How many lawyers or bureaucrats does it take to execute a deft turn of phrase?
Just one, if the individual is open to workplace change, has a passing acquaintanceship with plain-language writing and is capable of accepting that plain, simple prose gets the job done far more effectively than impenetrable jargon.
A quarter century ago, jowls waggled across Canada as office pundits pooh-pooed the folly of writing in a manner in which the message would be comprehensible to the lay reader.
It could never work, the naysayers said. Precise, correct legal terminology must be used in the drafting of laws, lest the courts become clogged with cases that arise from conflicting interpretations of the colloquial passage.
But, today, plain-language writing is gaining widespread acceptance in the private and public sector alike, sending CEOs and mandarins running to consultants to teach their managers and employees how to communicate effectively with the written word.
It has even taken hold in places no less than securities commissions, those bastions of writing so obtuse that sellers of stock invariably had to retain squadrons of high-priced lawyers to serve as translators.
"We have lots of lawyers here," acknowledges Doug Hyndman of Vancouver, chair of the British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) that is widely recognized among Canada's securities commissions as a leader in plain-language writing.
"Sometimes lawyers are reluctant to give up the old tried-and-true legal phrases."
Hyndman tells Business Edge the BCSC began looking seriously at plain-language writing in the late 1990s. It did so because it was telling companies that they needed to communicate with investors in plain language and it felt that it ought to practise what it preached.
In a 2001 memo to staff, the longtime chair defined plain-language writing as writing "that is straightforward, clear and precise. It is simple and stripped of excess verbiage and archaic expressions. It is not simplistic, 'dumbed-down' or baby talk."
"Plain language is a process and a way of thinking," he continued. "There is no single right way to write a plain-language document ... We're all busy and it will be hard to take the extra time to write things clearly.
"Just remember that the people who have to read them are busy, too."
Hyndman hit the nail on the head with his assertion that clear writing takes time. Communicating information in a well-organized 900-word article takes longer than saying the same thing in a rambling, wheezy 2,000-word eye-splitter.
The BCSC, which has created a plain language style guide with staff assistance, now uses plain language in its letters and brochures. It has begun using plain language in its formal notices. And it is well on its way to translating its rules into plain language.
"We have to deal with the fact that we are not the only fish in the sea," says Hyndman, acknowledging that not all securities commissions share BCSC's fondness for plain language.
"It's a work in progress."
Institutional buy-in can be a challenge when plain-language writing is made the rule, especially when top managers aren't included. However, that was not a problem at the 220-employee BCSC.
"I'm the most senior official here and I bought in very early to the concept," Hyndman says. "I've been trying to make sure that this is part of our organizational culture - that we communicate in plain language.
"Some people get there more easily than others."
Perry Quinton of Toronto, manager of investor communications at the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC), says the OSC took notice when the United States Securities and Exchange Commission decreed in 1998 that mutual-fund sellers must use plain language when communicating written information to investors.
Canadian Securities Administrators, an association of securities commissions, took a similar stand in 1999.
Quinton says the OSC has hired a plain-language editor to oversee the transition to plain-language writing. It also is adapting the BCSC Style Guide for its own usage, she says.
"We want to be open and accessible to all market participants," she says. "We want to ... make sure that all of the market participants can benefit from the protection offered by securities law."
Christine Mowat of Calgary, founder and owner of Wordsmith Associates and a pioneer of the plain-language movement, says that virtually no litigation has arisen from well-written plain-language documents.
"So many people feel vulnerable when someone comes back from a workshop and changes the way that they write," says Mowat, whose consulting firm coached the BCSC staff in its transition to plain-language writing.
Mowat said lawyers often resist such change. "They went to law school," she explains. "They learned that language. Their minds are polluted by that language. They feel that it holds them apart."
Not all lawyers think that way, Mowat hastens to add. Lawyers have been a source of leadership in the plain-language movement worldwide. "Ultimately it saves money," she says. "You don't have consumers coming back and complaining that they don't understand."
Decades ago, the insurance industry predicted dire consequences if insurance policies were to be rendered comprehensible. However, policies now are written in plain language and there is no record of the sky falling in.
Last October, the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) announced the results of its 2003-04 review of the clarity of language used by banks in the disclosure of residential mortgage prepayment clauses.
The Ottawa-based FCAC found in a review of more than 100 mortgage documents that the penalty calculations disclosed in some of the documents did not fully describe the actual method of calculation.
The agency ordered the banks in question to fix the problem. The banks complied.
"By putting this information in the public domain, FCAC is helping consumers learn what to look for in their residential mortgage disclosure documents," FCAC commissioner Bill Knight said in a news release.
(Brock Ketcham is an Edmonton-based writer who specializes in consumer and public policy issues. He can be reached at brock@businessedge.ca)
