Watch your language...

             Communication is a complicated equation of variables. It can be simple. It can also be comprised of a multitude of separate factors that culminate with a complex product that is difficult to decipher depending on different situations.

              Culture tends to lean towards the latter of those two modes of communication. People either directly or indirectly complicate communications. For some, it is deciding to use specific terms in the attempt to appear more credible, more authentic, or even more natural to the setting. For others, it is a method to dance around emotions, expectations, or known obstacles to what is the desired end result.

              Averting simple communications for any reason is detrimental to the message being conveyed. Any one person’s internal vocabulary is preset in a manner individual to that person and that person only. Complicating language as to incorporate less familiar or even unknown choices of vernacular is a great way to cause anxiety or unease in conversation.

              More simply, no one wants to be in a conversation where they don’t know what they’re talking about. Social media is a conversation many people are entering into. Social media is a conversation most people don’t know what they’re talking about.

              It is full of made up terms, practices, and programs that are completely foreign to people who are not natives of the field. Many people shy away from it as a result. It sounds complicated, tedious, and foreign.

              Here comes the kicker. The same applies for every field. Law jargon frustrates those who speak accounting jargon which is a pain to those who speak computer jargon which is annoying to those who speak law jargon and so on. It is a big simple cycle of perplexing communications.

              Nip Jenkins is a firm believer in one of the best pieces of information one could ever pass along to another; keep it simple sweetheart.  No matter who you are or what profession you’re in, you will be a better communicator and thus a better professional if you keep it simple.

              Jenkins recently embarked into very foreign territory. Jenkins launched an internet and social media campaign for his private law firm. He asked one basic thing of his marketing firm. Please keep it simple.

              Over three decades in a field of complicated and anxiety inducing jargon led Jenkins to figure it out. There are many different languages inside of the English language. Different professional languages have different effects on people.

              Jenkins did not and will not ever speak the language of technology. He was given a word association test that any American teenager would surely pass with flying colors. It was full of recent internet and computer terms. Jenkins’ responses were reflective of his familiarity of a new generation of language.

Word: Four Square (A social media program based on tracking locations.)

Jenkins: … And seven years ago. (The opening line of the Gettysburg Address... sort of)

Word: Bing (Microsoft’s search engine challenging Google.)

Jenkins: Crosby (The musician.)

Word: Pandora (Social media online radio program.)

Jenkins: Box (Duh.)

Word: USB (Acronym for Universal Serial Bus, the do it all computer drive used to plug the next word into)

Jenkins: Bank (United States Bancorp- one of the largest banking organization listed in the New York Stock Exchange.)

Word: Thumb drive (Small portable memory storage device that plugs into a Universal Serial Bus/United States Bancorp)

Jenkins: TV remote (Toss me the thumb drive I need to see how USB closed out today.)

Jenkins successfully identified over half of the words on the list including some of the more strange words such as Groupon, reTweet, and Wikipedia. Nonetheless, if a technology professional was carrying on with a conversation using these terms freely, he would be inferring entirely different meanings for much of time. This is often the case with many professional conversations. People use slang, jargon, and acronyms often in conversation unconscious of what the person on the other end of the conversation is inferring or feeling.

“Communicate naturally and simply and your message will be better received,” said Jenkins. “People are often uncomfortable in conversations about subjects unfamiliar to them, especially law. Communication is the key to building good relationships with clients and associates.”