Those in leadership positions know more than most that their words must be chosen carefully.

People pay more attention to this when they undertake really important tasks – like public speaking, dealing with high-profile clients or handling sensitive situations.

The fact is, we need to be just as mindful of our words the rest of the time too, even when we’re just doing day-to-day tasks like greeting someone or signing off emails. The power of your word choice can’t be underestimated when it comes to setting the right tone.

A firm believer in this is Marshall Goldsmith, the US author, executive educator and business coach.

One of his bugbears is beginning sentences with “no”, “but” or “however”.

He reckons these commonly used words are conversation-killers and believes they can be a barrier to productivity. He believes beginning a retort with one of those words is akin to saying, “you’re wrong”.

It’s good to be aware of this because you may be doing it without thinking, and unwittingly breeding resentment. Goldsmith reckons if you follow this simple mantra before choosing your words, you can be a more effective listener and leader: “Before you speak, breathe.”

There’s a brilliant book by Bill McFarlan called Drop the Pink Elephant which also explores word choice and, though it’s almost two decades old, it’s still spot on.

It focuses on the fact many people unconsciously draw attention to the very things they should avoid.

It uses President Nixon as an example, citing his quote “There can be no whitewash at the White House”.

Apparently, this was a bad move, as nobody had even considered the idea of a White House cover-up until he put the idea out there.

In my experience people do this a lot without realising it. As a rule of thumb, you should be avoiding language that has potential to escalate a situation.

For example, if you’ve managed to resolve a tricky predicament at work, resist the temptation to tell your people that it’s ‘not a disaster’ or you’ve ‘averted a crisis’.

You might think you’re conveying the fact you’ve saved the day, but what you’re actually doing is creating drama. You don’t want your workforce to think you were on the brink of disaster – you want them to see that you are calm and in control.

This sort of negative language also filters into emails far too often. How many times have you written the phrases: “don’t forget”, “don’t hesitate to contact me”, “that’s not a bad idea” or even a simple “no problem”?

These phrases are loaded with negativity so stop, breathe and look at ways to positively reframe your messages. Let’s have another go at those: Remember. Please do contact me. Great idea. Absolutely.

Do you see how easy it is to make a big difference with a tiny, subtle word change? The language you use has so much power.

When it comes to face-to-face communications there’s one final thing to bear in mind. It’s not only about what we say, but how we say it.

We all know it’s easy to be misunderstood in text-based comms, but there’s still room for misunderstanding in a one-to-one situation if we don’t pay attention to our tone and body language.

If you deliver a message in a monotone, nobody is going to get motivated or excited.

Think of the energy and positivity you want from your team, and make sure you bring that to the table. If something should be said with excitement and passion, deliver the message that way. The rest will fall into place.

Laura Gordon is a CEO coach and group chair with Vistage International, a global leadership development network for CEOs