“Say It Like a Normal Person”

“Say It Like a Normal Person”


An Idea for Consideration

I facilitated a team’s strategy retreat a couple weeks ago in which we did a series of exercises to articulate what their product needed to win in the market and to prioritize the product features accordingly.

During those exercises, I kept urging the team to "say it like a normal person." That became a running joke, especially when, as the facilitator, I gave unclear instructions.?

But here’s why I kept harping on that point:

1) Using normal language encourages an external orientation.

Because most people’s day-to-day interactions are with others inside of their organization, it’s easy to have an internal orientation. We spend most of our time explaining features in language the engineers use, explaining to our bosses how we’re navigating the company’s processes, or convincing the lawyers that what we want to do fits with regulations.?

None of that is the language of how customers think about the product.?

For example, we might talk internally about an effort to “create a 2-click sign up process.” On the face of it, that intent seems clear, but it’ll also surely drive an opinion-oriented debate.?

The engineers might say, “It’s easier if we can split it across a few pages. How important is 2 clicks?”?

Or the lawyers might say, “We want to make sure the customer reads the terms and conditions clearly, so we can’t do 2 clicks.”?

However, if we stated the intent with an external lens—e.g., “redesign the sign-up process so that the customer believes it’s as fast and easy as the competing options”—then the objective function is much clearer. And instead of an opinionated debate on 2 clicks versus 3 or 4, the various teams can discuss the tradeoffs and get data on how best to achieve the intended impact.??


2) Saying it like a normal person often leads to greater strategic clarity.

In the example above, “redesign the sign up process so that the customer believes it’s as fast and easy as the competing options” contains strategically meaningful assumptions—e.g., that “fast and easy” is important to customers’ decisions, and that customers don’t find the process to be fast and easy today.?

Those assumptions are testable, which can lead to better decision-making!?

Perhaps the sign-up process is good enough already. Perhaps making it too fast makes it seem trivial, so it’s actually better to get more information during? that step.

In the conversation from a couple of weeks ago, this came up in a discussion about whether “brand” mattered. But when trying to restate it using normal people’s language, it became, essentially, “Customers want to know they’re getting a fair deal, and our brand already signals that to them.”

It takes a few more words to articulate that, but it makes a big difference in the work that will follow (in this case, little work at all).


3) Saying it like a normal person helps avoid shorthand, which helps with clarity even in internal conversations.

For the businesspeople among us, the reference to “brand” seems like normal language. But that’s far from the case!?

First, most people don’t actively think about a company’s brand at all. We might have an impression of, say, McDonald’s, given their commercials and our experiences with them, but few of us would describe their brand in the same terms that the company’s marketers would.??

Second, “brand” can have different meanings to internal audiences. For example, I’m currently working with an organization in which the previous leaders talked about improving the brand in terms of the logo and website design, whereas the current leaders think about improving the brand in terms of its reputation with external stakeholders and potential employees. Using the shorthand is thus confusing!?


During the strategy retreat, new people on the team would sometimes ask, "what does that mean?" This usually happened when their colleagues were using internally-relevant shorthand terms and acronyms, forgetting that those might not be common language.

Elon Musk once wrote an email to Tesla employees about why acronyms hinder the ability to communicate within the organization. He wrote: “Individually, a few acronyms here and there may not seem so bad, but if a thousand people are making these up, over time, the result will be a huge glossary that we have to issue to new employees. [...] No one can actually remember all these acronyms, and people don't want to seem dumb in a meeting, so they just sit there in ignorance. This is particularly tough on new employees.”


So in all these dimensions, forcing ourselves to abandon jargon and embrace normal talk will create more impactful communication.?


Leadership Wisdom

“To a CEO, ‘maximizing shareholder value’ may be an immensely useful rule of behavior. To a flight attendant, it’s not. To a physicist, probability clouds are fascinating phenomena. To a child, they are incomprehensible.”

— Chip and Dan Heath, in Made to Stick


Something Fun

The other day, in response to my son repeatedly asking me for a snack, my daughter said to him: “When you keep asking Daddy for something, he’s probably not going to give it to you.”

