Breaking the Language Barrier at Work

Language is a crucial element to any culture, and that includes the corporate culture of the workplace. Different industries deal with different technical terms, or “jargon,” as they might be called. While this language is familiar to a specific individual’s workplace, as is the case when trying to learn a foreign language, seemingly commonplace terms can create a language barrier when used outside of a specific corporate setting. In an interview with BBC News, Nicola Clark of Investors in People stated that “if used inappropriately, jargon can be an obstacle to understanding, which ultimately can impact on an individual’s performance and an organisation’s productivity.” At CEC, we created the Workipedia Lexicon in order to provide our clients (as well as the general public) with an understanding of the various terms used in the fields of disability management and occupational rehabilitation. By clearly defining the terms that are familiar to our industry, people who we deal with outside of it can obtain a better understanding of our methodologies and purpose. Do you feel that corporate jargon creates a language barrier for you (or your clients)? How do you propose it be remedied?