When you are a leader, people pay attention to what you have to say – which can be good or bad.

We want to motivate our employees and build them up. But there are some statements – some that simply roll off the tongue – that can upset our employees and shouldn’t be said at all.

Jeff Haden, contributing editor to Inc.com, recently put together a great list of 19 statements to avoid. They include:

– “This is probably not what you want to hear.” Don’t shift the issue onto someone else.

– “Work smarter, not harder.” Haden sums up the thoughts of someone on the receiving end of this statement very well: “One: You imply I’m stupid. Two: You imply whatever I’m doing should take a lot less time and effort than it has been taking. And three: After you say it, I’m kinda pissed off.”

– “There is no ‘I’ in ‘team.’ “ Remember, it is individuals that make up a team.

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