I’m interrupting my regularly scheduled notes on the 5 Dysfunctions of a Team for some thoughts on communicating.
As I’ve said many times, leadership is both art and science. Today is science. When we communicate we have to know our audience and tailor our message to the audience. We have to be careful of jargon and technical terms. We have to understand the context and the objective of our communication.
People are wired to remember stories. Ancient Pacific-Islanders conveyed inter-island navigation instructions in stories allowing them to navigate thousands of miles over many generations. Stories stick with people.
Our natural instinct is to tell everything we know on a topic. In reality, if our audience takes 3 points away from a 30 minute meeting that is a home run. Here is my favorite example that makes the point on brevity and will help you remember to focus on concepts important to your audience.
When Joe opened his store, he put up a sign that said, “We Sell Fresh Fish Here.” His father stopped by and said that the word “we” suggested an emphasis on the seller rather than the customer, and was really not needed. So Joe changed the sign to “Fresh Fish Sold Here.”
His brother came by and suggested that the word “here” could be done away with. It was superfluous. Joe agreed and changed the sign to “Fresh Fish Sold.”
Next, his sister came along and said the sign should just say “Fresh Fish.” Clearly it was being sold; what else could Joe be doing with it?
Later his neighbor stopped by to congratulate him. Then he mentioned that all passerbys could easily tell the fish was fresh. Mentioning the word “fresh” would sound defensive as though there was room for doubt. Now the sign just read “Fish.”
As Joe was walking back to his shop after a break he noticed one could smell the fish from a further distance than one could read the sign. He knew there was no need for the word “fish.”
As with most things in life, moderation is good advice. Should Joe have followed simplicity to its conclusion? Einstein said, “Make everything as simple as possible but no simpler.” Joe should have stopped at “Fresh Fish.” Anything more is not simple enough. Anything less changes the main idea. Take away everything that doesn’t contribute to your message, but know when to stop.