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How Jargon Undermines Your Leadership
Speaking like a human is an underrated skill.
Strategy. Operations. Implementation. Tactical approaches. We’ve all heard these phrases.
It’s easy for leaders at all levels to get bogged down in jargon.
A personal favorite is “comms.” Do we have the comms? Are the comms ready?
What’s the strategy for releasing our comms plan?
I could go on.
Don’t Get Lost in the Terms
You thought I was going to say “Don’t get lost in the weeds”, I know it.
It’s the same concept. Don’t lose your credibility because you’re lost in jargon.
Effective leadership at any level, but particularly at the mid-level and in project meetings, is about simplicity.
In other words, spit it out.
If you’re in the middle, trying to explain the organizational policy and plans, you need to clearly define what those policies and plans are. Then use easy language.
In project management, we focus on people over process. As a long-time operations manager, I’ve applied this same concept to my daily existence.
Put your people first. Which means, keep it simple. Simple language. Simple SOPs…
