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Say What?!
For some strange reason, most of the corporate world thinks that long words and lots of jargon is the way to communicate.
Even those of us who know better fall into this trap. It’s kind of like when you were a kid. “But MOOOoooom, all the OTHER kids are doing it!”
Remember what your mother said?
“If all the other kids jumped off a bridge...”
Peer pressure is just as tough to fight as an adult as it was when you were a kid.
In high school, you tried hard to fit in and be cool. As an adult, you’re trying just as hard to fit in at work by following the corporate norm, using the official presentation templates, avoiding wheel reinvention by starting out with someone else’s “canned” report format.
And just as you were then, you’re squashing your personality in favor of going with the crowd. It feels safer, even when the crowd is balanced on the bridge railing ready to jump. If you do what everyone else does, you can’t be wrong — or so says the voice of peer pressure.
But really living up to your values means letting your personality come through in your communication. It means being honest and straightforward instead of confusing and vague. It means taking off the corporate mask and using simple, understandable language instead of hiding behind industry jargon and polysyllabic words. It means trusting your audience to receive your message and respond appropriately. It even means trusting yourself to write with an authentic voice that people will want to read.
None of that feels comfortable in today’s corporate environment. You face a conflict between your desire to act within your own integrity and be noticed and recognized, and your desire to keep your head down and out of danger.
Building your career and learning how to operate in the political workplace (and all workplaces are political!) requires a certain level of risk. Writing effectively and in your own voice is one of those risks. Like many of the risks you face in life, it looks bigger than it is.
Jargon and Corporate-Speak
It seems as if some dreadful Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde transformation takes place whenever anyone is promoted to a management position, and the more senior the position, the worse the transformation.
Suddenly people begin going on about leveraging synergistic relationships between operational divisions, and how strong human resources are a value-added asset for corporate stakeholders, but at the end of the day we must remain aware of the impact of each key performance indicator (KPI) to the bottom line.
(Translations:
- Would the two divisions please stop operating in silos and start sharing information, already!?
- We’re not making our numbers and we’re going to have to lay off staff.)
If you catch yourself hiding behind jargon and corporate-speak, ask yourself why you don’t want to write your message in plain English. You may just be tripping over a habit, but you may also be deliberately obfuscating* to hide the real impact of your message.
(Obfuscate: to make unclear or bewildering.)
Put some character into what you write instead of using corporate jargon and cookie-cutter templates. Become known for your clarity and honesty. And review, proofread, and edit everything, even your emails (especially your emails!).
Overly Complex Language
Especially when they’re insecure, people like to sound as if they know what they’re talking about. They like to sound important. Often that means relying on long words, long sentences, and long paragraphs.
Let’s be clear: long words, long sentences, and long paragraphs don’t get read. If that’s what you want, go for it. But if you want to write emails and reports that say something, then drop the thousand-dollar words and the lengthy pontifications*.
(Pontificate: to pompously hold forth, to be dogmatic.)
Develop your own voice. It can be a little startling when you’re quoted back to yourself (“As (your name here!) always says...”), but it’s also sort of fun — and you know you’re making an impression on your audience!
Much of this seems self-evident, but I’m continually surprised by the extent to which people think that jargon is acceptable and complex language makes you sound more erudite*. Nothing is further from the truth. Everyone will thank you — and remember you — for being clear.
(Erudite: learned, scholarly. Interestingly enough, it shares its Latin root with “rude”!)
“Quit your jibba-jabba, foo!” Mr. T, from the 1980s television show The A-Team
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