Network Rail have a language problem.
And it goes much deeper than those three examples. When you start digging, you find phrases like ‘cyclic tops’, ‘possession overruns’, ‘LOMs’ and ‘MOMs’, ‘TOCs’, ‘FOCs’ and ‘NOCs’.
It’s a different language. One that alienates new employees and makes passengers confused and angry.
Our brief was to help them… change track.
To help them stop speaking Railese, and start to speak passenger instead. And that’s exactly what we called the programme: Speak Passenger.
We knew the phrase ‘tone of voice’ would be an instant turn-off. And we also knew every single person’s objectives were shaped by a big internal campaign called Putting Passengers First. So by lining up with that, we Trojan horsed our way into everyone’s annual objectives. What better way to get tone of voice on everyone’s to-do list?