When to Embrace a Lower Common Denominator

I'm not a lowest common denominator kinda guy. I believe we need to have high expectations, of ourselves and others.

Except...when it comes to using words to effectively communicate. Then I think it's a good idea to aim low.

(Aim low?? My perfectionistic soul shudders even as I write the phrase).

Here's why - you have a whole bunch of information and background in your head, and it's far too easy to assume that the person you talking with/writing to has that same background (this is called "the curse of knowledge").

They don't. Over 40 years of business experience with just about every form of communication has taught me this: Assume nothing.

In fact, here's a core assumption you should print on the front of your brain every single day: If I can be misunderstood, I will be misunderstood. Yes, we live in a fallen world. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

In any endeavor when you and others go deep into technical details, it's easy to become immersed in tribal jargon. But even then, you shouldn't assume that everyone knows all the acronyms and dense terminology. So we should translate what we are attempting to say down to a lower common denominator.

Which means we get to simplify. Use plain, easy-to-grasp words. Define and illustrate. Apply clarity principles and tools.

That's not demeaning, it's kindness. Clarity is far more kind than confusion.

Author Bob Goff said it well in his book Live in Grace, Walk in Love: "I find most of the big Christian words thrown around in some faith communities distracting, so I don't use them. I try to speak as plainly as I can so I can understand what I mean, and so everyone else around me can too."

Exactly. Just swap out "Christian" and "faith" with any other group and the principle applies.

I got caught breaking this rule in a recent clarity workshop that I was giving. Ironically, I was talking about how others had me confused in a meeting years ago by throwing around a common acronym that I didn't know yet - and I, the relative newcomer, felt lost. Been there before?

Then someone raised her hand in my session and asked me what that particular acronym meant. I had assumed everyone in the room knew! Ooops.

I have nothing against big words and technical terms. I'm nerdy that way, after all. In fact, one of the main terms I will highlight in my upcoming book on the Clarity Formula is the awesome word obfuscation. Which means to cloud over and confuse, like spewing fog. It's the opposite of clarity, and we don't want to be guilty of this most common sin of communication.

Here's a takeaway for today. Before you press send on that email (not the one that says, Sure! or OK! - that other one with more stuff in it), re-read it with the assumption that it will be misunderstood. How can you clarify or simplify specific ideas so that it reaches a lower common denominator?

That's how to do clarity.

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Steve Woodruff is the author of the book?Clarity Wins?(and the upcoming book The Point - How to Win with Clarity-Fueled Communications). He facilitates?workshops for organizations and teams looking to equip their employees with superior communication skills.