Breaking down the language barriers between generations

From "salty" to "spill the tea" - how workplace communication is evolving across generations, and why understanding these shifts matters for your organisation's success.

Every so often a tabloid or newspaper will bemoan the slang and lingo of the youth of today but the truth is, language has never been fixed. It’s always growing and changing. 

It’s thought that Shakespeare added 1700 words to English - and they weren’t all thees and thous - “Downstairs” is a word he is credited with inventing. As is “Manager”. And “Gossip.” 

Consider this - What does “spill the tea” mean to you? Is it a kitchen accident? A historical revolution? Or getting the inside scoop on the latest gossip?

There’s a great Twitter thread where a Gen Z office worker - with the now-defunct Twitter handle The Meanest TA, PHD - serves as a translator for some older colleagues. 

Not all of us however are lucky enough to have a Gen Z translator in house. 

If you were to reflect on your own organisation, no doubt teams cross generation gaps, and that unfamiliar language keeps groups separate and silo-ed.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Ensuring that the language and words your people use are as inclusive and easy to understand as possible is a key lesson in our Storytelling for Business training course.

We talk about the advantages and disadvantages of “in group language”  - the sort of verbal short hand that comes into existence when a team has worked together for a long time and has many shared experiences. What starts as in-jokes often grows into a micro-dialect, where team members no longer need to deliver full explanations when an off hand comment like “let’s Gary it,” is enough to explain what’s needed.

While that’s great if you’re a member of the team, outsiders and new arrivals are often completely confused. Just what exactly does “Gary it” mean?

Instead we need to build empathy and actively consider our audience - how do we speak to them in a way that they will best understand?

This works equally well when considering generation language gaps. It’s not as simple as just dropping the lingo and hoping for the best.

We want to avoid becoming the real life equivalent of the “How do you do, fellow kids?” meme while still we can be understood by all.

It’s worth identifying the language gaps your teams have to help them work around and through them.

As well as training we also offer coaching - one of our communication experts can come to your workplace, work across your organisation and  run a language and communications audit to identify areas for improvement. We can create tailored solutions to specific problems.

And we’ll do it all using language that everyone can understand.