Four Powerful Sentences

You are a line manager, a Scrum master, a senior developer. Investigate the use of four powerful sentences.
- Sorry (one word)
- Thank You (two words)
- I am Wrong (three words)
- Can I Help You? (four words)

Walk the talk. Be a leader. Prove you have honesty and empathy.
You shall use these four sentences below as a way to calibrate how you interact with your teams.

As a rule of thumb state honestly and genuinely these four sentences multiple times each week. Otherwise you are probably more a command and control boss and not truly a servant leader.

Four Powerful Sentences

Sorry

We all do mistakes. We should have the spine to acknowledge them publicly. Greatness starts when you acknowledge you have screwed up.

Thank You 

We work in teams and achieve great accomplishments. Thank your team members for their awesome contributions. Thank them for their kindness and professionalism.

I Am Wrong 

Recognize the wisdom of the crowd. As a team we will often find better ways to solve problems and to improve your current good practices. Be ready to promote better solutions identified by your team members and accept that your approach is not always the best one.

Thank your team members for the insights.

Can I Help You?

As a servant leader you shall support your team to improve and remove impediments. Continuous improvement is the key to lasting success.

Your sole goal is to find ways how your team could improve through learning, improvement and self-organization. Forget about your agenda. The team development is your main purpose as leader.

Improve Your Self-Awareness

Write the four sentences on a post-it. Mark each time you use one of them. At the end of the week count the occurrences and reflect on your improvement for next week. Be true and humble. It is the key for lasting success.

It took me years to use these four sentences on a daily basis. It improved tremendously how I interact with peers and more happier everybody was. It is worth the effort!