Political jargon - not everyone uses it
1st Jun 2010
"Politicians are often accused of being out of touch with 'the real world', but it is easy for anyone, from any walk of life, to become too comfortable with their own surroundings and their own ilk. The same could be said of public affairs and communications professionals.
On a day-to-day basis we immerse ourselves in political media, government department publications, party policies and politicians' speeches. The words and phrases, the gestures and actions, become embedded in our subconscious. However, the extent to how this has happened only became evident over the weekend when I was socialising with - shock horror - some non-political friends.
My non-political friends are a varied bunch: lawyers, accountants, teachers, postgraduate students - the list goes on. The formation of a coalition government has managed to arouse in them a passing interest at least, in politics. But in attempting to fan the flames of their new-found political passions, I bored them senseless as I waffled on for at least half an hour on the various issues of the week: spending cuts and efficiency savings, the Queen's Speech and associated Bills, 'free schools', the first Cabinet resignation...
I had fallen into the trap of using political jargon. One friend asked what on earth 'efficiency savings' meant in relation to 'cutting the deficit'. Another didn't know exactly what the role of the Chief Secretary to the Treasury was, and the potential implications of replacing one minister with another. My friends are not unintelligent people - far from it. They are qualified professionals who perform excellent jobs in their areas. They are too busy excelling in their roles to decipher every piece of news, read up on the new coalition and analyse every single piece of political information thrown at them.
Our clients fall into the same category. They too have their own jobs to be getting on with, but they still care about the effects government policies will have on their lives, their companies and their organisations. That is where, we, as political consultants, come in. What I learnt this weekend is that to remain 'in touch' with clients, we need to make our language as clear, concise and as understandable as possible. It is not a matter of being seen to be more intelligent, but acknowledging the time pressures and other issues our clients constantly face.
So in future, I shall remind myself that not all my friends watch BBC News 24 when nothing else of interest is on TV. Not all of them stay up till a ludicrous hour on a Thursday night to watch 'Question Time' and 'This Week'. Their lives are frenetic. In future, when they have a particular question on a subject, they may ask me. Then, I will endeavour to answer in an articulate, efficient manner. I think they will appreciate it."