Messaging Archives - Page 8 of 27 - Claxon Communication

Why you shouldn’t have priorities

April 7, 2015 by Erica Barnhart

I focus on what matters Did you know that the word ‘priority’ was part of the English language for 500 years before it became pluralized? 500 years!

Why should you care about this little linguistic tidbit? Because it offers insight into why your mission statement may be–how shall we say?–sub-awesome.

You see, it wasn’t until 1940s that we started having priorities. Plural. That’s when the trouble started.

We got into the (nasty) habit of believing that all tasks were created equal and that all of them had to get done. We no longer had a priority, i.e. a clear idea of the “thing that was most important”. We started having priorities, i.e. things that were all important.

If everything is equally important, how can you prioritize? How can you focus? How can you convey the one thing that is most important about your organization? You can’t!

And that, I’m pretty darn sure, is contributing to the Laundry List approach to creating Mission Statements, which is leading to ~50% of nonprofits having Mission Statements that are technically incomprehensible.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again (because it warrants repetition)–if you tell someone your everything, they will remember nothing.

Listen to this week’s podcast and learn more about the power of having a priority. One. Singular. Priority.

Is mediocre the new perfect?

March 24, 2015 by Erica Barnhart

mediocre1 Used to be that if I just worked hard enough, I could tick all the things off my to-do box that needed to get done. “Perfect!”, I would exclaim at the end of the day.

That’s no longer the case. It doesn’t matter how long or hard I work, that to-do list is always there at the end of the day. It’s smug. Always growing. Always coming up with new things for me to do. It’s irksome. And existential. Infuriating, really.

Maybe you can relate? I find that nonprofits attract perfectionists. Makes some sense. Idealism and perfectionism are like two peas in a pod. I see this combo in many of my clients. In many ways, it serves them well. They get a lot done and make the world a whole lot better of a place!

But at what cost? The relentless pursuit of perfection is exhausting. It takes a toll. It’s not super healthy, what with the stress that goes along with it. This is why I’m a new-found advocate for mediocrity. Yes, that’s right mediocrity. Or if not mediocrity, at least a much bigger Good Enough Box.

I make my case for mediocrity in this podcast. Take a listen and see where you land. Is mediocre the new perfect?

Are you sorry? Really?

March 11, 2015 by Erica Barnhart

Sorry Torn Paper Concept As I was walking into the office this morning, a woman with a jaunty ponytail was wheeling a trolley filled with boxes through a set of double doors. I had to wait about 8 seconds for her to maneuver through the door. As she passed me, she said, “So sorry to make you wait.”

I thought, “Geez, no need to be sorry. No biggie to have to wait. It was only 8 seconds!”

This got me thinking about the word ‘sorry’. We hear it and use it all the time. But what does it really mean?!

Vicki, one of our fab interns, thinks the words ‘I’m sorry’ are straight up lame. She goes so far as to tell us never to say ‘I’m sorry’ in this post.

I’m not sure I can get behind the categorical elimination of the words “I’m sorry” because sometimes you really are sorry. It’s how you say the words and what you follow up with that makes a difference, it turns out. If you listen to this week’s Language Lab podcast, I lay out the anatomy of an effective apology and look at how different cultures relate to, and use, the word ‘sorry’. Kinda fascinating, IMHO.

The Wordifier data showed us that 16.9% of nonprofits use the word ‘sorry’ on their website. It gets a yellow “Whoa, Nelly” light. I’m curious about this. Are nonprofits sorry for something they’ve done? Are they referring to a sorry state of affairs which they are trying to rectify? For what are nonprofits sorry? Certainly not for doing everything in their power to create a better world. Further research may reveal more on nonprofits’ relationship with apologies. I just hope they’re following-up with the two magic questions that make for an effective apology (which I cover, yep, in the podcast).

Alert, alert: We’ve got a gratitude deficit on our hands!

March 4, 2015 by Erica Barnhart

thank you in metal type In sifting through the data from our Wordifier research (the free tool that helps you amplify your words), I came across a startling–and depressing–discovery: Not all nonprofits are thanking their supporters!

Gasp. Sigh. Forehead slap. Yipes!

The word ‘thank’ (as in ‘Thank you’) showed up on 54.3% of the websites. ‘Thanks’ made an appearance on 34.6% of the sites.

If we’re being generous, that means that some form of gratitude shows up on 88.9% of nonprofit websites. But in perusing the raw data, it looks like organizations who use one of these words, also use the other, meaning organizations that loverize their donors double down on that love, i.e. some form of gratitude likely doesn’t show up on 88.9% of the websites, but rather a smaller number of websites.

That there are any nonprofits with gratitude-less websites hanging out on the interwebs should be a wake-up call to us all. Gratitude is free, bountiful and feels awesome to give and receive. Here’s a Language Lab podcast devoted to the amazingness that is gratitude.

When we gather the Wordifier data in future years, I want us to be living in a world free of gratitude-less websites.

Thank YOU, dear reader, for being awesome and amazing and doing the wonderful work you do to change the world!

Are you confussled?

February 24, 2015 by Erica Barnhart

Confused + fussed = confussled

Yep, it’s a sniglet. My daughter coined it while doing her homework recently. Flummoxed could’ve worked. But confussled is so fun to say that it makes you smile. And when you smile, you become less fussed about the whatever is bugging you. So you un-confussle yourself just by saying you’re confussled. How cool is that?!

This podcast is about language’s infinite capacity for adaptability…and what that means for you.

Heard any good sniglets recently?

I love(rize) you!

