Is your company ‘alphabet’ in order?
Let me blow your mind with the next two lines of text.
P.L.M.O.K.N.I.J.N.U.H.B.Y.G.V.T.F.C.R.D.X.E.S.Z.W.A.Q
A.B.C.D.E.F.G.H.I.J.L.K.L.M.N.O.P.Q.R.S.T.U.V.W.X.Y.Z
Why? Why does one of them seem so much easier to mentally process? They are the same group of letters (the full alphabet) - but one of them is in a flow that anyone who has ever learned the Phoenician alphabet has seen.
The English alphabet has been taking shape for 4000 years, starting with the Egyptians hieroglyphics, then seeing revisions from the Syrians, Semites, Greeks, and then getting in the hands of the Romans. Buy why…why is it in the order that it is in? (Don’t let that thought wrinkle your brain)
There are some theories behind it, take a look here, Evolution of the order of the Phoenician alphabet, but at the end of the day- no one really knows why it’s ordered the way it is.
Wait what! Are you telling me that no one has an answer for why the alphabet is sort ordered the way it is? You gotta be kiddin’ me!
So what you’re saying is everything I have ever learned, ever processed, every thought, or ever written has been hinged upon the happenstance of a cluster of letters thrown into a line. Like a pre-school class right before recess, “Ok students- let’s line up.” Then watch 26 kids b-line it to the line where they count off before they are sent of to the magical land of kiss tag and cooties.
Time to flip the script (see what I did there)
Let’s be a new hire in your organization. Can they answer this question with confidence?
Is your company’s alphabet organized effectively?
Let’s ask a few questions…
1. Does it NEED to be organized?
I’m not going to assume the answer is yes, who knows, some of you may be a wizard of chaos that finds success in a lack of structure and organization. If so, you fall into a few select groups of people: genius, hipster, or a stand up comedian. For the rest of us, we probably need to have order in our alphabet. Corral the chaos. Does this idea sound familiar- 26 independent ‘characters’ all coming together for one beautiful sentence.
“The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” (*sidenote: pangram)
2. How do you organize it?
Here is where I’d like to get granular with stats and data, but I’m going to save that for the private conversations that come out of this post. My overarching thought is applicable to all organizations is… “Line upon line, precept upon precept.” Teach them the difference between vowels and consonants, and then teach them (appropriate) 4 letter words. Once they are reading ‘chapter books’- then give them the manual. If you have organized the alphabet correctly, then your newest employee will be able to teach you where you missed. Remember that research shows that the average cost of replacing an employee is 38% of their annual salary.
Tell. Show. Do. Review.
Can the second module be stand alone? Or does it need to taught AFTER the first module? How do you hold the trainee accountable for the building blocks?
3. Why do we organize it?
Oh, I dunno. Why? So you can write masterpieces, teach visions, and create value. Having it organized helps communicate, it helps to speak a language, it helps teach a culture.
Having it organized makes the teachability factor easier. Think about our alphabet…mentally say it. What immediately happened? Most of you said it like this The mnemonic way to ABC (bonus points if you thought like this, How the cool kids ABC )
Once it’s structured, and organized- then you can teach it. There are always nuisances to every alphabet.
- “I before E except after C”
- Autonyms and synonyms
- Dropping the final ‘e’ or ‘y’
Learning the company alphabet is hard. It is full of diphthongs, metaphors, and politically charged misspellings.
But if you, the leader, choose to be, you can make it as easy as “A…B…C” #kingofpop
Footnotes: (*pangram- a pangram is a holoalphabetic sentence for a given alphabet that uses every letter of the alphabet at least once.Chew on that, and ask yourself, is your organization a pangram?)