Acromania Hinders Effective Communication

By: Larry D. Ruebling

The American Defense Industry is well known for their extensive use of acronyms. I call it Acromania (the over use of Acronyms). Acronyms are simply abbreviations used to represent a lengthy or frequently used phrase. As an example, this is a sentence from a government document I recently came across:

“Emphasis on the dynamic aspects of TO/R and the capability of the JFC to update JOA support priorities and the JDDE to discern JOA priorities and redistribute critical in-transit commodities, thus reducing CWT.”

Wow, it was like I was reading a totally new language! Usually with every major document, there is an acronym list or glossary so the reader will be able to decipher the content. So, I had to take quite a bit of time deciphering a 36-page document filled with acronyms. Being raised in the military, I wasn’t totally unfamiliar with most of the acronyms, but some of the ones I thought I knew, were totally different. For the writer, it’s a great timesaver and paper saver to utilize acronyms. For the reader, it can be a time consuming frustrating activity of constantly reviewing the acronym list.

The reason I bring this up is that we sometimes take it for granted that, if the reader is from the same organization, they will understand the acronyms and language we use. However, effective communication can be compromised when using too many acronyms. It is vitally important that we understand that not everyone in your organization or audience will fully understand your specific terminology. So...

• Is your business guilty of using too many acronyms?
• Are you using acronyms that only apply to your industry or business?
• Can you really assume that everyone who reads your message or listens to your presentation completely understands what you are trying to say, if in fact you do use acronyms?

I recently facilitated a group meeting where the use of acronyms was flagrant and it sounded like the conversation was taking place in a different country. Two people were talking across the table and I understood about every third sentence and totally missed the point one of the individuals was trying to make. As the facilitator, I encouraged them to speak in laymen’s terms and drop the acronyms. That worked for the moment, but the acronyms quickly crept back into the conversation.

In order to emphasize how the use of acronyms can hinder effective communications, I put together a list of acronyms from a couple of background papers I had read prior to the meeting and gave the participants a little test. Out of about 35 acronyms, the most any one individual could define was 15. So they quickly realized that not everyone understood what was being said. They weren’t speaking the same language, even though they were all speaking English. They quickly realized that they needed to reduce their use of acronyms. The result was an increase level of understanding by all of the participants in the meeting.

So, don't be a victim of Acromania! Take time to identify the acronyms in your business and make sure that everyone is speaking the same language. Standardize your terms and definitions and create a language that everyone understands. Therefore, you will quickly realize the benefits of effective communications.

Larry D. Ruebling
636-795-0245

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Larry Ruebling is successful facilitator, oral presentation coach, television producer/director, artist and photographer. He has a Masters of Science Degree specializing in Mass Communications and is a new Chair for one of Michael Kramer's SuperGrowth Boards. Learn more about SuperGrowth Boards at www.winbig.org.

Short, Direct, & Effective

Napoleon Hill meets Michael Gerber,

After one hour, GAMP is the cocktail napkin notes......

GAMP! -The Future of Management

GAMP! -The Future of Management
By Michael Kramer

Consider the following three scenarios:

Scenario #1: You are the CEO of a growing enterprise. You need to simultaneously manage numerous projects and business processes. The weight of responsibility is pulling you down. There is too much information to store and process in your head, yet you lack the kind of information needed to make good decisions. You avoid delegating tasks to your team because it is "easier" to do it yourself. You begin to lose control. Customer service deteriorates. Productivity falls. Quality slips. Business growth slows. Profits stagnate.

Your solution? GAMP

Scenario #2: You are the patriarch of an established and well respected business. You led your company from its birth. You watched it grow. You nurtured it through its terrible twos and awful teen years. You were happy when it was happy. You suffered when it suffered. You loved it. Your business is like your child and now it is all grown up and ready for the next generation to lead it through middle age.

