FTSR Ed.20: We need to stop talking like idiots

I’ve been struggling with something we all know: making myself understood.?

Yes, I write and work almost exclusively in English, which is not my mother tongue - but that’s not the point.

Have you ever had a conversation where you understood every word being said, but you did not ‘get it’? You simply didn’t understand at all what the other person was saying?

When we don't get each other

Imagine a typical situation I would find myself in: a room full of executives and senior leaders discussing the future of their business. Vision and strategy, priorities, aspirations and goals.?We talk about hopes, dreams, and fears.?About their development as individual leaders and growing together as a high-performing team.?

Almost always, there are people in the room that struggle with terminology, i.e., certain words someone uses.?They might have a different understanding of these words and this misalignment then leads to a tense atmosphere, even heated debates, before we realize that the reason is just a different interpretation of words.?

Believe me when I say that I’m very attuned to these situations, still, they happen.?It made me think: is there a better way to talk about strategy, leadership, and other business critical concepts? A way that causes less friction and misinterpretation?

The BS radar starts to ring

Using buzzwords and fancy terminology shows one of two things:?People who talk fancy either don’t know what they are talking about, and hope to cover it up by trying to sound smart.?Or they simply don’t understand that communication is all about what people understand, not about what’s being said.?

I have a BS radar: when people use fancy words that sound important, my ears start to ring.?Then I read the room and see whether it’s just me who doesn’t ‘get it’.?I know that if I don’t understand what’s being said, chances are that others in the room feel the same way.?They might stay silent and pretend to understand, and I don’t blame them.?

I’m neither impressed by fancy terminology, nor do I care to pretend to understand to avoid looking stupid. As a strategy facilitator, I have the luxury of being external.?And I see it as part of my role to ask the questions no-one else asks.?

I don’t need to understand, to know, or to be the insider.?So, I ask: “Would you mind explaining what you mean when you say [add fancy business term]?”?Or “What exactly do you mean with [add term]?”

We need to stop talking like idiots

The result of asking such questions is many-fold: The answer is usually a starting point of deep discussions, aha moments, or self-reflection.?

Deep conversations start when people say what they mean without using fancy words. Other people understand and can react, creating dialogue. Aha-moments happen when we hear what people really mean, and then say something like: “Oh, now I get it. I wasn’t sure what we meant with [add term]”. Self-reflection is a result of being called out on your BS, even if it’s subtle, using questions.?When you struggle to find the right words to answer a simple question like: “what do you mean by that”, you immediately realize that you were blowing hot air, with little substance.?

If you want to hone your communication skills, you can learn a lot from comedians.?The best jokes have a defining characteristic: you cannot take away a word without destroying the joke.?A great joke has only as many words as needed, not a single word more.?And every word needs to be understood by the audience, or the joke won’t work.?

Hot air - little substance

Back to my opening sentence: I’ve been struggling to be understood. Which begs the question, how much hot air do I blow myself? Am I doing enough to engage people in better ways? Have I mastered my communication skills??

I avoid using words that previous clients had issued with.?I talk with as little filler words and as precise as possible.?I define terminology with my clients as one of the first things when we start a new project together.?Still, I’m definitely a work-in-progress.

What does all this mean for talking strategy? If you’re familiar with my books, you know how much an emphasis I put on clear terminology. The term strategy itself is being used so wildly for all kinds of things that it is hard to find three people that agree on one definition.?

Which makes me wonder whether there are better word.?More accessible, easier to understand.?

Bets, Choices, Plans, Reactions

There are four words that are essential to the work I do in the context of business strategy. They have the potential to derail an entire meeting, just because people understand them differently (or not at all but won’t admit it and still use them). These words are: Foresight, Strategy, Planning, Signaling.?

Foresight: Long-term big bets that shift the market in your favour to create future dominance.

Strategy: Choices you make to win in your market (credit to Roger Martin).

Planning: The who-does-what-by-when plans and budget allocation to move strategy into action.

Signaling: Monitoring external events, to inform immediate reactions to safeguard operations.?

Bets to create future dominance. Choices to win. Plans to move strategy into action. Reactions to safeguard operations.

Bets, Choices, Plans, Reactions.?

Are these better words than Foresight, Strategy, Planning, Signaling? Are they more intuitive, accessible, easier to understand?

We can't expect to be understood

Every profession comes with its particular terminology. They are part of the basics.?Imagine a CIO who has no clue about what data security or AI means for their business. If I don’t understand the basics I cannot succeed in a profession.?

I could argue that this gives me permission to use terminology that should be understood by leaders. After all, shouldn’t executives know what strategy is, for example? Well, yes, they should.?But many don’t - and it’s very much understandable why that is.

Not every executive has a business background , and even those who do often had a a different focus than strategy.?Leaders usually grow their careers within a certain subject matter, without needing to have a complete understanding of strategy. They pick up things on the way to the top, and now that they are in charge, this understanding defines their approach to strategy.?

They might have worked with consulting companies or have visited business school courses. The issue is that neither business schools nor big consulting companies really do strategy. They do all kinds of things, labeling them as ‘strategy’ or ‘strategic’ when they aren’t - it just sounds so much better, doesn’t it?

For example strategic planning.?What’s that supposed to be? Is it strategy or is it planning?? It can’t be both at the same time because these two concepts are very different in nature.?

Every business makes plans, and many call them strategic. Sure, they can do that.?The issue is that they confuse having ‘strategic plans’ (do you hear how weird that sounds?) with having a strategy.?

Just by adding the term strategic to plans doesn’t make them a strategy. Yet, it’s what I find over and over again when talking to executives.?Fun fact, I used the term for a while sometimes interchangeably with strategy as well.

My question for you

I’m only as successful as my clients.?Which means if they struggle to relate to words I use, they will struggle to understand me. So, I’m not sure I have permission to use terminology and hope others adapt.

Here is my question for you: Do we - facilitators, executive coaches, consultants - talk like idiots? Should we stop talking about strategy and instead start talking about priorities and choices? Should we talk about longterm bets instead of foresight? About reactions instead of signaling?

At which point would you stop trying to build consensus about terminology and just use other words that potentially stick better?

What’s your take on this??Please share your thoughts in the comments. Add your own experience with being (mis-)understood when using terminology that is part of the trade.?

Join my next strategy facilitator certification cohort, to create better strategy!