The words ‘Effectively and Efficiently’ are problematic: Have you ever been asked to do something efficiently? Your new boss says to you and your team as he walks out the door, ‘By the way, we need this done efficiently.’
Noting that, you jump onto it and you and your team dive right in.
At your next weekly catch up you brief your boss on the progress you are making. He appears annoyed. He asks you, where your plan is and a couple of ‘what if’ questions. You feel the hair on the back of your neck quiver, and you try not to clench your jaw.
You and your team are good at solving problems as you go. Trying to explain that and it only seems to make things worse. It appears your boss wanted a full plan, some scenario planning and a briefing before your started.
Well, why didn’t he say that? You say to yourself. Still trying not to be seen clenching your teeth.
What has happened here is simple. You and your boss have a different understanding of what efficiently means?
For you, efficiently is getting started and working out the details as you go.
For your boss, efficiently means to have a detailed plan and well thought out contingencies so that there are no delays or roadblocks.
So, why is ‘efficiently’ problematic?
As word it is problematic because it is subjective and a deletion.
By subjective I mean; the view is based on personal opinion. Your view may differ from others.
By deletion I mean; not all necessary information may be visible or is apparent to everyone.
Additionally, the above situation occurred as the result of you assuming you knew what your boss meant by efficiently. Likewise, your boss assumed you knew what he meant.
To try:
The best way to avoid deletions in communication is to be specific about what your needs are. This removes any ambiguity and gives clarity… one possible phrase for this is… ‘in terms of.’
So, rather than saying.. ‘Let’s get this done efficiently’ (which leaves out what the efficiently word is supposed to mean)… a more useful communication would be..
‘Let’s get this done efficiently in terms of time and the number of people needed to complete the job. I need to see your plan’ This leaves out any ambiguity about what is meant by efficiently and gives clarity and direction to the communication.
The word ‘effective’ is also problematic.
Why? For the same reason. Both Effectively and Efficiently are subjective and a deletion.
In recent media, we are seeing an on-going battle of medical experts around the ‘effectiveness’ of the various COVID vaccines. On one level they can more or less agree the percent of the effectiveness of each drug. However, on another level there were many views of which drug we should use and why.
In application the word ‘effective’ could be less subjective if you had an agreed scale to quantify what effective means. Unfortunately, not all situations are that simple to resolve.
My suggestion is, when you hear people use either effectively and efficiently ask them to expand on what it means to them. In doing so, you are able to align expectations and avoid a world of pain.
Biggest tip of all, any word ending in ‘ly’ is a deletion. Use it as a queue to ask clarifying questions.
For more Problematic Words, click here
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Tess Brook is a communication specialist and author.
She transforms organisations by creating awareness of our communication needs, differences and patterns via her signature workshop ‘The Trouble with Talking’. Problematic words feature in her workshop. Reach out to her learn more about this workshop. Tess@cohesiveconversations.guru
When she is not transforming organisations, she can be found discovering a new corner of the world to sit and write. She and her husband love rummaging through old bookstores for gems. They live on a sailboat with their two dogs and cat.