How do you let go and yet maintain the watchful eye of a grandfather? GAMP

Scenario #3: You’re an angel investor yet you are treated like the devil. The company’s management team presented you with their business plan although, for them, it was just a carefully crafted sales document designed to get your money. You came to their rescue when they were out of options. You sat around their conference table quarter after quarter and you trusted them. They fed you the information you requested and told you what you wanted to hear. Unfortunately, they lied just like their reports and projections lied. If only you had an independent means to corroborate their rosy assessment.

Your transparent solution? GAMP

These three scenarios might seem unique but they are simply a variation on the same theme. Every business, regardless of industry, size or stage of development shares a common denominator. After all, every business has customers, competitors, regulators, employees, finances, strategies, projects and operational processes. Every business requires the same basic set of management systems to function efficiently and communicate qualitative results accurately. I believe that it is this common denominator that should be represented by GAMP.

What is GAMP? GAMP stands for Generally Accepted Management Principles.

What vs. How

Current management theory is filled with ubiquitous terms that are casually discussed with the expectation that leaders will put theory into practice. For example:

• Transparency
• Accountability
• Lean
• Balanced
• Standardized

The business sections of every library and bookstore are filled with texts advising leaders “what” they need to do. However, very few demonstrate “how to” practically implement their recommendations. The remaining solutions are often so complex, narrow-focused and overweight, that they are impractical except for the most sophisticated management teams.

What’s needed is a standardized set of integrated leadership tools that prescribe specific, intuitive methods for establishing a company’s foundation of best management practices.

GAMP Would “Fill the GAAP”

Business leaders have long recognized the benefits of employing standardized systems to regulate the flow of information to stakeholders.

For example, Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) standardizes a system of accounting which is used to communicate financial results. Anyone with a basic understanding of balance sheet and income statement organization, can easily assess the financial standing of virtually any business. In terms of communicating quantitative results, GAAP is a powerful shared business language -- but, is quantitative reporting enough?

Recently, great attention has centered on the limitation of GAAP. Regulators and stakeholders are demanding greater transparency. They want to understand the story behind the numbers. For example, Sarbanes-Oxley is the reaction of an angry nation to a system of financial reporting that is easily manipulated by management.

The limitations of GAAP are easy to understand because financial reporting relates a single perspective that cannot easily communicate qualitative results. Extensive footnotes and carefully worded executive summaries attempt to fill the gap but they often fail to provide the level of transparency desired by concerned regulators, investors and other stakeholders.

GAMP would provide a parallel system of qualitative reporting to balance the quantitative information governed by GAAP. Together, GAAP and GAMP, would provide a more complete indication of a company’s current results and a more accurate predictor of future performance.

Imagine, for example, the benefit that would accrue to venture capitalists, investors, executive teams and CEO's if all interested parties had access to the same standardized reporting systems.

• Overwhelmed leaders would have the means to order their chaos and regulate all the moving parts of their business. They would have a highly organized framework to focus their efforts and achieve a decisive competitive advantage.
  
  
• A company’s “parents” would have sophisticated methods to pass the baton of responsibility to succeeding generations.
  
  
• Angel investors would have transparent mean to manage their investments.
  
  
• Business leaders and their management teams would synchronize to a common strategic vision. Their efforts would be coordinated by a common management “language.”

It is this "grand idea" of creating a universally applicable leadership strategy and reporting model that motivated me to spend nearly six years standardizing my WinBig™ strategy for general use.

I am eager to hear your ideas and thoughts concerning the development and promotion of GAMP.

Michael Kramer
800-999-9231
mkramer at winbig.org

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Michael Kramer is a successful entrepreneur and founder of the Win Big Institute -- a leadership training resource-center dedicated to helping business leaders optimize, transform and breakthrough to their next level of success. Kramer has created courses for the University of Chicago and lectured at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Kramer recently co-developed a curriculum for the Coleman Center of Entrepreneurship. Kramer's Win Big Strategy won the Most Innovative Program of the Year by the Duman Center of Entrepreneurship. Learn more at: www.winbig.org/secret.

Copyright © 2006, Win Big Institute. All rights reserved. 800-999-9231