If we all aren’t using words the same way, we’re not going in the same direction. We just think we’re communicating, says John Graham.
The three of us were on our way to a wedding mom, dad, and home-from-college-for-the-weekend daughter. In response to a particularly tantalizing tidbit of gossip, the college student exclaimed, “Shut up!”
Needless to say, mom went ballistic for a few seconds until it was explained that the two seemingly offensive words were really an exclamation: “You don’t mean it!” or “Are you serious?”
It isn’t just generational lines that form walls. The meaning of words is a significant problem in business particularly when it comes to employee and customer communications, marketing, and sales. Is making a “thing” out of words worth it? Absolutely. If your employees don’t use words the same way, they can’t go in the same direction. If words confuse your customers, they react negatively.
CEOs often talk about “enhancing shareholder value.” What do the words mean? In many instances, they’re used to announce layoffs. Or, take “competitively priced.” Does this term send a specific, understandable message or is it just used because someone feels that it’s necessary to make a price statement? Including “your satisfaction guaranteed” might make management nervous. What do the words mean? Are there as many definitions as there are customers? Will they open a virtual Pandora’s Box of costly complaints?
Then, of course, there’s the most frequently-used term of all “full service.” Although it appears everywhere in ads, flyers, and brochures, does it really carry a message? It’s one of those “catch-all” terms that’s bereft of meaning. If your employees don’t have an accurate understanding of “full service,” how can they deliver on the promise? If your employees lack a common understanding of the meaning of “quality,” how can they deliver on a common expectation of quality?
As he took off on his Harley-Davidson bike, a perceptive University of Wyoming professor said, “Those who say they know what they mean but can’t say it, don’t know what they mean.” Far too often, we don’t know what we mean when we speak and that costs us customers, sales, and credibility.
A simple five-part exercise can reveal just where we stand with our words:
1. Measure your mission statement. It seems as if CEOs are enamored of mission statements; they never leave the office without one. There’s a flurry of activity and countless meetings until the wording (which is often plagiarized from other mission statements) is set and quickly printed on everything from walls to the backs of business cards. But what impact do the words have on employee behavior? How do they translate into better service and increased sales?
Exercise: Ask your employees, customers, management, and directors to write three or four paragraphs about how they understand the company’s mission statement or mission.
2. Understand your corporate culture. In some companies, the culture is quickly apparent, while in others it might be less well defined. When acquisitions occur, however, the differences in culture can surface almost instantly. One firm that made four acquisitions in a matter of two years assigned a seasoned executive to work on developing a common language to facilitate a common culture.
Exercise: Ask employees, customers, management, and directors to describe their understanding of the corporate culture.
3. Recognize your company’s core values. Although a discussion of mission statements and corporate culture seems obvious, “core values” deserve even more attention. They often lurk, unarticulated, below the surface of business activity, holding sway over the way every aspect of how your business operates. For example, while a company might say publicly that it’s “customer focused,” everyone knows that doing whatever it takes to make a sale is the real “core value.”
Exercise: Ask employees, customers, management, and directors to share their perception of your company’s three most important values and what each one means.
4. Answering the customer’s question. You might think we understand what’s going on in your customers’ heads, but your perception might be more distorted than you’d like to think. Asking one question can help expand your understanding of what your customers are thinking and how that compares with your views.
Exercise: Ask employees, customers, management, and directors to answer the question: “Why do customers buy from us?”
5. The heart of the company. Is there a common thread that binds everyone together, including employees, customers, management, and directors? Is it an idea, a way of doing business, a feeling, or is it something else? Is it positive or even possibly negative?
Exercise: What is the one quality that everyone in your company employees, management, customers, and directors all agree to, and why?
The objective of this five-question exercise is to find out if the road map (the words we use) matches the actual territory.
Although we all approach jobs, ideas, opportunities, the future, and problems from an individual perspective, a shared understanding gives your business an accurate picture of itself and where you’re going. Can this exercise in understanding help a company improve its customer relations and better focus its marketing and sales?
Absolutely. Consider all the letters and e-mail messages that go out every day. Do they send a common message? One division of a company sent out a fax blast with a message portraying the company in a way that undermined the image it was attempting to develop with customers and prospects. If an outside consultant hadn’t caught this message, it would’ve hit thousands of customers.
It’s not surprising that the most common question Disney World visitors ask is “Where’s the restroom?” But the number two question might cause us to scratch our heads: “What time does the two o’clock parade start?” Even though the answer might seem obvious, the Disney people take the question seriously. Those asking it might mean, “What time does the two o’clock parade pass here? Or just as likely, “When can we expect to see Mickey?”
We talk about making sure everyone is “on the same page.” That’s an important issue, of course. But to get there everyone must use the same “dictionary.”
There was a time that when you checked into a hospital, the admitting person asked, “What is your religious preference?” Today, some medical facilities ask incoming patients a less invasive question: “How important is religion to you?” Sensitivity to personal privacy might be driving this change. If the patient responds, “Very important,” then there are more questions. Just the way a question is asked creates a feeling about the institution.
The medical profession seems to recognize that the right words can reduce patient complaints. For example, both physicians and nurses are taking time to explain procedures slowly and clearly, indicating what to expect. The words are great medicine when it comes to reducing stress and the number of telephone calls, while increasing patient satisfaction.
What does this have to do with a business? A business administrator asked an advertising agency to meet with him about an upcoming project. When he was told that the only available date was almost two months out, he decided not to get together with the firm. The words told him everything he needed to know.
Then there are the words on a resume. Most people list a detailed employment history, leaving the reader to figure out what it means. What about specific skill sets, areas of experience, and competence? If they’re not described, it’s as if they don’t exist.
There’s also the resume cover letter. Most read as if “one size fits all.” They’re devoid of anything interesting, exciting, or alive. There are no word pictures. A Wall Street Journal columnist tells about a woman who figured this out and poured her soul out in the cover letter, even saying to the prospective employer, “This is my dream job.” Most of these letters lack passion — and that takes the right words.
ACTION STEP
What’s the next step? Take words seriously by having everyone in your company participate in the five-question exercise. Then, have a representative group of five to 10 people review and analyze the responses. Once that’s done, ask them to prepare a brief report on their findings that includes a plan for involving the entire company community in a discussion of the issues.
If everyone in your company uses the same words the same way, chances are that everyone will be going in the same direction with a sense of what everyone wants –– a mission.