Can I Offer You Some Feedback? - Episode #64
Show Notes:
This week Sara shares a Business Bite with us on Interpreting Organizational Language. When thinking about learning a new language, there is a structure behind it. The same is true when going into a new organization. When trying to understand the concepts and rules, the context and word choice matters. It’s important to seek out understanding to make sure all parties are on the same page and using the same words. Subscribe today so you never miss an episode!
Below we are offering a transcript of the podcast for accessibility and reference.
Episode #64: Business Bites: Interpreting Organizational Language
Welcome to Business Bites. My name is Sara. This is the podcast for busy professionals who want the quick hits of business terminology, historical context, and strategies for integration. This week we're going to be talking about interpreting organizational language.
When we talk about organizational language, it can sometimes be a truly different language. When you think about learning a language in school or in your free time, there's a structure and a process around learning that language. You start with some of the easier concepts, maybe some introduction into the spelling and the terminology. What is the alphabet? How do we organize and structure sentences? What are the grammar rules? How do we identify and be able to speak in this language with other people?
The same is almost true when we go into a new organization. Think about when you started in your most recent role. How did you find out what some of the terminology, what some of the jargon, what some of the terms meant? Now, there are certain industry terms that do get shared across organizations. Perhaps regulatory bodies, perhaps similar types, or larger competitors.
Again, within an industry, there are terms that are shared. However, very quickly in organizations, we come up with a lot of jargon, shorthand, acronyms, other terminology that just makes sense in running the business. However, how did you learn them when you first started at the organization?
Some organizations choose to use glossaries as a part of the onboarding process, here's a full list of all of the acronyms we use. Good luck learning them and their appropriate context. But if you are in an industry or in an organization that's acronym heavy, your sheet's probably outdated by the time it got printed as another one is probably going to be added to that list.
One of the other troubles and challenges that happens with acronyms is that they may not mean the same things across teams. For example, I was working with two teams and they were both using the term LOA. Now a sales team might use LOA to meet a letter of agreement. That's pretty normal. That's pretty standard. But an HR team, when they see LOA is going to think leave of absence, most likely. Or if we talk about an ROI, finance professionals, those working in administration may jump to, of course, return on investment. But if you work in a clinical capacity or in a healthcare setting, that could be a release of information. Again, acronyms that are unique aren't so unique when we come into trying to use them in between teams.
There's also a little bit about the rules and the understanding and the language that we learn that we don't even know that we're learning. One of the things that was introduced to me a few years ago was the concept that individuals who learn English as a second language, non-native English speakers, learn about the adjective order when it comes to structuring sentences in English.
For example, there is a rule when you're speaking English that you should organize your adjectives by opinion, size, age, shape, color, origin, material, and then purpose in front of your noun. Now, if this is the first time you're hearing it, you might say, wow, that's a really long list. But this is something that you learn as a non-native speaker to understand the rules inside the language.
Because, for example, when I say it's a brown big cat, that sounds wrong. In English, the correct way to note the adjectives is that it is a big brown cat. And I don't remember learning that rule as a student. I don't remember having that reinforced, but it's something that just gets ingrained into us.
There are some rules that are true in organizations that there are no reasons why. There are no good explanations. There is no rationale around it. At the end of the day, when we're talking about interpreting this organizational language, yes, the context matters. Yes, the people who are saying it matter. And of course, the word choice matters. But in all of that, we need to be pushing ourselves. to really seek out clarification, seek out understanding, and make sure that all parties are on the same page and using the same words.
This has been Sara with Business Bites. You can reach me at podcast@mod.network. We would love to hear from you on what other terminology you'd like bite-sized. As always, give us a quick rating on your platform of choice and share this podcast with a friend. We'll see you next time.