Get Out of the Obfuscatorium
Posted on Friday, June 12, 2009 by Frank RocheEschew Obfuscation.
When I was a high school sophomore our teachers turned up one day with that written on a button. It drove us crazy.
What’s “eschew obfuscation?” we’d ask. Plead. Whine. “Tell us.” They wouldn’t.
After feeling stupid and frustrated for long enough, one of my teachers gave me one of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever gotten in my life: “Look it up.” I did.
Never Use a Big Word When a Diminutive One Will Suffice
I learned a valuable communication lesson back then. Those teachers were very smart indeed. In fact, after all these years, it’s one of most pointed lessons I learned in high school: Avoid ambiguity.
Don’t Write Your HR Communications in the Obfuscatorium
Rank amateurs in employee communications don’t write like they speak. You see, in HR communication we’re not trying to impress our college World Lit professor. We’re not James Joyce, Flannery O’Connor, Tom Wolfe, or any of the masses of writers who think 96-word sentences with seven semicolons are okay. They’re not.
We write for clarity, not grades. There’s a huge difference between writing for HR and writing for English class. Compound that with the fact that most people are crappy writers (there, I said it) and you have the formula for the Communication Obfuscatorium.
Join the Committee to End Precious HR Phrases
I’m a founding member of CEPHRP, which isn’t the greatest acronym but has a powerful mission: Get rid of confusing and fakey-schmakey language in employee communications. Here’s our CEPHRP framework:
- Employees are employees, not human capital.
- If you say, “employees are our most important asset” you sure as hell better be able to prove it.
- It’s “use,” not “utilize.”
- If it sounds precious when you read it out loud, dump it.
- Engaged employees have rings; great employees know what needs to be done and do it.
- People have no idea what a consumer-directed health care initiative is.
- If you have to use “in other words,” you can get rid of the first part. It stinks.
- If you can’t tell the story in 32 words, you won’t be able to do it in 3,200 words.
- Capitalizing words doesn’t make them more powerful. That’s for amateurs (and some lawyers).
- If you use a thesaurus when you write, please seriously consider getting into a different line of work.
Want to join CEPHRP? It’s as simple as leaving a comment below. We’ll be delighted to have you in the club.
Lex Fortis
Jun 12th, 2009
Emily Dickinson also liked to Capitalize for emphasis. I consider it my own little taste of Tourette Syndrome.
Frank Roche
Jun 12th, 2009
@Lex I shold have said, “If you’re a poet and a recluse it’s okay to Capitalize certain Words.”
Steve Bogner
Jun 12th, 2009
Great advice! Applies well to those of us int he consulting profession, too
Furley
Jun 12th, 2009
I had a professor in college that would fail you if you wrote utilize instead of use, and clearly for good reason. When communicating, it’s important to speak to your audience clearly and appropriately. This is something that applies not only to written communication, but also to the web. Web developers tend to forget that there are people interacting with the websites and the web applications they are building.
Great post buddy.
Lance Haun
Jun 12th, 2009
Throw me on that list. I absolutely despise HR speak.
MsInformation
Jun 12th, 2009
Frank-
What a great list! Will Part Deux include corp-speak? I’m spreading the word in the hope of assisting you in a Massive Paradigm Shift. Here’s to thinking outside the box! [blech.]
best,
Donna
[no thesaurus was injured in the transmission of this comment]
kentropic
Jun 12th, 2009
Count me in. Mark Twain had a lot to say about this, too — you’re in great company!
Paul Hebert
Jun 12th, 2009
But Frank – how will we incentivize the folks to change the way they right?
Frank Roche
Jun 12th, 2009
@kentropic: I like Twain and Hemingway…get to the point and use few words. Glad to be in that company!
Frank Roche
Jun 12th, 2009
@Paul Hebert: Paul…lol. As you often write, incentives come from knowing what’s important. Good, clean words do that, don’t they?
Frank Roche
Jun 12th, 2009
@MsInformation: Always a great turn of a phrase from you. Massive Paradigm Shift…lol. Yep, we should include CorpSpeak. You never need a thesaurus…when you got it, use it. I like that…it’s about using it well, as you always do.
Frank Roche
Jun 12th, 2009
@Lance Haun: I’m with you, man. And you practice what you preach.
Frank Roche
Jun 12th, 2009
@Furley: Thanks, my man. You translate that into web experiences all the time…and it works. We have proof.
Frank Roche
Jun 12th, 2009
@Steve Bogner: So true…consulting is the spawning ground for crazy word creation.
nelking
Jun 12th, 2009
I do not own a Thesaurus. I’m in alignment with this… I mean, I’m in.
Ann Bares
Jun 12th, 2009
Frank:
Count me in. Tho after so many years in consulting shops, I am still working to beat the consultantese out of my writing and speaking.
In an effort to spread the word & boost membership in CEPHRP, we are featuring this post in today’s Friday Special at the Compensation Cafe.
http://compforce.typepad.com/compensation_cafe/2009/06/friday-special-at-the-cafe-1.html
Lisa Rosendahl
Jun 12th, 2009
Sign me up. I feel like I should go back and scan my blog for offenses
Frank Roche
Jun 12th, 2009
@Ann, @Lisa and @nlking, You’re all in the CEPHRP club!
@Ann, wow, that is really nice of you to feature CEPHRP!
AKGrwn
Jun 12th, 2009
I’m on board! Wait, where is this train going?
-denise
Paul Hebert
Jun 13th, 2009
Remember the “bull fighter” software for word …
http://fightthebull.com/bullfighter.asp
It reads your document and highlights some of the things you’re referencing. Haven’t used it since Word 2000 and the site says copyright 2005 so not sure if it is updated or supported any more.
Greg
Jun 15th, 2009
“employees are our most important asset” = “people are our most disposable asset”
Paula Cassin
Jun 15th, 2009
I love your 10 points!
I just ran across a website this morning that had the following, one right after the other on the Careers page:
“At XXX, we recognize that our greatest resource is our people, and that individual development translates to positive outcomes for everyone.”
And the next paragraph reads:
“XXX always puts customers first – because we know that their success is our success…”
Looking forward to a follow up post on Corporate Speak like this and how to go beyond it!
Frank Roche
Jun 15th, 2009
@Paula Isn’t it funny how that message gets crossed in 2 paragraphs? Really cracking up about that. Crazy.
Amy
Jun 15th, 2009
All I can say to this is:
AMEN.
It’s like church only BETTER.
Christina
Jun 18th, 2009
From high school journalism class: “Omit Needless Words (ONW).”
Frank Roche
Jun 18th, 2009
@Christina, good advice all the time!
Jacob Høedt Larsen
Jun 19th, 2009
I’m in
Frank Roche
Jun 19th, 2009
@Jacob, now you’re in the club!
Nada Habib
Oct 12th, 2009
Count me in…as a young HR Proffessional, still grasping all the HR communication methods out there…I just keep thinking there must be an easier way of getting the message through!