Actions speak louder than words?

By: Brian Redmond, PhD

I have a lot of great conversations about leadership. In a recent discussion about leadership communication, I was discussing the power of words, particularly those of a leader and how they can impact those around them. Several people in the conversation brought up the basic point that “actions speak louder than words”. And to an extent that is true, and it definitely is common belief. However, there are a few things that I would like to point out about that maxim. 1. Words are actions and 2. Actions don’t exist in a vacuum. Let’s delve into those two ideas a bit more.

Words are actions. Many people think of actions as big bold physical movements or large-scale organizational change. But actions are anything that an individual engages in that causes some sort of change in the world. Spoken words are clear examples of an action; a person’s mouth, tongue, lungs, etc. have to move to produce the sound that conveys the meaning that a person is trying to communicate. But what about written words? While the process may not always be as obvious, the hand must move to make those words appear. My fingers had to engage a keyboard or other device to produce the words you are reading right now. In other words, actions produced the words. Now some would argue that actions have to have impact. I concur. But again, the scale doesn’t have to be grandiose. The impact of this blog entry has some sort of impact on any readers. Hopefully it triggers some thought and reflection on leadership and communication, and people can either agree or disagree with my viewpoint.

Actions don’t exist in a vacuum. So, let’s say you aren’t really buying my point about words being actions and only consider actions to be something bigger like moving from one location to another. The reality is that in the world, actions and words exist together. They aren’t separate things that have separate impacts. Typically, you can’t move across the country without talking to someone (ex. hotel clerks, gas station attendants, letting your coworkers and family know that you are moving, etc.).

Leaders (and everyone for that matter) engage in both words and actions. And the two have a reciprocal influence. In particular, I want to consider the role of words on how a leader’s actions are perceived. Think of some of the worst leaders that you may have encountered in your life. What was it that made them so awful? Did they over-promise and under-deliver? Did they say something like “do as I say, not as I do”? In other words (lame joke intended), the words that the leader spoke disconnected with the actions that they engaged in.

Words set an expectation for behavior of leaders and when there is an incongruence in the two, people look at the leader as less effective. In many cases like this, if the leader hadn’t said anything, those around them never would have had seen failed expectations and therefore wouldn’t necessarily see a disconnect that lead to seeing the leader as less effective. Obviously, there are cases where no words are spoken and actions by the leader are seen as ineffective, but setting unrealistic expectations with words and not having matching behaviors is a sure way to reach that result.

So, what is the lesson here? That leadership communication is holistic: words and actions. It’s not an either-or situation. Everything that a leader engages in impacts how they are viewed (and in turn their effectiveness) by others. Leadership is about people in the real world and the real world isn’t necessarily broken down into neat little categories that can be treated separately.