There are three rather popular words in today’s business vocabulary that
I believe leaders should consider carefully and take great care to avoid overusing. The critical concepts they represent are sound, but the words themselves can confuse. Consider the following.

Word # 1: Synergy

You’ve heard it before. I know you have. Someone wishing to sound official
(and/or intelligent) says something like, “the joining of our two companies will assure a synergistic affiliation that will ultimately benefit our employees and customers.”

That’s great and s/he is probably right. But what if someone in the audience doesn’t understand that “synergy” by definition is “the realization that the sum of the parts is ultimately greater than the individual parts working independently and in isolation”?

In an effort to avoid even the possibility of confusion, everyone would be better served by saying something like, “We’ve all heard that two heads are better than one. With the joining of these two companies we will be able to learn and do more together that will ultimately better serve the needs of our employees and customers.” Clear, concise and powerful. Better, don’t you think?

Word # 2: Paradigm

The use of this particular word was extremely widespread just a few years ago based in large part on a popular management training video entitled, “The Business of Paradigms,” by Joel Barker. The video was excellent, in fact, one of the best instructional videos I have seen. In it, Barker introduced the concept of a “paradigm shift” to the world. But what exactly does that mean?

Paradigm is loosely defined as a model, a pattern or the order of things. Therefore, it goes to reason that if individuals or organizations experience a “paradigm shift” it really just means that things are currently in a state of change. Nothing against Joel Barker and his work, but here’s a brainstorm. Instead of invoking the confusing word paradigm — realizing that most Americans have never heard of or learned the foundation for the concept — why don’t we simply say that things are bound to…change? Everyone on the planet understands that things change. So why confuse (or camouflage) the critical concept by using words and phrases that could ultimately derail our basic intent?

Word # 3: Empowerment

For years now, individuals who are supposedly in the “know” (like authors,
speakers, trainers and business consultants) have universally extolled the virtues of an empowered workforce. I know — because I have been one of those vocal proponents. Many of us believe the best utilization of our human resources and their untapped brain power is to prepare, then loose them to think and act independently within the confines of our business strategy and activity.

However clear thinking leaders need to recognize a concept as broad and generally misunderstood as “empowerment” can mean different things to different people. To some, empowerment is just a fanciful renaming of what has long been known as delegation. For others empowerment is a wholesale attempt to loosen the organizational reins to such a degree that employees are left with a “free rein.” The true value of empowerment can be found somewhere in the middle.

I define empowerment this way: the process of willingly and knowingly
granting the power one possesses to be used by another. Common sense tells us that before one leans to run, he must walk, and before he walks, he must crawl. The correlation here is that before we as leaders can empower, we must first be assured that the one we are empowering understands what is expected. And before one understands, one must be adequately and systematically trained. Simply saying that someone is empowered does not make it so.

My conclusion to all this is simple. As leaders we must choose our thoughts, words and deeds carefully, always remembering our final objective is that our followers understand clearly what it is that we expect of them. We need to remember that “effective communication is the process of people exchanging thoughts, ideas and directions in an effort to realize something of benefit.” Anything we might do or say to confuse that basis of understanding needs to be addressed and overcome.