February 17, 2015 by Erica Barnhart

Love. A simple word. A powerful word. A word chockablock full of emotion.

Yet not a word we tend to use when referring to donors or supporters or others who are critically important to the success of our organization. Which is weird, when you think about it, because you generally feel “deep affection” for people who make you successful, right?

Likely the word love is too loaded. And too closely associated with behavior that would be (ahem) inappropriate in the context of a professional relationship.

So let’s give Dr. Jen Shang Sargeant a great, big THANK YOU for coming up with an entirely new, entirely appropriate, and entirely awesome word: loverize!

Listen to this week’s podcast and fall in love with the word loverize…

How will you show the people who help you succeed (or just make you really, really happy) that you loverize them?

Conjunction Junction & the All-Powerful ‘And’

February 10, 2015 by Erica Barnhart

Language Lab podcast, free tools, nonprofits, language, words, messaging Small words matter. They can be oh so powerful. Yet they bounce off of our lips so quickly that you hardly notice them. But notice them you should!

Take for example the humble ‘and’. How many times in a day do you use it? How about ‘but’? Both have three letters. Both have two consonants and one vowel. Both are used primarily as conjunctions. And that’s where the similarities end.

And brings people, things, thoughts, ideas together. But pushes them apart. And is packed with positivity. But drips with negativity.

Take three minutes and contemplate the All-Powerful And with me in this week’s Language Lab podcast.

[If you’re like me, you totally want to listen to Conjunction Junction right about now…here you go.]

And for those of you who like to read your poetry, rather than listen to it, here is the excerpt from Richard Rohr’s book The Naked Now that inspired this week’s podcast. (Many thanks to Julie Lombardo for sending this my way!)

“And” teaches us to say yes
“And” allows us to be both-and
“And” keeps us from either-or
“And” teaches us to be patient and long-suffering
“And” is willing to wait for insight and integration
“And” keeps us from dualistic thinking
“And” does not divide the field of the moment
“And” helps us to live in the always imperfect now
“And” keeps us inclusive and compassionate toward everything
“And” demands that our contemplation become action
“And” insists that our action is also contemplative
“And” heals our racism, sexism, heterosexism, and classism
“And” keeps us from the false choice of liberal or conservative
“And” allows us to critique both sides of things
“And” allows us to enjoy both sides of things
“And” is far beyond anyone nation or political party
“And” helps us face and accept our own dark side
“And” allows us to ask for forgiveness and to apologize
“And” is the mystery of paradox in all things
“And” is the way of mercy
“And” makes daily, practical love possible
“And” does not trust love if it is not also justice
“And” does not trust justice if it is not also love
“And” is far beyond my religion versus your religion
“And” allows us to be both distinct and yet united
“And” is the very Mystery of Trinity

Can you be on a mission without a vision?

January 27, 2015 by Erica Barnhart

vision, mission As you know, dear reader, I have a love/hate relationship with Mission Statements.

Last year, after much existential and linguistic dithering, rather than acting like nonprofits could simply ignore the fact that their mission statements might stink, I came down in favor of nonprofits coming up with mission statements that were worthy of their work.

After becoming fully disheartened by the fact that nearly 50% of nonprofits have mission statements that are technically incomprehensible, I wrote this post and this one and this one and ended up hosting a Worst Mission Statement Contest…all in the spirit of teaching nonprofits how to craft clear, compelling mission statements. Heck, it’s largely why I created the ding dang Wordifier!

To be clear: convoluted mission statements aren’t just irritating, they’re costly because if supporters can’t quickly and easily understand what you’re about, they won’t engage.

Equally, if not more, distressing is that it would seem the root cause of the lame language in mission statements is the absence of a clearly articulated vision. Without a clear vision, how can you come up with a kick ass mission? I share my thinking in this week’s podcast.

What are your thoughts on this whole vision/mission conundrum?

Are you awesome or just cool?

January 20, 2015 by Erica Barnhart

I have this quote framed. It sits in a spot where I see it all the time. Namely, above my kitchen sink. (When will dishes learn to wash themselves?!)

It’s my way of reminding myself to bring my A game. To always push myself to do my best. To not take anything for granted. I have loved this quote for a long time. And I’ve loved the word awesome for a long time.

So imagine how royally my bubble was burst when I got a nasty-gram from a reader of The Claxonette because of my use of the word ‘awesome’. I was momentarily demoralized. I share the deets in the podcast below–the good, the bad, and the sniffly email to my mum.

Awesome is now purposefully part of my personal lexicon. You can create your very own lexicon–with or without the word ‘awesome’–by downloading this freebie.

You’re not just cool. You’re awesome!

Words that make you look dumb: alot

January 16, 2015 by Erica Barnhart

AlotNoALot Whether a word is “good” or not is largely a matter of opinion. For instance, I think ‘awesome’ is awesome and others beg to differ. Some people and organizations (cough, Microsoft, cough) love acronyms while others take umbrage with them.

But there is one word that is categorically a bad word–alot.

Want to know why it’s villainous? Because it makes you look dumb. Because it doesn’t exist! Nope, sure doesn’t. All is explained in this wee podcast.

Sure, when you say “alot”, no one knows you’ve mushed two words together. But you know whether, in your mind’s eye, you’re saying a non-word. For shame!

Absolutely, positively don’t write it. Ever. Please. Not even to be funny, cute or clever. Use a hashtag instead. #CuzNothingSaysClevahLikeAHashtag

**You can listen to podcasts on words like joy, gratitude, disappointment and funsies in the Language Lab Library.**