Having recently spent some time with the extremely thoughtful Martin Derbyshire and the sage like Bill Fischer, it really got me thinking about how so much of your influence and credibility at work is based on the language you use.
Now don't get me wrong, Many have talked about the use of language in the innovation space, but this is often only in the context of how innovation is managed rather than how those of us on the coal face can use it to our advantage. As Richard Branson puts it, failure is only and 'experiment' or 'iteration' with the insight that this should encourage us to experiment and try new things as we innovate.
Great when you're trying to tell your boss why it's not your fault, not so great when you trying to address the challenge the preceded the 'experiment' in the first place.
So how can a change in language help you address the problem you're trying to solve? Well if you're stuck with the same industry day in day out its inevitable that you're going to get into certain patterns of thinking and how you speak illustrates this. If you don't believe me, just gauge how many times you use the same words to describe the same concept and it will frighten you.
Virtually all companies have an excessive vocabulary and TLA's used to describe the meat of their business; their consumers and products. As a consultant I would even make special effort to learn this vocabulary in order to sound knowledgeable and develop rapport with my unsuspecting clients. In hindsight, I think this was perhaps one of the worst things I could do to help, by reinforcing the patterns of thinking they were using by adopting their lingo.
My point is that when it comes to the innovation game, there's a huge amount of 'psychological inertia' that comes with the language we use to describe the industry specific challenges we face. So we're already limited in how effective we are in terms of our own thinking and how we influence others if we choose to look at things the same way and use the same words we always do comprende?
As I see it, innovation coal facers tend to fall into two groups- newcomers and everyone else. And sure, a newcomer doesn't carry the experience that comes with the years it took everyone else to learn this knowledge and language set that comes with it, but they are not limited by the baggage that comes with these terms and limiting thoughts that accompany them.
I've recently come to think more and more that I can really improve my impact as an innovator at work by making simple but effective changes to the way my team and I go about things, and changing the language we use to articulate our problems and solutions has proved priceless. Hence I would urge you to do as I do and 'mind your language...'
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