I know this sounds like an old fuddy-duddy kind of subject.
But it’s really not.
Language is such a precious thing.
We use it to communicate.
So if you get it wrong, errors can have serious consequences.
Let’s start with a horror story.
We see on the BBC that the police in the East Midlands have given evidence that a misspelling on a police log – resulting in “a slightly different name” being recorded for a man who then became a triple killer – meant other warnings of previous violent behaviour did not show. And tragedy ensued that might… might… have been prevented.
OK, I hear you saying. This is a ridiculously exaggerated example and has nothing to do with day-to-day life.
True. But there are so many things that do happen in ordinary life where poor use of language, grammar and punctuation can cause mistakes, misunderstandings and errors, sometimes with major adverse impact.
Let’s review a few more examples.
How about the typo that destroyed a company?
The business registrar accidentally recorded the wrong company as being in liquidation. The typo (just one letter) made it appear that the healthy company had gone bankrupt. The consequences? Suppliers withdrew credit. Customers cancelled contracts. The company went into administration and eventually collapsed. The owner sued the government. The damages claim amounted to many millions.
In another example, a legal dispute arose because of a contract clause where an apostrophe placement changed ownership interpretation. The mistake was “the directors responsibilities” instead of “the directors’ responsibilities”.
How careless/uneducated to miss out the possessive apostrophe… the sort of thing a twelve year old would get right.
The incorrect punctuation created ambiguity about whether responsibilities belonged to a single director or multiple directors. The result – lengthy litigation in a variety of business disputes.
Any more?
Well, I’ve heard innumerable anecdotes about the general impression of poor or incorrect use of language.
One company lost a major enterprise client worth millions after submitting a proposal with multiple grammar mistakes. The prospective client interpreted the poor writing as evidence of a lack of professionalism and attention to detail.
Last year, a marketing agency I know quite well lost a six-figure retainer, in part because of a series of grammatical errors and incorrect word usage in their ongoing proposals. This was one among several factors but exemplified how the client had been sold to by organ grinders but whose account was being serviced by monkeys.
And I think this is the main point – sloppy or ill-educated use of language may not often lose you business or land you in court. But it always indicates that you don’t really value the customer’s business.
What kind of impression do you make when you say ‘your’ instead of ‘you’re’. What do you look like if you write about ‘sticking my ore in’ (saw that one the other day!).
“I can’t here what their saying.”
“I didn’t recieve your email.”
“This plan needs it’s structure changing.”
“I saw there product.”
“Weather or not they like it.”
“We don’t want to loose this contract.”
I see this all the time. Often from quite senior people.
And do you know… THERE’S NO EXCUSE.
Being a senior business person does not excuse anyone from the same standards demanded of less senior employees. If anything, it’s for the top people to set an example – as in so many other aspects of leadership.
It’s not very much to ask, is it?
And there is so much more opportunity for making the wrong impression through the written word now, given the ubiquity of social media… combined with the sheer carelessness of what we write therein.
Well crafted, correct language shows that:
… we are making an effort
…we are paying attention
…we are taking care
…we are showing respect
…we value the work we’re given.
I hope you find these bulletins entertaining. If you want to talk to me about your business, do get in touch!
