Rules – They Make a Difference

Here’s a rule:

Learn the English Language

There are some terms and phrases that people know and can understand when dealing with people from your profession or industry. This helps you get on the same page with everyone and strengthens relationships between industry professionals. However, after a while, everyone becomes tired of the jargon and buzzwords. No matter how industry-insider you are, you will eventually get tired of all the jargon and buzzwords and just want to talk to people in plain English.

You must know who you are talking to in business and use industry jargon to communicate that. Don’t do too much, but not too little. Speaking to industry professionals is not the best way to communicate with them. You will have a greater chance of building and maintaining solid relationships if you carefully edit both your verbal and written communications.

Use analogies and plain English translations. Complex messages are easier to understand if they’re wrapped in metaphors. The more universal an analogy is, the better. Although it may seem simple to relate a concept to a trip at the grocery store, car dealership, or lemonade stand, they are all everyday experiences that people have had. Nonverbal cues can help you identify what is more complex and require more explanation. Your listener will soon glaze over if your speech patterns contain technical words and no description. To make it more understandable and prompt questions, you should adjust the industry language you use.

Another one for your consideration

Murphy’s Law is what they call it for a reason.

It is possible for something to go wrong. Murphy’s Law is Murphy’s Reminder, and Murphy’s Law is Murphy’s Law. Plan for the unexpected. Failing to plan realistically-overestimating sales, underestimating costs and time to market, and then failing to prepare for the inevitable twists, bumps, and craters along the way is the primary reason why most businesses start-ups fail. Even established businesses tend to be too optimistic in their plans and forecasts, and they don’t allow for any errors. You’re asking for trouble if you don’t want to base your plans on reality in order to make them appear better than they actually are.

Projects can take longer than expected and cost more in the real world. People get sick or quit. Natural disasters cause delays in the delivery of critical components. Key supplier goes out-of-business. Development is stopped by a last-minute technical problem that you or your team didn’t anticipate.

You should allow for some flexibility in your project timelines and budgets. You will most likely need it. You will be able to pull off a minor managerial miracle – a project that went better than expected!

Establish regular meetings to review all aspects of the major projects you are working on and to focus on any new developments. You might be able to break Murphy’s Law if you are able to use these meetings to predict potential problems and keep them under check.