Can jargon be damaging British industry?

We make it too easy for people to get away with unnecessary jargon in the workplace. You wouldn't let the same people use the same language down the pub.

It's great to see Investors in People highlighting the issue. Today they have said that needless jargon is "damaging to British industry" and "widening the divide between management and staff".

This has struck a raw nerve. The BBC is covering the story. It's the most emailed item on their news website this morning.

I always think over-using jargon betrays a laziness of thinking. Sometimes you have to work harder to communicate better.

Peter Russian, chief executive of Investors in People Scotland, says: "Communication is one of the hardest things to get right in any organisation.

"Using management jargon doesn't make you a good manager. The most effective bosses recognise that one of the keys to engaging, motivating and enthusing people is to communicate in a way which everyone can easily understand."

Hear, hear!

 

Published 06 November 2006 11:18 by Phil Turner

Filed under: Writing, Internal comms

Comments

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  Scott Scott said:

  Well done so far Phil.  I'm enjoying the theme of your entries, and look forward to more of the same.
  November 6, 2006 12:21
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  Wendy Hastie said:

  I'm happy to report that my work in a Children's Nursery is pretty jargon free to date.  Since starting work in this environment the closest thing I've done to touching base with my clients is to ask 'who's done a poo?'  Although this question isn't always universally understood!
  November 6, 2006 20:44
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  Mark Thomson said:

  Jargon is the bane of my life.
  
  Lots of my colleagues in Revenue and Customs also hate it becasue about 150 of them emailed examples for the campaign we're running in the staff newspaper to try to eradicate it.
  November 7, 2006 18:08
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  Scott Scott said:

  Communication and jargon eh?  Like most I haven't much time for jargon, but I suspect I am just as guilty as most of using it uncosciously.
  
  Communication is quite topical for our firm at the moment as it is for a lot of other organisations.   Everywhere I turn I encounter problems with communication, whether it be a breakdown in organisational communication or plain old, personal misunderstandings.    Amazing really , given that the opportunities for good communication have never been so great with mobile phones, email, websites, blackberry’s, instant messaging, online collaboration tools like webex, the list goes on.  
  
  Perhaps that’s the problem.   Too many ways to communicate and not enough consistency in the methods people are using.   Add to that the pace of change in communications technology, and the competition and pace of corporate life, and everything feels a bit frantic and disjointed.
  
  I have started to pick up the phone more often because I find emailing or instant messaging questions and answers makes me and those around me inefficient.   It takes mere seconds in a telephone conversation to communicate what might take many hours in a disjointed email exchange.
  
  Ironically, I have an RSS subscription to your blog, so if I’m sat at my desk when you update it, I become aware of the update immediately.  How’s that for efficiency!
  
  November 10, 2006 13:05