Speak Clearly

Let’s keep business and ethics out of court for a while and address an issue that haunts many skilled professionals, their clients, and their customers – The difficulty to understand what their colleagues are speaking.

Education is a must in today’s highly competitive scenario. And if it’s specialized in an area, it’s an added advantage. It, however, also endows the student with related language. Doctors speak Latin because I can’t understand what they write. Chemists do. May be they speak Latin as well. If you have ever heard a skilled engineer, or a scientist, talking to his colleague, you wouldn’t understand much of it as their communication involves usage of highly complex or technical terms. Quite similarly, an accountant’s language involves usage of statistical and mathematical terms.

Hence, it is highly possible that people out of your profession may not understand what you are blabbering about or vice versa.

People work hard to accomplish their professional degrees and work harder at their workplace to achieve their status. And, I have seen this, they are quite proud about how they toss difficult, incomprehensible words around. However, if they don’t translate these terms into simple English, the message may not be perceived by people at the other end. May be they will comprehend if they belong to the same profession. What if they don’t? You are simply wasting time, his time. Or worse, you are the source of misunderstanding created at your workplace.

And these misunderstandings have the potential to create huge mess. Patients would agree to get operated without knowing about the risks involved in it. Clients would permit their lawyers to go on with the strategies they would have never approved, only if they knew what the lawyer is saying. Investors would incur huge losses if they didn’t understand the potential risk of a purchase suggested by an advisor, obviously in jargons. It’s possible that these doctors, lawyers, and advisors are quite skilled and knowledgeable. However, using highly technical terms and jargons can ruin their reputation, and ultimately, their career.

It is definitely quite difficult to explain technical terms in simple language. However, that doesn’t rule out the option of trying. If you cannot translate you entire speech in simple English, at least, summarize the conclusion in an understandable language. Try to explain things with examples, if it’s not possible to define the process. I remember a cardiologist who explained every heart problem to his patients with the help of a water pump.

Secondly, don’t force solution on your clients. Instead, encourage them to ask questions after every brief explanation, which will help them to perceive the message. Wrong perception, if not faulty disclosure, can also drag you to court. Hence, it’s wise to have a clear communication, always.