show off their intelligence by belittling others. Sadly, this even happens to people with doctorate degrees (like me). Words matter.
The language of leaders especially has an impact on leading culture.
I have been a part of a school that was entering a difficult season of consolidation, reduction in force, and moving to a new campus, and the school leader's favorite phrase in referring to the move was ... "we're not going to move old pigs into new barns" (and then he would laugh). Clearly, by referring to staff as "old pigs," this leader didn't understand that words matter. As you can imagine, staff morale and overall school culture was truly injured by a phrase, and it was up to other staff leaders to counter, heal, and restore culture.
We currently have a president who doesn't understand that words (spoken or tweeted) matter, and we see examples of how casual and caustic words hurt people and impact culture. Similarly, it falls on parents, educators, and other community leaders to counter, heal, and restore to mitigate the negative cultural impact of these words from one leader.
2. Teach (over-teach) the Language of your Culture
My undergraduate institution (Dordt University) taught (over taught) a phrase that impacted our culture. At Dordt, I heard "every square inch," a phrase about the Sovereignty of God from Abraham Kuyper, in every square inch of my college experience ... classes, resident life, chapels, athletics, and student activities. Yes, as a student I got sick of hearing it and even made fun of it, but it was a culture building phrase, and it has impacted my worldview; and now I even have a 'square inch' tattoo.
I had the opportunity to help start Providence Christian College, and the phrase we "over-taught" was "Firmly Grounded, Fully Engaged." It is a phrase that was intentionally chosen from the school's mission statement, and we hoped that students heard it so much they got sick of it. It was a culture building phrase that was inserted into every course syllabus, every student life program, and every new program proposal, e.g. how will this program "firmly ground" and "fully engage" students?
Language learning requires practice in order to become fluent in the language. Once students understand that words matter, they can be taught the language of your culture. The beginning of the year is a perfect opportunity to develop language habits with students. By defining, modeling, practicing, and celebrating the positive language of your school with students, the words and phrases will become implanted into the school culture.
3. Tend the Language of your Culture.
The language of your school culture needs to be tended, like a garden. School leaders need to intentionally plant positive language into your school culture, and they need to weed out negative language that they hear in a school culture. It is frustrating (like a garden), but the negative language "weeds" can overrun any positive language planted in your culture.
The reality of our society today is that the language some high school and middle school students use is vulgar, offensive, hurtful, and disrespectful. Too many schools today have given up on policing the words that students use. Teachers and administrators walk through hallways ignoring what they hear because of the ubiquity of the foul language. It is no wonder that so many schools have a negative student culture.
I know the difficulty of trying to stop a cultural tide; it often feels like trying to block an overwhelming flood with your hand, but remember language leads culture, so make it a priority.
School leaders need to keep an eye (or actually an ear) on the "tipping point." In change research, the "tipping point" appears to be at 25%, i.e., when 25% of the student body begins to use inappropriate language, it quickly escalates (or tips) to "everyone" using that language. Recognizing that negative language will be a part of any school community, fight to keep this at a low percentage, and you'll see the overall school culture improve.
If school leaders gives up the language fight, the school culture will only get worse. However, focusing on teaching and tending language can reclaim a positive school culture.
How do you know if you are winning the fight? When students (and staff) self-regulate and say to each other, "We don't use that language here." It is truly a pleasure to hear that phrase and to realize the hard work of culture tending is yielding fruit.
Respect the power of words and the impact that language can have on your school culture; intentionally teach it and constantly tend it.
Remember, words matter, and language leads culture.
