Communicating with Authenticity

The Problem:
Corporate jargon separates us from those we are trying to lead.

Have you ever been in a conversation with someone at work and when it was over you realized you had no idea what the person just said? They used so much jargon and "business speak", they were able to keep you mesmerized for 15 minutes while they said absolutely nothing. Or perhaps you have run across my personal favorite: You ask a simple yes or no question (Like: Did you install the software on the customers computer?) and you get a five minute monologue that never quite answers it. It usually starts with: "You see, what happened was... " I hate that so much. :-)

A Potential Reason

Dan Pollata wrote a great article on the Harvard Business Review blog titled "I Don't Understand What Anyone Is Saying Anymore" One of the interesting theories that he tosses out there is that people are generally insecure and jargon and double speak is a way of keeping people at a distance. It's a way to appear more in tune with the group they are communicating with, or even a way to sound more intelligent.

Gone are the days when you could stop someone on the street, ask them what they do, and almost always get a straight answer. People generally used to say, I am a lawyer, or I am an accountant, or I am a carpenter. Today, we are sanitation engineers, consumer interaction facilitators, customer experience designers and information architects. Some believe that this is a sign of our economic times and a result of the information economy. While that may be plausible, I think the answer is a bit simpler. I think people just like to talk sh_t.

The Result
If you are communicating in jargon, you are not really getting to heart of the matter. You are speaking in a short hand that may not be understood by the person you are talking to. In the end, the ideas that you are trying to pass on may simply get lost in translation. Communicating with authenticity involves removing the layer between you and your audience. It involves being real and not trying to pretend you are something you aren't.

The Take-Away

It is important for organizational leaders to not fall into the trap of measuring the quality of communication by the number of words. It is equally important for leaders and managers to pull down the curtain of jargon and business speak and talk with authenticity about what is important. People need to feel like they are connecting with their leaders. Jargon obscures the connection, dilutes the conversation, and distances leaders from the very people they are trying to influence.

Do you have people that you work with that love to talk in circles? Are you one of those people who believe that you just have to add one more sentence into the conversation to ensure that you are getting your point across? Do you know someone that loves to use big words that don't really fit the context of the conversation? Comment below and let us here about it.

2 comments:

Natasha Baker WilliamsDecember 19, 2011 at 2:06 PM
This scenario reminds me of a blog post by Seth Godin, "No one ever brought anything in an elevator." He talks about using "using vacuous, vague words to craft a bland mission statement is dumb." People don't want to hear that, I know I don't. I want you to get to the point. Speak in clear, and concise sentences. No jargon, BS, or bull.
UnknownDecember 20, 2011 at 10:08 PM
When I interview a highly technical person I like to preface the questions with "explain it to me like I'm a third grader." It helps cut through the jargon. I also think there is a correlation between the amount of jargon and the male answer syndrome: the tendency of men to provide answers to questions whether they know anything relevant to the answer or not. In technology especially, jargon can mask that lack of knowledge.

Monday, December 19, 2011