Your Job – Simple and Clear

Regardless of the cause, our job is not to make it clear for us. The only criterion for success is whether the other party understands. If you are failing to achieve this, stop blaming everyone else for being “clueless” and figure out the disconnect. If you find yourself regularly saying, “They just don’t get it,” interpret this to mean that you are not communicating clearly enough for your audience to understand. It’s your job to help them “get it.”

“The ability to clearly and concisely deliver a message is key.” 

• One-Paragraph Emails. Keep your emails to one paragraph— and that paragraph can’t be 1,000 words. Most people will not read five or ten paragraph emails. Don’t risk your audience reading nothing at all.
• Answer Questions Like You Are a Trial Witness. Communicate the core point you are trying to make. If you were on a witness stand at at trial and a lawyer asked you, “Have you ever taken a drink before driving?” You could say, “Occasionally I have, but I know my limit.” Or you could say, “I have, but it depends on the type of alcohol. For beers, I can have a few and it doesn’t affect me. With wine, two glasses is my limit. With liquor, I have a pretty good tolerance so it depends on the drink.” It’s all about being concise and to the point.
• The One-Pager. When an issue requires more detail, the communication should not exceed one page. Assume no one is reading more than one page. If you create something greater than a page, pare it down to one page—and not with font selection or size.
• Think Like Twitter. In all your communications, think like you do when you are on Twitter. Typically the first draft of a Tweet is more than 140 characters and then we are paring it down. Do the same with all of your communications.

Think about the left panel of the front page of the Wall Street Journal. One paragraph about the top stories. Enough to spark your interest. If you get the core of the story, you read more. Take pride in developing good communication skills. Make a commitment to improving these skills. Anyone can write a five-page paper on a given topic. Good leaders can distill five pages into a single, comprehensible page that everyone will read. Start training your organization and clients to expect the one paragraph and the one-pager. Hopefully they will respond with the same economy.