The more the words, the less the meaning...
The UK’s Local Government Association today (11th March) published a list of 250 banned words: its annual list of words that shouldn’t be used by the public sector in its communications with people. While a mischievous part of me wonders why local authorities, which have never been known for rapid decision making, should wish to ban words such as fast-track, or why holistic, best practice, joined-up and dialogue are words which should not be used to explain to the public how local authorities operate, the principle behind the list seems a sensible one. The Local Government Association Group that developed the list explains that “Just as it would be impossible for two IT professionals to speak to each other without using technical talk, it would be impossible for public sector experts to avoid using a degree of jargon. However, the Group believes that while there is a place for technical language to be used between experts, jargon must be removed from documents and publications that are aimed at the public. Councils up and down the country are working to eradicate from their work as many of these words as possible and to help, the LGA Group has launched a plain English website to help all public bodies remove jargon.” With Business Continuity Awareness Week (March 22nd- 26th) rapidly approaching, now would be a good time to consider our communications to non-business continuity members of staff and to the wider public. What words should we ban? How can we make our awareness raising communications and activities as simple and clear as possible? Some of the advice and tips on the above plain English website may prove helpful in this area. We can also extend this thinking to our business continuity plans and documentation. Maybe the time has come for a plain English review. Where have you used ten words where five would suffice? Where have you used a technical term unnecessarily when a non-technical term may be clearer and easier to understand in the heat of an incident? Maybe testing the clarity of your plan by asking a non-business continuity colleague to read it and highlight words and paragraphs which he/she does not understand would help you in this reassessment? The book of Ecclesiastes (6:11) advises people that “The more the words, the less the meaning...” Maybe advice that we should all take to heart! David Honour is editor of Continuity Central.
•Date: 11th March 2010 • Region: UK/World •Type: Article •Topic: BC general |
