Lost in Translation at Work

How to get others to hear what you’re actually saying as a leader: Feedback, requests, decisions, and more.

Feb 14, 2025

👋 Hiya! Claire here, Founder & CEO of Canopy. Welcome to my weekly newsletter on leadership. While I’ve been writing on leadership for over a decade, this year I’ve decided to invest even more time in putting pen to paper for this newsletter, “Views from the Canopy.” If you’ve been enjoying my writing (and illustrations!) recently, do please make sure you’re subscribed so you can receive a fresh piece each week, and consider sharing with a friend or colleague who you think might enjoy as well.

Now, onto what’s on my mind this week…

Can you translate the following phrase for me?

“Things are evolving, and I’d like for you to step up more.”

Let’s say your supervisor says this to you. A few potential interpretations run through your head of what your supervisor might actually mean by this:

A) “You might be getting a promotion, and so I need you to show some extra effort so I can go to bat for you.”
B) “There is a lot change in the organization right now, and so you’ll likely want to put in more effort so you can make sure your job stays safe.”
C) “I haven’t been great about upholding job standards as your supervisor, so I’m recalibrating, and need you to perform at a higher level.”

So which one is it? Hard to say without any context.

And the stakes of misinterpretation are high: If it's Translation A, you might want to start documenting your achievements for a promotion. If it's Translation B, you might need to increase your visibility on critical projects. And if it's Translation C, you might need to rethink entirely how you show up at work.

These aren't just different interpretations — they represent radically different implications for your career:

Translation A is about expecting a promotion.

Translation B is about making sure you keep your job.

Translation C is saying that your job is seriously at risk.

Yet, in reality, how often do we receive the context needed to select the accurate translation?

Think back to the times you’ve heard a team member say, “Wait I didn’t know that’s what you meant” or “I was not expecting this” or “I don’t understand where this is coming from.”

Most of what we communicate at work gets lost in translation.

However, it does not have to be this way. With more context, more specificity, more meaning shared, our team doesn’t have to blindly choose between Translation A, Translation B, or Translation C. Our intent can come through clearly on the other side of the translation.

(1) Channel your energy into crafting a clear, direct topic sentence.

There’s a reason we were taught this rule in school. The ol’ standby works. If you don’t know the title, if you don’t read the topic sentence, the whole point of the story dissipates in the plot.

Avoid this by having your conversation start with a clear topic sentence that is direct and succinct.

This feels like an obvious tactic to employ, until we actually try it.

Here is one example…

We usually say something like this: “I think growth is really important and I want us all to be improving…”
Instead, try this: “Your performance is not meeting expectations.”

And another example…

We usually say something like this: “After a lot of hard thinking and deliberation, we are making some changes in the organization...”
Instead, try this: “Today is your last day at the organization.”

Now you may be thinking, “Hoo boy, but Claire, the latter part of your examples feel so… jarring. The first one is much easier to slide into.” Yes you’re right that the first one feels easier, but that’s why we do it. We tiptoe around the real point, because we’re worried about rocking the boat.

The reality is though, if we bury the lede, the other person will miss it entirely. I once worked with a manager who tried to let someone go, but structured the conversation so indirectly that it took 20 minutes before the direct report realized they were being fired.

The direct report's response? "Why didn't you just tell me straight away? The past 20 minutes feel like complete deception."

And in a way, they have been. Their leader avoided the key message, trying to contort it into something palatable, but the end result is something inedible entirely: Frustration that they couldn't just be direct with them.

You’ll notice a few things about the topic sentence examples above I provided as well:

They are simple. Not more than 5 or 6 words, maybe 8 if you include prepositions. No flowery language. Simple, succinct.
They are specific. “Today is your last day” — not “you’re being let go” or “we’re doing a lay off” where the latter is much more vague.

Which leads me to my next recommendation…

(2) Anchor everything in specificity.

When working with leaders, one of the most common requests I receive is a version of this:

“Claire, I want my team to be more ____.”

“Engaged”, “proactive”, “taking ownership”, etc.

I hear you. And trust me, as a business owner, I always want those things too! Over the past decade though, working with thousands of leaders and hundreds of teams is this:

We are never specific enough for the change we’re seeking.

For instance: Let’s say I want my team to be more proactive.

As a leader, what do I really mean by “proactive”?

