Instructional Design Without the Corporatese Buzzwords
🧠 Instructional Design Without the Corporatese Buzzwords
Or: How to Teach People Without Losing Them in the First Two Slides
You know the ones:
“Drive engagement through scalable learning solutions that leverage cross-functional synergy and dither dither dither…”
I’ve seen enough corporate training decks to know what happens next. Eyes glaze. Brows furrow. Somewhere, a new hire wonders what they’ve gotten themselves into.
This post is my love letter to clarity—and a gentle roast of everything that distracts from it.
💬 Why Corporatese Kills Clarity
Instructional design isn’t improved by phrases like “value-added alignment” or “driving excellence through cross-functional leverage.” That’s corporatese: a dialect that sounds impressive but rarely informs.
Here’s what corporatese does:
Buries meaning under layers of abstraction
Intimidates learners who just want to know how to do the thing
Signals authority without offering understanding
If your onboarding module opens with “Welcome to a culture of empowerment and innovation,” but doesn’t explain where the cafeteria is, we’ve got a problem.
📣 What Clear Instruction Actually Sounds Like
Authentic instructional content feels like someone handing you the flashlight before the power goes out. It:
Anticipates confusion before it happens
Uses tone that feels like a peer, not a script
Favors verbs over vision statements
Instead of “maximize adoption,” try:
“Here’s how you’ll use this feature daily—and how it’ll save you time.”
Instead of “enable rapid productivity,” try:
“This shortcut gets rid of three clicks. You’ll thank yourself tomorrow.”
🛠 The Fix: Write Like You Care
When I build tutorials or onboarding sequences, I ask:
What emotion does this user start with?
What would I need to know to trust this process?
Can this be taught with fewer words—and more purpose?
Instructional design isn't about sounding intelligent. It's about helping someone feel capable.
📦 Final Thought
If your learner leaves the module saying “That actually made sense,” you’ve won. No fanfare needed. Just a better day for someone who didn’t have one yesterday.
