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#1 Buzzwords
Hello all you beautiful and competent people,
With great respect and highest regards to professionalism I want to address something we all have experienced - Misunderstandings. Rarely something good comes from it, due to it causing anything from confusion to straight up anger or frustration. Dealing with it costs time and energy and it often leaves scars that make everything that's coming after it, more difficult.
Misunderstandings result from different causes. Language barrier, different cultural background, individual experience throughout life or even the mood can influence how we understand each other. The more meaning a word holds the broader it can be interpreted and in this post we will label those words as buzzwords.
If you don't mind, please read the opening lines of this blog post again and ask yourself: what is beauty, competency, respect or professionalism? It depends on the person you ask and on the circumstance they are in. Let's look at respect. For many people one aspect of respect is about (metaphorically) bowing down, taking themselves back and not questioning/challenging people with authority (eg. older people, higher ranks, more experience …) For me respect is almost the opposite. If I know something that could improve another person's life, I will tell them. I will try to communicate with positive intent and preferably in a 1on1 setting. At the same time I won't cut any relevant facts so the other person will be better suited to make important decisions of their own. For you respect might be different again.
Here is a personal sidestory about the meaning of “good”: Some years ago I was giving feedback to a sales manager, who wasn`t listening to his customers and therefore couldn’t communicate a proper solution to their needs. After receiving the feedback, he started to argue, asked why I gave him the feedback at all and repeatedly stated that he is really good. I asked him what he meant by saying “he is good”. He responded “I love working here”. Great. “I'm doing more than others”. His calltime and activity-KPIs said otherwise. “I’m better with the customers”. His conversion rate was average. So in my world, he was not good. He was a perfect example for the Dunning Kruger Syndrome and our understanding of “good” was not aligned at all. He later got fired for cheating, but that's kinda offtopic, so let's get back on track.
Why do we even use buzzwords? Well, it's easy. With just one word we save time and energy when referring to something, we have a somewhat clear idea of. Using specific terms in a somewhat established social group does strengthen the group's bonds. The members of such a group have a lot of information about each other and have already done some “things” together. They have a similar understanding of words and there is this feeling of “we just get it” and it's awesome!
Buzzwords are also great for Marketing purposes. Short and catchy. Easy to remember and emotionally charged. A very powerful option for “moving” people. We all will continue using them. The question is when.
When you try to reach someone outside of your established social group, people you don't fully understand, chances are high they won't fully understand your generic vocabulary as well. When emotionally moving people isn't enough for you, but you want to influence them on direction, timing, cultural nuances or other important details, please, make it your priority to give them everything they need to understand you. There are several ways to achieve this and when being understood is important to you, there will be a way that suits you.
Questions and comments are very welcome. Thank you!
With regards to the Blog title and a dear social group of mine:
“Peace out.”
Sebastian
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