Obligation

Organisations, like the societies that spawn them, are built on obligations that members owe to one another and the whole entity. In business, we consolidate these into rules, policies and procedures. At a higher level, we may link them to our company’s purpose and values. If we intentionally build a culture, then, over time, these obligations turn into behaviours that are universally understood and embraced by employees in their daily work. That is ideal. The factor most often frustrating this progress is our use of language. Leader to manager; manager to staffer, and colleague to colleague. Using obligatory language in the workplace, such as "you have to," has positive and negative impacts on employee behaviour.  It's important to understand the nuances of how language can shape these workplace dynamics.

Let’s begin with the positives. Obligatory language clarifies direction, helping staff understand their responsibilities and the consequences of not meeting them. This can lead to improved task completion and accountability. In some cases, using "must" creates a sense of urgency and motivates employees to prioritise time-sensitive tasks. Applied consistently across the organisation, obligatory language holds staffers to the same standards, promoting a sense of fairness.

But obligatory language has a negative impact when it’s over-used. Employees feel micromanaged, leading to decreased job satisfaction, motivation, and engagement, especially among younger generations. A culture that relies heavily on obligatory language may discourage employees from taking risks, voicing dissenting opinions, or exploring new ideas. This limits their ability to adapt to changing circumstances or innovate effectively. If employees perceive language as punitive, they’ll quickly develop resentment towards their managers and the organisation’s culture. This leads to passive-aggressive behaviour, resistance to change, or even open defiance of directives. This is much more common than you might think, but we can influence it by changing how we speak to colleagues.

Often, the use of an inappropriate tone is unintentional - brought on by the stress of the moment. Sometimes, it is cultural. In Germanic languages, the verb ‘must’ is commonly used to express necessity or obligation. In German, ‘müssen’ and Dutch, ‘moeten’ both serve as the equivalent of "must". These modal verbs are integral to the grammatical frameworks of both languages, allowing speakers to convey obligations succinctly. The frequent use of ‘you must’ reflects cultural attitudes towards obligation and duty in Germanic societies and is not usually intended harshly. But in Africa, the use of obligatory language that is normal in Afrikaans can produce resentment among English language speakers. For example, in the sentence, "Sy moet hierdie werk voltooi" (she must complete this work). In the workplace, it’s not what you say that matters most - it’s how you say it.