Are people disengaging with you because you are over-engaging with them? 

What do your words actually mean? Are you guilty?

Are you guilty of using or over using business “buzz” words with people who don’t really care about them? Words like “strategy” and “strategic direction”, does your audience really care about these labels or are they looking for more substance? As I write this I am thinking back to an article I read somewhere about the Top 10 Overused LinkedIn Profile Buzzwords of 2013 along with many other summary articles written by lyrical genius’s to sum up the year that was.

I recently heard a conversation between two colleagues using all kinds of buzz words to seemingly make nothing sound like something and it got me thinking, when you are “engaging” with your customer or client base, are you “over-engaging” with your use of jargon and turning people off you and your products or services?

I feel like people can spend almost too much if not all of their time talking about talking, having conversations about having conversations and perhaps even talking about engaging with others as opposed to actually just going ahead and doing it, that they forget what they are even about! Did I lose you in that sentence? Good! I’m glad!

I want you to really analyse yourselves and your colleagues or business partners or anyone that you…deal (or dare I say it… engage?) with on a daily basis. Analyse everything you read on a daily basis and take a good look at what kind of content is drawing you in, how it’s doing it and why and see if you match up.

I wrote a piece last year about circular conversations which is starting to now tie in with this and how people spend so much time talking about having conversations instead of acting on thoughts and just getting on with it and getting things done! Perhaps the next time you are having a conversation about talking or booking a meeting to have a meeting about engaging and keeping people engaged, take a step back and think about everything that you are doing in that moment that does not need a label or wank word to describe it because everyone involved in that situation is pretty aware of what is going on.

Until next time…