Mind Your Language

Kitty Watton finds out that context is the key to good communication.

Consider this:

Aoccdrnig to rscheach at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteers are in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?

Against this:

oredr taotl wouthit

The last three words were all taken from the first paragraph so you may well have recognised them, but what if you had read the individual words first? Taken in isolation you struggle to make sense of them, there being no context to give you a clue.

Despite ever increasing use of SMS text speak, this principle holds true for communication at every level, emphasising the importance of providing a suitable framework when marketing yourself for career development purposes. This does not mean setting out your entire life story, but explaining key facts linking one stage of your career to the next, developing themes, and ensuring that the language used is familiar to the recipient and appropriate for the context.

Jargon, acronyms and abbreviations are noteworthy dangers, and while they can be useful shorthand for members of your own tribe, it’s easy to forget that they may not be universally understood. Take “S&M”. To an executive, this could mean Sales&Marketing; to a lawyer, Slaughter&May; to a restaurateur, Sausage&Mash; and to others, something different altogether! Put in context, though, and blushes are spared as all parties are truly speaking the same language.

Posted: January 13th, 2010 | Author: Executive Team | Filed under: Communication | Tags: Career Development, language, marketing yourself, Outplacement | No Comments »