5 Powerful Leadership Languages You Need to Master for Success

The concept of five love languages, introduced by Gary Chapman, shows how people prefer to give and receive love differently. The five love languages are physical touch, quality time, receiving gifts, acts of service, and words of affirmation.

Chapman claims that every individual can identify one of the five love languages that apply to them, though the language they use to exhibit love and the language they use to perceive love may not be the same. For example, someone may express their love by attempting to spend quality time with their spouse, but they may perceive that they are loved most when their spouse provides them with words of affirmation or verbal praise. However, a healthy, successful relationship incorporates all five love languages.

This same philosophy can be applied to workplace relationships. Just as successful relationships require understanding different love languages, effective leadership demands fluency in multiple ways of connecting with team members.

When leaders identify their “leadership language,” they can better understand how they are most likely to lead, communicate with their teams, and manage issues. They can also understand where they might be lacking in their “leadership languages” and where they might need to develop new practices and skills that ensure their teams’ needs are met — because, just as every individual prefers love to be exhibited by their partner in certain ways, every team member may prefer their leader to lead in a certain way. As such, leaders should work toward becoming attuned to all five leadership languages. Here’s what you need to know.

1. Words of Affirmation

The first leadership language is “words of affirmation.” Words of affirmation are, in general, verbal praise. A leader who uses words of affirmation as their primary leadership language frequently uses positive reinforcement and recognition to motivate team members and build confidence. For example, they might say in a meeting, unprompted, “I want to commend you on the exceptional work you did on the project. Your attention to detail and dedication were crucial to our success.”

This leadership language is very effective for some team members, though it won’t be for everyone.

If you need to develop this leadership language further, consider establishing weekly shout-out sessions in your team meetings, wherein you recognize an individual or team achievement from the week.

2. Acts of Service

The acts of service leadership language may be your go-to leadership language if you frequently show appreciation and support for your team by going out of your way to help them with tasks, get them the resources they need, and otherwise work to facilitate their success. For example, you might help your team during a busy period by stepping in or coordinating resources.

Again, like all leadership languages, this one will be more or less successful in inspiring team morale and loyalty depending on the individual team members. However, a well-rounded leader can “communicate” in all leadership languages. If you find that you don’t perform acts of service for your teams often, make a mental note to begin doing so more frequently.

3. Receiving Gifts

This leadership language is exactly what it sounds like. It’s inspiring and motivating teams by literally giving them gifts. This could be incentives such as organizational honors or promotions, or the gifts could be more straightforward, like gift cards.

If you don’t communicate this leadership language frequently, consider establishing a program wherein employees can nominate peers for recognition or provide employee performance incentives.

4. Quality Time

Through the quality time leadership language, leaders make a point to spend quality time with their teams. Instead of being hands-off, they try to be actively involved with their teams, knowing what they’re up to, identifying what team members are succeeding at or struggling with, and understanding their personal and professional goals. This leadership language fosters a sense of belonging and understanding.

If you don’t currently spend a lot of time with your teams, getting to know them on a deeper level, begin holding regular, one-on-one meetings to discuss projects, feedback, and career development. You can start by simply reaching out and saying, “Let’s schedule a time to catch up and discuss your career goals and how I can support you.”

5. Supportive Environment

Lastly, the fifth leadership language is building a supportive environment around your team members. It requires creating a welcoming and inclusive atmosphere that encourages collaboration and innovation. It focuses on diversity and encourages team members to share their ideas and, thus, thrive.

For example, you might create regular team innovation sessions where everyone, regardless of position, can share ideas freely. You could also establish mentorship programs that pair team members with different backgrounds and experiences.

If your workplace could use more of this leadership language, implement open-door policies and encourage team brainstorming sessions to foster open communication. As you do, always be supportive and never outwardly critical of team members. These sessions are also a good time to use the words of affirmative leadership language.

The Bottom Line

As you read through the five leadership languages, you likely identified with one or two languages more than the others and recognized yourself and how you lead in the descriptions. However, as noted, a well-rounded leader can harness all five languages to meet every team member’s needs. You can inspire your team, boost morale, and drive exceptional results by speaking the right leadership language.

Need more help fine-tuning your leadership style and getting the results you need from your teams? Explore Arootah’s executive coaching and leadership development trainings today.