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I had a colleague years ago named Sandra. Sandra had a very special skill. It’s one part honesty and three parts courage—and it made her an indispensible part of any meeting.
I remember one meeting where a consultant kept using a word that no one in the room knew. Not that anyone admitted this, of course. We all sat there like lumps, all assuming that we were the only ones who didn’t know the word, and all afraid to show it.
“You have to realize that the customer may be coming to your brochure with an entirely different hermeneutic framework.”
“It’s essential to take the hermeneutics of your ad campaign into account.”
What worried me most was that this word “hermeneutic” kept coming up alongside words like “essential” and “crucial.” But did I raise a hand? Not on your life.
“Excuse me,” Sandra said at last. “You keep using that word—’hermeneutic.’ I don’t know what that means.”
The reason I know for certain that no one else in the room knew the word either was the sudden, visible relaxation of all shoulders around the table, accompanied with a dozen little sighs of relief. We were going to learn the meaning after all, thanks to Sandra’s honest courage.
The next time you find yourself in the same situation—not understanding something, and certain that all those around you do—know that the likelihood that others are also sitting in silent incomprehension is somewhere around (hmm, let me do the math here…carry the six…) somewhere around 100 percent. And if everyone else DOES happen to know what’s going on, know that it is 100 percent permissible to reveal that you don’t know everything because NO ONE DOES.
So do everyone a favor. Be like Sandra. Be the one who is honest and courageous enough to ask for clarification. You’ll be an asset to workplace communication and a hero to your colleagues.
Oh, and hermeneutics? The consultant said it means “interpretation.” Why he couldn’t just say “interpretation” in the first place is a topic for another day.