How can you communicate with non-HR audiences without using jargon, acronyms, or technical terms?

I think an HR professional, like any other, should be familiar with own work, so he/she is able to explain both to a five years old, in simple words, and to an expert from another domain, so the message should pe properly adjusted, depending on the audience. On the other hand, in a conversation we should always check that our message was properly understood, so confirmation questions and rephrasing when needed are a must in any conversation.

Explain Acronyms: When using acronyms like HR (Human Resources), immediately clarify by saying, "HR, which stands for Human Resources." Use Everyday Language: Speak in plain, everyday language that anyone can understand. For example, say "job interviews" instead of "talent acquisition discussions." Provide Context: Whenever introducing a new concept, provide context. For instance, "Performance reviews are discussions where we talk about your work and set goals for improvement."

Speaking the language of your audience is a sure fire way to quickly establish credibility and rapport. This doesn't mean using their jargon or acronyms, but building in their needs and challenges into the content you are discussing. Through research and preparation, be aware of possible resistance and barriers in the minds of those you are talking to, and get ahead of this by building it into your dialogue. "You have an intense period ahead as you close the quarter, so allocate time to X now so as not to impact your time with clients". Whilst you will never fully understand the demands of another persons role, it is possible to mitigate the 'this person has no idea what we are dealing with' internal response.

If you are not sure what is the level of knowledge of your audience in your area of expertise, HR, use a simple language as talking to an eight year old student. Explain the terms you use and the context you are using them and you can't go wrong. Always make sure your are on the same page and you both understand the same thing.

It’s best to use simple language and encourage your audience to ask for clarification. Practice explaining the concept followed by the acronym. Example, “You may be eligible for a family and medical leave of absence, sometimes referred as FMLA. Do you have any questions about FMLA?”. Concept building can strengthen our association with HR terms!

To effectively communicate with non-HR audiences, it's crucial to keep it simple and relatable. Use plain language to convey your message clearly and engagingly.

A helpful frame of reference is to consider if a 13-year-old could understand the text. This isn't to dumb down the message or to patronise the audience, but it's aimed to achieve simplicity and common understanding. It's important that the author doesn't try to 'show off' their writing talents or broad knowledge of words. The end result is what matters - and that's that as many employees as possible can understand the message.

When I need to explain HR work to someone not knowing HR world at all, I always try to practice on someone from my nearest surrounding non-corporate people m ;) If they could understand simply, then it could be extended to a corporate community

The idea of sharing stories can seem alien, even scary, to some and understandably it's not instinctively how we communicate in a corporate environment. But think about how you talk with your friends or peers in an informal setting, these conversations are usually the sharing of anecdotes and experiences. Once you frame it like that, it feels more natural and you can start to add the purpose, or the moral, of the story. If you want to articulate the importance of delivering a particular HR initiative, think back to a time when you saw the results of this not happening, or to an experience another person shared with you. You can embellish and add your personality to this whilst working the 'story' to the conclusion you hope to articulate.

Storytelling is an effective way to communicate and even though at the beginning you might feel unconformable and it is unfamiliar with you it by practicing it day by day it can make you a better communicator. Also making sure that you don't offend anybody and you also keep confidentiality of your co-workers, simple examples can also help and maybe hypothetical scenarios to cover possible cases and also privacy of information, not the give from real situation you encountered in your journey at your company.

One of the most effective ways for Human Resources (HR) professionals to communicate to the organizations they serve is to conduct interactive conversations or trainings. And make them relatively casual and comfortable. This format will elicit instant feedback and encourage clarification on topics that may be new or complicated. Conversational presentation of information can disarm the room, establish trust, and allow the HR professional to gather critical data points on what the audience wants to know and what is good or bad within their team or the organization at large. This is also a great way to define commonly used abbreviations and discipline-specific words. Two-way communication is not innovative, it’s fundamental.

The best way to get to your audience and speak their language is to engage them in the design of the HR solutions that you will introduce later on. Apply a user-centric design approach to have conversations throughout the entire solution-making process, and incorporate their language into the way that you are talking about what you have co-created. Employees can become your advocates and will be able to speak about it on their own terms.

A picture speaks a thousand words! This is a visual-first era. Think: would an image or a diagram convey the message better? Large chunks of text feel like a chore to read, so break them down - either by using images or other visual aids, or by using subtitles. Less words is definitely more!

The worst HR presentations I’ve seen aren’t the ones that contain technical language, they’re the ones that were completely devoid of any connection to the business. And by ‘business’ I mean how the organization makes money / unlocks shareholder value. If you can immediately draw a clear through-line between the HR initiative/project/investment and how it’s going to help the bottom line, you stand a better chance of getting the audience on side. So often a lack of commercial awareness/focus has the audience we’re trying to win over thinking ‘so what’

Your ability to translate increasingly complex HR themes and initiatives into straightforward language is what will differentiate you from others, and will quickly help you establish trust. Your stakeholders do not want to be bamboozled with jargon or technical language. Think of your colleagues in Sales. When meeting clients, they will have rehearsed thousands of times how to convey complex information into digestible takeaways and actions. Think about how you would explain a program or initiative to a friend or family member, outside the context of your organisation, and factor this into your thinking when introducing new concepts to colleagues.