I was over-the-moon delighted with the evidence that she actually listens to me. After having told her a version of that line probably 100 times, she knows me. But I’m also worried that her knowledge of how I operate is making her increasingly savvy about ways to manipulate me.?

For example, she recently asked me to get her a piece of construction paper. Happily ensconced on the couch and with only a few minutes before bedtime, I didn’t feel like getting up. So, I asked, “What makes it urgent to have that tonight?”

Zola responded, “Because I have other things I want to do tonight, and I want to finish this off, and I don’t want to forget it later.”

She was essentially saying, “I’ve got an agenda, and I’d like to take care of my business.” It’s hard to imagine a rationale more tailor-made to get me to follow her request. She may be manipulating me, but I don't care. :)


Thanks for reading!

Charles


Subscribe to Monday Musings

I publish this blog series each Monday. Like this one, it’ll contain something useful and something fun to start your week. If you want to receive Monday Musings in your inbox, subscribe?here!

Mark House

Master Certified Coach for Global Tech Executives

2 年

... I was doing some Team Coaching for a group, and they were to deliver a "Board of Directors" level presentation... one of 7 teams, competing with each other for a trip to Cabo San Lucas.. So no pressure right? ;-) One of the presenters was also a good friend, and a PhD .. and was so stiff in his presentation that he just wasn't connecting. After the 3rd try, I said "Talk to me like I am your mother..." He of course said "she wouldn't understand". Try. He did... ... luckily there are 3 others there that witnessed the best 45 seconds we had seen. I didn't say a word but simply looked at the others.. and then back to the presenter. "That". Connecting in a real way means thinking about your audience as real people - usually someone that you know.

Corliss K.

I’m a seasoned tech leader and team builder with a talent for developing diverse, high-performing teams that get things done. Over 18+ years I've led Workday implementations and been a product advocate.

2 年

Zola is wise girl. A great example of saying it like a normal person.

Yes to all of that but especially to what Elon Musk said about creating an environment where people feel dumb if they don't know. I worked at only one federal agency. There was/is an internal wikipedia of acronyms and abbreviations. I'm sure it's always out of date. And it's huge. And who accesses it during a conversation or meeting - no one I ever met.

要查看或添加评论,请登录

Charles Moore的更多文章

  • Normalizing (the Right Kind of) Experimentation

    Normalizing (the Right Kind of) Experimentation

    An Idea for Consideration Last week, I wrote about the power of resets. At the end of the post, I mentioned that a…

    1 条评论
  • The Power of a Reset

    The Power of a Reset

    An Idea for Consideration Last week, I talked about how I had been preparing for the move and staging our new house for…

    1 条评论
  • Moving & Experimentation

    Moving & Experimentation

    On Friday, my wife and I bought a new house. In many ways, this was accidental.

    1 条评论
  • Creating Dissatisfaction with the Status Quo

    Creating Dissatisfaction with the Status Quo

    An Idea for Consideration I co-lead a course on leading change at Georgetown’s Center for Nonprofit Leadership. I…

  • Competitive Child Rearing and the Exhausting Life

    Competitive Child Rearing and the Exhausting Life

    For the past couple of months, I’ve made it a habit to ask friends with adult children for their reflections on…

    2 条评论
  • Experimenting with the Sabbath

    Experimenting with the Sabbath

    “Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days a week are set apart for your daily duties and…

    1 条评论
  • The Get-To : Have-To Ratio

    The Get-To : Have-To Ratio

    An Idea for Consideration In last week’s post, I argued that work-life balance challenges result from a lopsided ratio…

  • Are My Belongings Serving Me, or Vice Versa?

    Are My Belongings Serving Me, or Vice Versa?

    An Idea for Consideration After this week’s snowstorm, I was walking with my wife to a restaurant when she asked, “You…

  • Are We Talking about Process or Needs?

    Are We Talking about Process or Needs?

    An Idea for Consideration Happy New Year! When reading about or talking to people about managing demands across their…

  • The Most Interesting Books I Read This Year

    The Most Interesting Books I Read This Year

    Here are a few books that I found particularly compelling this year. I hope it sparks your holiday break reading list!…

    1 条评论

社区洞察

其他会员也浏览了