Just because everyone else uses a word, it doesn’t mean you have to.
When we’re children, we learn useful, concrete words such as ice-cream, house and cat. These words evoke specific images – they help us navigate the world.
When we enter the workforce, the opposite happens: we learn vague, abstract words such as stakeholder, engagement and outcomes – and we latch onto these words, thinking it makes us sound professional and grownup. In reality, it just sucks the life out of our writing.
Let’s take outcomes, for example.
I recently saw this sentence in the news: “Young people have said their experience with redundancy caused financial stress and poor mental health outcomes.”
Why on earth is outcomes even in that sentence? Delete it and see if the meaning changes. It doesn’t.
Vague words can usually be deleted or swapped with something specific. If losing a job causes anxiety and depression, then say so – it’s far more effective than saying “poor mental health outcomes”.
Sometimes, people choose abstract words because they don’t want to be specific. If your organisation is negotiating with a wide range of people, from local businesses to councillors and property developers, it’s easy to say they’re “engaging with stakeholders” rather than saying exactly who they’re speaking to, and how they’re speaking to them. The problem is, “engaging with stakeholders” can apply to any form of communication with anyone. It’s so vague, it’s meaningless.
Spell out the details if you want people to remember and understand what you’re saying – and, if there are so many details you can’t list them all, at least give a few examples.
You don’t have to give EVERY example – even a few will paint a picture in the reader’s mind, such as by writing: “We met with stakeholders – including local businesses, councillors and property developers – to discuss our expansion plans.”
Admittedly, I used the dreaded word stakeholder in the above example: but at least I followed it up with concrete examples. I also replaced the word engage with met.
Engage can involve any kind of communication: whether it’s meeting, negotiating, asking, ordering, screaming or pleading. Some people might like how it can apply to anything – but I don’t. If I’m meeting with someone, that’s what I’ll write.
It’s easy to use cliches and abstract language – that’s why everyone (including AI) does it. If you want to stand out and be effective, however, be brave enough not to sound like everyone else. You’ll still sound professional if you use specific, clear and concrete words: but more importantly, your writing will now also be helpful.
