As a specialist in your field, you’ve spent years building your expertise, taking exams, getting certifications. You probably have a string of letters after your name to show the type and depth of your knowledge. (I spent quite a few years gathering letters to put after my name – they helped get me a few jobs, but did nothing to improve my communication!)
All that makes you good at your job. It makes your work and ideas more valuable, but it might also be the thing holding you back.
You see, the deeper your expertise, the bigger the gap between you and the people you talk to at work. I’m not talking about the other experts, I’m talking about your boss, the other teams, and the clients you communicate with.
The very thing that makes you great at your job is what makes it harder to work with other people.
This shows up when you’re told, “we don’t have time to go into details,” your ideas are dismissed as “too complicated”, or your great solution is met with a room full of blank stares.
Bridging the gap between your expertise and what your audience understands is the key to clear communication but it’s something that many people struggle with.
It’s not because they don’t want to improve their communication. It’s because there is something holding them back. Often, it’s a assumption that’s keeping them stuck in the same place. Something central to how they see themselves as an expert.
Here are the most common assumptions that make it hard for people to communicate with non-experts. You may not consciously think these things, but they often show up in the way experts communicate.
- People need to know I’m qualified before they’ll listen to my ideas.
- If I don’t explain how I got here, people won’t trust my recommendation.
- People only trust solutions when they understand all the details behind them.
- If I simplify the terminology, the explanation becomes inaccurate.
- Complex ideas need detailed explanations.
- Giving people all the options helps them make the best decision.
- It’s better to tell people everything than risk leaving something important out.
The problem isn’t that these ideas are completely wrong. In many expert environments they’re rewarded. The challenge is that they’re often ineffective when communicating with non-experts.
For example, with assumption #2, many experts feel they need to explain their analysis before presenting a recommendation. But most people want the recommendation first and the supporting detail only if they ask for it. They want the cake, not the recipe.
Here’s how I encourage clients to rethink each assumption and replace it with a new way of thinking.
| Old way of thinking | Problem with the old way | New way of thinking |
| People need to know I’m qualified before they’ll listen to my ideas. | People decide whether to pay attention based on relevance, not credentials. | People pay attention when they quickly see why something matters to them. |
| If I don’t explain how I got here, people won’t trust my recommendation. | Most people care more about the recommendation than the process used to reach it. | People don’t need my full analysis. They need enough information to understand and evaluate the recommendation. |
| People only trust solutions when they understand all the details behind them. | More detail often creates confusion, which reduces confidence rather than increasing it. | People trust solutions they can understand. |
| If I simplify the terminology, the explanation becomes inaccurate. | Unfamiliar terminology creates a barrier to understanding, even when the explanation is technically correct. | I can be accurate without using specialist language. |
| Complex ideas need detailed explanations. | Adding detail often increases cognitive effort without improving understanding. | Complex ideas are best explained through structure, summaries, examples, and analogies. |
| Giving people all the options help them make the best decision. | More options increase complexity and can delay decision making. | People make better decisions when they understand the recommended option and why it fits their situation. |
| It’s better to tell people everything than risk leaving something important out. | Trying to include everything makes it harder for people to identify what matters most. | My job isn’t to say everything. My job is to identify what matters most. |
A financial advisor once told me, “Clients need to understand the detail so they know why I’m making a recommendation.” He believed the clients needed to understand the research and mechanisms behind the recommendation. They didn’t. They needed to understand the general concept of the recommendation and why it mattered to them. Once he changed that, his conversations became shorter and clients made decisions faster.
None of these assumptions make you a bad communicator. In fact, most of them are signs that you care about accuracy, quality, and doing good work. The problem is that what helps you become an expert is not always what helps other people understand your expertise.
Clear communication isn’t about removing expertise – it’s about translating expertise into something other people understand.
Experts often believe their responsibility is to transfer knowledge.
Effective communicators believe their responsibility is to create understanding.
The next time you’re explaining an idea, recommending a solution, or presenting information, pause and ask yourself: “Am I helping people understand, or am I trying to show them how much I know?”
The answer to that question often reveals exactly where communication can improve.