How The Precision of Your Language Clarifies What You Want At Work
You Can’t Get What You Want If You Don’t Ask For It Properly
One of my pet hates at work is getting asked a question that is just too general to answer. Come on! Be specific and tell me your problem!
There are some pretty simple rules to help you speak clearly which I think are vital to productive communication.
But believe me, the idea that the quality of your expression helps you be understood is not common sense. Why is that?
Here’s what I know helps you get what you want when you ask for it properly…
THE PROBLEM’S IN THE DETAIL
Issues and errors come up all the time. The most common way we say communicate this is usually like this,
I’ve got an issue or error here. Help me?
For the most part, this is acceptable. There is usually someone to help; your manager, your colleagues, IT Support.
I can tell you that if you responded this way with someone from IT Support, you’d get asked a lot of questions. Do you know why?
Because the answers are in the details, the specifics.
It’s not just because it’s their job. It’s because this is the way to find out how things are, how things were, how things came to be.
Now imagine, if instead of summarising the Problem, you were able to communicate in this way:
Hey, I’m publishing a report in Microsoft Word. I’m trying to save it to Drive F as a Adobe PDF document and got an error message, “Not Enough Disk Space”. I figured I’d check and I can see that there’s plenty of space. I’m trying to save it into a folder called “2017 Month End Reports” but I still get the error. Can someone please verify that there is disk space on the drive?
Here’s a breakdown:
1.The question at the end is a request for someone to do something, in order to get what we want. It’s based on all the detail we provide.
2.All the pieces are named. All messages are relayed. We give the reasons for what we are doing and why it’s important.
3.The story doesn’t ramble. It states the facts, not opinion. Everything can be verified or tested.
Okay, I know I’m being a bit harsh. It doesn’t necessarily need to be in exactly three sentences. Just get the idea to have a conversation that makes an attempt to convey these 3 things: ACTION, MOTIVATION, FACTS
Why is this Important?
No one can read minds.
If someone is to help for you, they’ve got to know what’s going on. They need information to make decisions. Like Sherlock Holmes says,
Data! Data! Data! I cannot make bricks without clay
Decisions are based on facts. The more facts you have and the more options exist, and the better your chance of making a good decision.
The Problem Statement conveys a lot of information that can help someone make a decision. Or at least form an opinion.
In just THREE sentences above, we communicated:
A. What went Wrong
B. What Attempts Were Made to Fix It, But Failed
C. What Someone Needs To Do
In other words we stated FACTS, MORE FACTS and an ACTION we want taken. It makes complete sense.
Formal or Informal. Doesn’t Matter
Even though the above example is taken from an office situation, you can easily adapt this to any informal conversation.
Like I said, it doesn’t need to be set to exactly 3 sentences, just as long as you cover these points clearly.
STATE THE FACTS.
Sometimes, you want to relay a situation so that it can be discussed. Many people choose to tell a story. This is normal. Sometimes though, this can waste time and your audience may want you to get to the point.
The idea is to:
Simplify without Dumbing Things Down
Explain the Facts without Over Complicating
Opinions are nice if you’re trying to share your thoughts. Facts are better. When your opinions add colour and depth to something real that people can relate to or verify, then you are connecting.
YOUR AUDIENCE MATTERS
The goal is to relate. You can match your language to that of your audience. Speaking like a university graduate to a 10-year-old won’t do you a lot of good. Speaking to your partner the way you speak to your colleague may get you in the dog-house.
It works the same way with your work colleagues. And I’m not just talking about respect or hierarchy. It’s about understanding what others want to hear or would want to pay attention to.
For Example:
Managers: Want summaries of the situation and what you’re doing about it
Team Members: Want to be told what to do. Or how they are involved.
Everyone: Wants clarity of purpose and direction
Learn to be on point.
Sure, you can be humorous and inject your personality into your sentences. But it’s far more effective to be funny and make your point.
WHAT YOU REALLY WANT
When it comes down to it, what you really want is to be understood correctly. Precise language helps you do this.
People can only help you if they’re clear about the facts, the purpose, the direction — of almost anything you’re asking for.
If you’re clear in your own head what it is you want — and you can express in plain language — then you’ve got a greater chance of telling someone. Being understood means you can get what you want.
Want proof?
Richard Feynam, the American Theoretical Physicist, gave us a model that has language as the foundation of a learning model:
- Learn Your Subject
- Pretend To Teach Your Subject to a Classroom
- Go back to the Books when you’re stuck
- Simplify and Use Analogies
The key part of this learning model is #2 and #4 which has language as its foundation. Teaching someone else by using Simple Plain Language and Analogies, actually tests whether you understood what you’ve learned.
This is the same thing as knowing what you want and really being clear about it using Simple Plain Language to state Facts, Motivations and Actions in order to make it happen.
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Vlad Soriano has been a business technologist for over 20 years. He’s recently begun his journey into writing. Read more at www.vladsoriano.life
