This three-part series explains clearer project communication to achieve desired outcomes
Most of us are driven to simplify decision making. Because the alternative is ugly. Who starts their day hoping to get bogged down with complex tasks, overthink choices, and expand the To Do list?
Do you communicate your project in ways that simplify decision making for others?
There’s an underlying physiological reason why most of us seek to streamline stuff and get things done.
Psychologists call it heuristics. We learn concepts, solve problems, and make decisions based on heuristics or mental shortcuts. Our brains don’t have the capacity to process everything, that’s why we make shortcuts.
So, what’s this mean for your project and, specifically, your project communication skills?
A lot.
People approving, supporting, contributing and learning about your project are just like you. They juggle competing demands. They battle information overload. And – spoiler alert – they prefer communication that is easy to process and easy to act on.
“You don’t get a second chance at a first impression.” While the author of this is unclear, its relevance to project communication is explicit.
We know business readers are swamped with information from multiple sources. We also know they are making shortcuts to survive and quickly deleting anything that isn’t strikingly relevant.
“Relevance is a search engine's holy grail,” says entrepreneur Marc Ostrofsky. “People want results that are closely connected to their queries”.
The same applies to anyone reading about your project. They need relevance. They need you to hit their “hot buttons” or your efforts risk being lost.
Here are two ways to quickly address your reader’s “hot buttons”, and strengthen your project’s chances of making a solid impression when it counts.
Recognise the knowledge gap
Your goal in communicating a project is clear. Give the reader the essential information they need to do something. The “do something” could be rational, such as making a decision, or providing you with data. It could also be emotional. You may need your communication to influence the reader’s thinking or feeling towards the project.
Whether your communication outcome goals are rational or emotional or both, you must recognise the knowledge gap between you and each reader.
Narrowing this gap doesn’t mean piling on the words.
It means thinking about the reader’s needs for clear, concise context, commentary on immediate issues, and forward-looking remarks.
It means writing using active voice and plain language. Clear writing reflects clear thinking.
Answer the “What, Why, and How” questions
When you write to someone about a new topic, or something that is unfamiliar, or something they may have forgotten, you will trigger these questions in their minds:
what is this about?
why do I need to read it?
how am I expected to use this information?
You need to answer these questions quickly because they will echo loudly in your audience’s heads. And they get louder the longer they are unanswered. Let’s prove this. Have you been in a meeting and kept thinking, “why is this topic being discussed again?” Or, have you received a complex message and struggled to make sense of it?
Remember, your mind is wired to make shortcuts to decisions. And we are quick to delete information that isn’t explicitly relevant.
How to apply these trigger questions?
Use them to structure your message. Ensure headings, subject lines, and opening paragraphs address the what and why?
We call this “hooking your reader at hello”. Too many project communicators waste these important pieces of document real estate. Write and edit them until they clearly and succinctly say to the reader: “Here’s what this is about and why you should read on.”
And remember to apply a key learning from our Lesson 1 – include verbs in headings to make your words more dynamic and engaging.
School and post-school education encourage people to overwrite and adopt a passive style. That's a failure in business and project communication.
Business writing must ensure outcomes. Our online training and coaching programs help people achieve clear, concise, and outcome-focused writing. More information here.