Explanations

I recently helped a co-worker explain a new concept to another co-worker, as they were struggling to explain it themselves even though they were experienced working with the technology they wanted to explain.  This started me thinking afterward about the art of explaining something complicated without leaning on the established jargon for that subject, as the person you’re explaining things to is unlikely to know the jargon either.

During university I worked part time as an IT technician, which I think forced me to deal with explaining things to people without technical knowledge of the concept I was explaining. At first I was surprised at how unsuccessful I was at this and that got me thinking about why. Being able to explain something complicated in a manner where someone who has no technical knowledge can understand, is I think a very important skill to have as these sort of explanations will be required often in most sorts of careers.  And often it is those who can communicate most efficiently that succeed more than those that are the most technically proficient, as what use is proficiency or ability if no one can understand you?

The key to becoming good at explanations has a few key parts in my mind:

• Paraphrasing while learning: When learning something new, it is highly beneficial to then paraphrase the new information in your own words.  This practice has two benefits: first you will quickly find out if you understand what you’ve just read and secondly it will get you into the habit of thinking about the information using your own terms rather than just the terms in the texts (which is what you’d be doing if you simply memorised the text).
• Limiting your explanation: If you’re anything like me you’ll want to be as helpful as possible when explaining something, as well as exercise your whole range of knowledge on the topic at hand.  This is actually the worst thing you could do, as if you think back to when you last learned something you’ll most likely realise you didn’t learn the whole subject in one sitting but by digesting it a piece at a time.  When you are explaining something you are effectively teaching, which means someone else is learning and that means you need to keep your explanation short and compact in scope to give your student a hope of remembering it.
• Paraphrasing to verify learning: One of the best ways to check someone has understood your explanation is to ask them to paraphrase it back to you in their own words. This is not easy to do if they are not used to it so be patient; if it takes them a few attempts, they will improve with practice.