To me as a leader, “proactive” might mean…

Coming to meetings 5 minutes early
Volunteering ideas in meetings
Anticipating problems in a workflow and solving them
Trying new experiments without asking their supervisor
Asking to take on more projects when their workload eases up
Or even, all of the above

Upon examination, “proactive” has many translations — not just one. And it’s on us as leaders to make it clear which translation we’re relying on.

If we mean coming more prepared to meetings and volunteering more ideas, then we should specifically say that. If we mean running more experiments independently, then we should say that instead.

Otherwise, without this level of specificity, our team is going to default to their own interpretation, and choose the translation that serves them best.

To make sure you’re being as specific as possible, try asking yourself:

“What is the observable behavior for what I’m ideally asking for?”

The answer to that question will give you your specificity.

(3) Center on the consequence they care about.

The most powerful way to ensure your message gets through is to frame it around what matters most to your audience. When people don't seem to hear your feedback, request, or decision, it's often because you're speaking to your priorities rather than theirs.

“I can’t get this person to change their behavior,” a CEO I once coached lamented to me. “They’re a top performer, they have the organization’s best interest at heart — but I can’t get them to stop being so harsh and aggressive to the team. I know they mean well, but the rest of the team doesn’t receive it as well and I know it’s affecting overall morale.”

On top of this, the CEO leveled with me: “I’ve tried telling this person that their tone is affecting the team negatively already, and all I get is the response: ‘I think this is the only way they’ll hear me.’”

I empathized with this CEO tremendously. I’ve personally have worked with sharp, ambitious folks who are high-integrity people at heart — but come across as aggressive and rude to others. They have good intentions, thinking it serves the team’s overall goals, and justify their tone as ‘the only way to operate.’

How in the world do you get this person to hear what you’re saying and change their behavior, when they believe their behavior is the correct one?

I must say, no silver bullet answer exists, but the one that’s worked for me personally and other leaders who I’ve coached is this:

Talk about the consequence that the other person cares about.

In this situation, here’s what this leader cares about: How the rest of the team feels and overall team morale.

However, what the direct report cares about is this: How quickly will be able to meet our team goals and milestones. How well we are serving customers.

As a result, if you share your feedback in the lens of the consequence of only what you care about (team morale), then the other person of course isn’t going to hear what you’re saying.

You have to center on the consequence that the other person cares about (team goals). That if they can find a way to adjust their tone to be warmer to others, that in fact will help the team get closer to our goals and serve customers better.

In practice, it may look like this…

Try this: “I think your tone could be a blocker to us achieving our goals. When folks are frazzled, it affects our work product. We need folks to perform at their highest level so that our customers’ aren’t let down.”
Not this: “I think your tone leaves folks feeling frazzled. I don’t want folks to feel demoralized on the team. I’m worried about overall team morale.”

See the difference? The first translates better to the consequence that the other person cares about — and that will influence how they then choose to act.

Translating billions of languages

There are roughly 7,151 known human languages that exist in the world. Yet I’d argue that in practice, each of us has our own perspective for how we interpret that language. Our own unique language, if you will.

And so, in some ways, it’s inevitable that what we say as leaders gets lost in translation somehow. Everyone is operating in their own context, their own perspective. Each person has their own language from which we’re speaking from.

Yet, if we can root in these three things — a topic sentence, specificity, and consequence — all of sudden, the translation becomes clearer. We have something common to align around. And there is less, “well I had no idea”, that our team is telling us.

To ensure your message comes through clearly:

Start with a clear, direct topic sentence that states your main point in 5-8 words.
Get specific about observable behaviors. What exactly do you want to see change?
Frame your message around the consequences that matter most to your audience.

When you combine these three elements, you create clarity where there was once confusion, direction where there was once doubt.

Let's go back to the original phrase we were trying to translate, at the beginning:

"Things are evolving, and I'd like for you to step up more."

Using these three principles here, it could become:

Clear topic sentence: "I want you to take on more senior responsibilities."
Specificity: "Specifically, I'd like you to lead the weekly team meetings and mentor two junior team members."
Consequence they care about: "This will help you develop the leadership skills needed for the senior role we discussed in your career planning."

Now there's no room for misinterpretation — just a clear path forward.

Give it a go yourself, with these three principles, and see what happens. Note how you slowly might start to bridge worlds, install a phone line, and cross a chasm where you previously weren't able to get your voice heard.

You don't have to leave it lost in translation.

-Claire

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