David Cameron’s plea for civil servants to ‘cut the jargon’ is a message that should be adhered to beyond the confines of the public sector.
Writing a blog on GOV.UK last week, the Prime Minister said that ‘all communications with the public should be human, clear, simple, helpful, and professional’. This, he said, meant explaining complexity in everyday terms and translating jargon into simple English.
He added: “I’m asking every department and agency to concentrate on making all their communications brief, simple, human and jargon-free. I want to see these qualities in everything government writes.”
Mr Cameron’s aspirations should be applauded. After all, if your audience can’t understand what you are saying then you are not communicating.
These principles should also be followed in media interviews.
We can all recall watching interviews where a spokesperson loses the audience with terms, phrases and even acronyms which mean nothing to the general public. The public sector is arguably one of the worst offenders, but it is certainly not alone, and every industry, regardless of whether it is finance, healthcare or manufacturing, has specific terms that only mean something to people in those particular areas.
Use them in an interview and you will lose the audience before you get to your key messages. Explain things clearly with everyday terms. You wouldn’t use jargon if you were trying to explain the message to your mum and dad, so why do it in an interview?
Phrases like ‘stakeholders’, ‘leverage’, ‘solution’, ‘robust’ and ‘moving forwards’ will be met with a collective groan from the audience and a desperate search for the remote or the off button.
Take out the jargon and you are a lot closely to the ‘simple’ language Mr Cameron craves. But it is also important to keep your answers brief. Do not waffle. We are not suggesting one word answers – far from it. But the longer you go on for the more likely you are to lose the audience and potentially trip yourself up in the process. Prepare your key messages thoroughly beforehand and keep bringing the conversation back to them during the interview.
Humanity is another important feature in a strong media interview. Show the audience your care. This is particularly true if you are in a crisis media management situation. You need to show a sympathetic understanding of the problem and how it is affecting people. Phrases such as ‘as a parent myself’ will help the audience to see you as more than just a corporate spokesperson. In our media training we sometimes refer to the CARE technique. This stands for compassion, action, response and examples and clearly shows the importance placed on being human in an interview.
Unless you are part of the civil service you will not be able to compete for the Prime Minister’s newly announced clarity award. But follow some of his advice and you will benefit from a much more engaged audience.
Media First are media and communications training specialists with over 30 years of experience. We have a team of trainers, each with decades of experience working as journalists, presenters, communications coaches and media trainers.
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