Impersonal Words and Their Impact on People
Words do not themselves treat people poorly, leaders do. Lofty words and catchy phrases and their associated processes cloud over the reality and need for human connection. In the production of my book “It’s Personal,” while interviewing over 75 business leaders and HR professionals I rarely heard the word “people.” I felt as if we were talking about the management of machines instead of the leadership and care of people.
“Human” was used but only in conjunction with another word like “human resources” or “human capital.” Instead, I was bombarded with words and phrases such as labor productivity equations, performance management, employee interface and relationship management to name a few. Some even used these terms with pride as if to showcase their expertise. I’d consider these words innocent victims if I had not experienced and witnessed Their negative impact on people.
Comedian George Carlin included a piece on euphemisms where he amusingly describes the softening of words to strip away their harsh core meaning. In the piece, he describes how “shell shock,” the powerful term used in World War I to describe mental trauma brought on by violent combat experience evolved into “battle fatigue” then finally to “post-traumatic stress disorder” (PTSD).
The terror associated with shell shock was lost deep inside a softer, easier-stated PTSD. It’s hard to prove that a word or phrase resulted in the lack of proper treatment for combat veterans (though their lack of treatment is a fact) but there is clear evidence of the evolution of professional language over the years from hard short terms to softer multi-word terms.
Carlin goes on to describe this: the dump became the landfill, toilet paper became bathroom tissue, hospitals became wellness centers, used cars became pre-owned vehicles, and the list went on.
Save for the seriousness of PTSD; the comedy routine is funny yet telling. Many words and terms and their associated processes used in leading people have suffered the same fate. Even I, a seasoned leader, must stop and think about what employee interface and relationship management means. Because of this, my focus is taken off people and placed on the processes I think these terms represent.
Rob Campbell