nd is understood. Then we turn around and use our jargon within organizations all the time!
- Level 3 and 4 Evaluation
- Summative Assessment
- The Socratic Method
- Triads and Diads
And, we haven’t even started with the buzzwords.
It’s not hard to see why jargon is problematic. If your audience has never heard these words before, they have no clue what they mean.
But, there are other issues with our jargon as well:
First, jargon isn’t always used the same way in all organizations. Take SME as example. At an L&D conference, no one would assume that SME meant anything other than Subject Matter Expert. But, if you work for a Chamber of Commerce, it wouldn’t be unusual for SME to be used to reference, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises. Or, if you work in mining, it wouldn’t be unusual to assume SME is referencing the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration. So, said more simply – jargon can be misunderstood, but it can also be misinterpreted.
Second, jargon can be problematic for L&D because, while your clients or coworkers may not understand what you’re saying, they will still automatically try to interpret why you’re saying it and what your intent is by saying it. If you work for a construction company, and you want to explain the difference and importance of Formative and Summative assessments in Andragogy to the “field leaders,” using these terms probably isn’t going to come off well.
- Are you trying to show them up by using language they don’t understand?
- Do you lack confidence in front of this audience, so you’re trying to bolster yourself by using technical terms?
- Do you not really know what you’re talking about, so you’re throwing around $50 words in hopes know on else will catch on?
This last one can be particularly problematic if someone asks you to explain a term and you can’t explain it simply enough for them.
And, the last reason jargon can be problematic for L&D is… it can make us sound stupid!
Really… what the heck does “gamification” mean? It’s not even a real word. How about Triads and Diads? Are you kidding me? I never want to have someone ask me what those words mean – I’d be ashamed to admit it means 2-people and 3-people… like I couldn’t have just said that.
The Language of the Business
Alright, so that’s a quick and dirty, explanation of why we shouldn’t use L&D jargon and expressions in our business environments. But, what’s more important for L&D team members is to speak the language of the business.
Businesses use certain words in very specific ways – look at the word “efficiencies.” In some organizations, efficiency gains are part of a specific organizational program like Lean or Six Sigma. In these cases, efficiency might be used to explain process improvements, or refer specifically to employee behaviours and actions. Other organizations will use the term more loosely and could mean a variety of things in different situations and contexts.
Another example occurs when businesses use very specific words instead of others. Take these three terms for example:
- Action item
- And, To-do
Do each of these mean the same thing? Or, are they each something different from each other? Depending on your organization, it could be either.
Finally, some organizations – or industries entirely – just make up words. Trucking companies often refer to late deliveries as “lates,” even though it’s not a real word, because it’s 1 syllable instead of 5. Airlines on the other hand use D15 and A5 to express their on-time performance, because saying Departed within 15 minutes of the scheduled departure time… well, that just takes too long.
How Business Language Impacts L&D
So, how does all this affect L&D? Let’s go back to the travelling example from earlier. When you’re not from a country, even if you speak their language and without an accent, the words you choose, how you construct sentences, your idioms, colloquialisms, and terms, will quickly give you away. If someone is in doubt about your “localness” because of your attire or your sense of space, it’s the language you use that will give you away for sur