TLAs

That's three letter acronyms to you. We love them, don't we? I've got used to not being able to understand what people are talking about some of the time in my in-house line manager workshops.

It starts with the introductions  ("I'm Paul, and I'm the HORM for the CDT section of the AMR") and goes from there. By the time I've gone around a room of 20 people and they've all introduced themselves in similar terms, people are usually laughing at themselves a fair bit.  But back in the office, they wouldn't really notice it.

TLAs are often useful shorthand, although sometimes I raise my eyebrows at people's compulsion to use them at every conceivable opportunity, often when there's no need. And as someone who is often walking into a totally new company to run a workshop, I get a feel for what it must be like to be a new person. I could either spend the entire time asking questions, or accept that I won't know what people are talking about and let it go over my head.

Some TLAs are quite amusing. What are your favourites?  Back in my Royal Mail days our senior leadership team in Personnal (as HR was back in those days, you know!) was rather unfortunately called the Personnel Management Team.  At Barclays I remember having a fit of giggles in a meeting when I was talking through a comms plan and said "then we need to get the HORSes talking to the ARMs.' (Heads of Regional Sales, Area Retail Managers). 

Anyone want to offer any personal favourites?

Of course, in an entirely different category is text speak. Sort of TLAs ('two/three letter abbreviations', maybe?) of a totally different kind, but just as alien to those who don't speak it.   And loved by Generation Yers. (This post from Les Potter made me laugh - look at the number 1 reason why his students don't blog). Although help is at hand - I just found a website that actually translates text speak into plain English. Excellent.

Of course, the danger of TLAs is that they can cause blocks and misunderstandings. Take the case of one of my much-loved NTL team (yes Wendy, it's you!) who was convinced one of our employees had a bit of a crush on her because of the affectionate emails he kept sending.  Eventually she got around to asking in our team meeting, "LOL does stand for 'lots of love', doesn't it?'

lol! (take it whichever way you like - hey, it's Valentine's day!)

Sue

Comments

[Anita Patel]

I remember this day fondly and the fact that we were all in fits of laughter.

I think the TLAs used in dating ads are really confusing......not that I look at them........much!

Lol

[Graham Keen]

Yes, still makes me smile. I often think of TLAs as the business equivalent of TXTing. Almost a private language until you get in the know...

[Sue]

TLAs= the business equivalent of text speak. I like that. I'm picturing new workshop content as I type...

[Les Potter]

OMG! my bff sue like read my post! lol!!

[Mark Mazza]

Ha, I had exactly the same thing with a colleague once. It took her about three months before she aproached me saying that she had always thought my lols were 'lots of love' until she eventually asked another colleague. I wondered why she always gave me a wide berth!!

We're piloting an Acronym and Jargon buster wiki at work. Impossible to maintain centrally but if we can garner the power of the people to add and edit it we might give everyone (especially new starters) a bit more of a chance to understand what's going on.

[Mark Mazza]

PS Also reminds me of the scene in Good Morning Vietnam when Robin Williams mocks the use of army jargon by responding to his boss:

Excuse me, sir. Seeing as how the V.P. is such a V.I.P., shouldn't we keep the P.C. on the Q.T.? 'Cause if it leaks to the V.C. he could end up M.I.A., and then we'd all be put out in K.P.

lol :-)

[Sue]

Well hello Mr Mazza! Loving the Robin Williams example. The wiki thing is really interesting - I wonder if we should have one on here? It would bring those debates about 'how do you define engagement/culture/strategy/ to a whole new level, and mean everyone could have a go at using a wiki, too?

Les - lol!! ur 2 right! Your blog is always on my reading list. (I think there is a rule in txt speak which says everything should be liberally sprinkled with exclamation marks!!!! And maybe question marks, too?? Or maybe even a combination of both??!!! lol!)

[Mark Mazza]

Hi Sue

I think sometimes there can be a fine line between when to use a wiki and when a discussion board would be more appropriate. In theory, a wiki shouldn't be a series of comments or opinions but should act as a 'single source of truth' to be added to and edited but not debated. At least that's my thought process at the moment. Whereas a discussion board can list people's opinions and debate points.

So to use your example above, I think a discussion board would perhaps start the debate and the defined 'answer' could then form a wiki entry.

And to end on a lighter note, good ol you tube always comes up trumps (though this short clip doesn't give it justice):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UqqjEeWP9Y

[Sue]

Hi Mark,

Oddly enough, when I dropped a note to Liam and Alex Manchester (our resident web guru) about this idea this morning, I suggested a good first wiki topic might actually be 'what is a wiki?' including answers to questions such as 'what's the difference between a wiki and a forum?' and 'why would you use a wiki rather than Sharepoint?' (which means absolutely nothing to me, but somebody asked it on the last Black Belt).

I had also helpfully suggested to them that you may be just the person to write 'how to use a wiki' piece, if we spoke to you very nicely...!

As someone who isn't exactly great with technology (despite all those people on Facebook who keep voting me 'most tech-savvy' - WHY?!) helps me to learn by seeing and trying out sometimes and I guess I'm not the only one, so maybe it would be good to be able to see a wiki and a forum side by side on here.

Or maybe Alex M is going to tell me I'm being a bit too ambitious!

(And by the way, why are we both on here at this time on a Friday night??!)

[Mark Mazza]

Sure, no problem. It's a minefield out there at the moment with Web 2.0, Social Media, SharePoint, MOSS... but in the kingdom of the blind the one eyed man is king :-)

There is a gap in the market for a Dummies guide to Social Media (or should that be a normal person's guide!).

I always advise people not to worry about Social Media other than be aware of what you can do and if that then helps support your overall communications strategy then use it as a relevant tool. Don't force the use of the tool just because you think you should.

Let me know if you'd like me to do anything.

Cheers

Mark

PS SharePoint is just a software product by Microsoft that provides templates for blogs, wikis etc

PPS The kids wear us out so much that going out on a Friday night is a thing of the past!!

Mark

[Flirting Tips]

I need to brush up on my acronyms. Am I the only one who has no idea what TLA stands for? I swear I've looked through the post about 3 times, and either I'm overlooking it or...everyone other than myself knows what it means. Anyone wanna share?

-Samuel