Mind the Gap — Using Words as Tools to Make Sure We’re Actually Talking About the Same Thing with Alma Zertuche and Lucy Chambers
In group discussions, one word can gently steer people in completely different directions. Whether it’s jargon, acronyms, or seemingly innocent words loaded with prior associations, words really create worlds. The opposite problem is just as real. Spend too long perfecting the wording and the group falls into a wordsmithing wormhole, debating definitions instead of making progress.
Facilitators constantly walk a fine line between these pitfalls. In this interactive session we explore how to spot when language is sending a conversation off course, when clarification is worth the time, and how to bring enough clarity without draining the energy of the room. You will leave with practical tools and a fresh appreciation for language as one of the most powerful instruments in a facilitator’s kit, tested on real examples from the group.
Register for the session here!
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About the speakers:
Alma Zertuche Alma took the scenic route into tech, her career has touched international affairs, logistics, education, sales and a startup before landing at Thoughtworks, where she has spent the last 9 years helping teams turn messy problems into clear, deliverable solutions. Based in Berlin, she works across automotive, loyalty and engineering sectors as a Lead Business Analyst, and has a habit of making the invisible visible, whether that’s an undocumented process, an unclear requirement, or the elephant in the room nobody else has drawn on the whiteboard yet. She colours outside the lines, builds genuine relationships with the people she work with, and will not rest until everything is written down, drawn out, and understood by everyone in the room.
Lucy Chambers Lucy’s career has gone: linguist → accidental techie → facilitator. The thread running through all of it is language. Starting in tech, where unclear language turns into expensive mistakes, she developed a practical eye for spotting when people are talking past each other, hiding behind jargon, or confidently agreeing on completely different things. The more she looked, the more she saw: language shaping decisions, excluding people, and occasionally triggering surprisingly strong emotional responses to individual words. She now works independently, helping groups across disciplines and organisations find a common language where there wasn’t one before. Her facilitation toolkit is built on the conviction that words aren’t just vehicles for meaning but tools, and she uses language strategically to get a room to understanding faster than anyone expects.