Surface Ripples

Choose Your Words

 We see it all-too often – the ill-turned phrase that results in unintended consequences.  From King Henry II’s ‘Will nobody rid me of this turbulent priest?’ to the latest gaffes by politicians, businessmen (remember Gerald Ratner’s classic ‘People say to me, “how can you sell this for such a low price?” And I say because it’s total crap’?), people have said things that provoked reactions no one could foresee. 

I’m now watching a situation where a politician has said something as an illustration and warning, but which resulted in panic buying, a quasi-retraction and another warning.  The person in question has a very difficult job, and there’s plenty of opportunity to misconstrue anything said.

Be that as it may, we need to ‘watch our words’.  Ignoring the politically correct lobby who will always be on the lookout for the most minor faux pas, we need to remember that timing is everything and that those listening to us may be in a very different frame of mind.  At present, the world is battling the coronavirus pandemic, some countries and industries are falling into deep recession and people can’t pay their bills.  Many people’s ‘sense of humour’ has gone out of the window and they could be prone to react to any dire news regarding the pandemic.

When I lead public speaking workshops, I have a section on audiences and sensitivities.  Not only do we have little control over those in the crowd in front of us, we have even less over our ‘wider audience’, that is those reporting our speeches on TV, in the news, on YouTube or on Twitter.  Everyone will put their own slant on what we say because they’re filtering it through their own experiences, both past and present.  What may seem a harmless quip to us may be mortally offensive to another – who is to say one is ‘wrong’ and the other ‘right’?

Sadly the doctrine of ‘be reasonable’ no longer seems to apply and we will forever be playing catch-up in terms of what-we-said-versus-what-we-meant.  

To use Robert McCloskey’s words, ‘I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I’m not sure you realise that what you heard is not what I meant.’

I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management.  I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of services.  For strategic questions that you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.

Labels: Crisis Management, Customer Care, Leadership, Risk, Social

posted by William Martin @ 14:46