Management jargon
By Ann-Maree Moodie | smh.com.au | 28 April
Do the words you use make you sound educated, experienced, an expert in your field?
Or does the way you speak and write give the impression you're a show-off, a pompous git or, worse, someone who doesn't have a clue what they're talking about?
In every profession, industry and discipline there is a lexicon: words used by those who work in those fields. Medical and scientific terminology and the acronyms that proliferate in the IT industry are examples of language that is often foreign to others.
Management has its language, too, but the problem is that even those in management have trouble interpreting the real meaning of communication with words, terms and acronyms like "deliverables", "blue sky thinking" and "B2B". The danger with using management jargon, buzzwords and cliches without care is that you can lose authority. You may confuse and frustrate your audience, convey the opposite meaning to that intended, appear poorly educated, silly, or elitist and alienate them.
The first step in improving your use of management language is to discard the notion the exact words you use don't matter. They do. As a manager, if you misuse language in client presentations and in emails you threaten your reputation as well as that of your employer.
The foundation of proper written and verbal communication is grammar. If you still call a verb a "doing word" then perhaps a refresher is wise. Grammar is a critical basis for clear, effective communication. It may be tedious to learn but it's well worth the effort.
Likewise, improving your spelling is important, even in a time when spellcheckers are prevalent. There are certain to be times when using a spellchecker isn't possible, such as writing on a whiteboard during a presentation. Scribbling "our orgasmic strategy" may get the board's attention but could be embarrassing if you'd intended to write "organic".
Reading broadly, and especially favourite fiction such as Dickens, Proust, Hardy and James, will quickly improve your writing, spelling, expression and personal lexicon. Using a dictionary and a thesaurus - the printed book versions - will be a physical exercise in learning the other definitions of a word and suggesting synonyms to energise your writing. With these basic tools either learnt or refreshed, you'll soon be frustrated by the common mistakes made by colleagues, bosses, journalists and copy writers.
A commercial property agent recently advertised a building in Clarence Street near the Sydney Harbour Bridge as "Sydney's most envious building". I wondered if the building had been heard to grumble, "I wish I was closer to the Harbour" or "my refurbishment isn't as good as the sandstone office block in Barrack Street". The sign was left untouched for weeks until someone thought to change the adjective to "enviable".
One of my favourite exercises with students and workshop participants is to ask someone to read an example of management jargon. I ask them to read aloud because it immediately shows how cumbersome and difficult such language is to read and to understand. Most report they're confused, unable to understand what they're reading and, in many cases, tired. However, they're soon laughing when they translate the sentence into plain English.
This example is from the Plain English Campaign, a British organisation that promotes, and fights for, the use of plain English in everyday communication, especially in business: "If there are any points on which you require explanation or further particulars we shall be glad to furnish such additional details as may be required by telephone." Translation: "If you have any questions, please ring."
Fund managers Perpetual recently published an extensive research report on governance, leadership and management in the non-profit sector. Among its many findings was the incorrect use of language and the problems that this was causing in the sector. "Confusion in language arises when words are adopted without agreed meanings; and most notably has occurred with the naive adoption of business vocabulary," according to the report, Contrary and Congruent Views of Leadership and Management in the Australian Social Economy.
"Many of the issues identified during the research arise from misunderstandings due to ambiguous use of language. Participants provided numerous examples of wasted effort, unnecessary disagreement and false agreement," the report found.
Words such as "funding", "competition", "co-operation" and "business" carried multiple meanings and could be easily misunderstood. "As a consequence, participants often do not appear to realise that they are talking or writing about quite different ideas and concepts," the report found. "They assume the meanings they ascribe to words are shared by others."
Most management jargon comes from compounding two words - for example, "downshifting" or "downsizing", or by adding prefixes or suffixes such as "re-engineering" or "re-framing". Other forms of jargon come from turning verbs into nouns. My current gripe is the phrase "the reveal" often associated with makeover (homes as well as people) shows on television.
And then there are those words which are so overused that the language becomes debased, banal and bland. Who remembers a world when "awesome" wasn't the only adjective? Or when the IT term "solution" wasn't a household word? Or when "basically" wasn't a form of punctuation?
"Going forward" can probably be taken for granted unless your presentation is a retrospective; and if you're "being honest with me", I've got to wonder if all the other times we've spoken you were lying. Do you hear what I'm saying?
Plainspeak and jargon
Jargon has two meanings.
It is the language peculiar to a trade, profession or other group. It is also any talk or writing which one does not understand. That is, unintelligible or meaningless talk or writing; gibberish, debased, outlandish or barbarous language.
The benefit of jargon is that it gives a sense of belonging. It is a language the group understands and therefore provides group cohesion. The limitation of jargon is that those outside the group don't understand and don't have a sense of being welcome.
In short, jargon is effective if you want to be inclusive, it's also a good way to be excluding. The trick is to understand why you're using it.
Ann-Maree Moodie is a management educator and the managing director of The Boardroom Consulting Group.
First published by Smh.com.au on April 28 2008
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