In the news, Inside Track, May 2011
What's your point?
How do you read a newspaper? Flick through for headlines that catch your eye? Read what you usually read and ignore the rest? How long do you give it? How quickly do you form opinions on the content?
If we read our annual strategy document, or our team’s research or a colleague’s email in the same way most of us read a newspaper, we don’t allow ourselves very long to get the point. If the writer has not spent time crafting a ‘headline’ we may miss the point, or give the document no attention at all. How often, as a reader, do we wade through piles of slides only to be left unsure about what the one message is and what now needs to be done?
In business, communication is what makes things happen. Whether explaining, sharing, debating or making decisions, what and how we communicate turns thoughts into actions. Communicating concisely and with impact is a skill – one that can be learned – and one that could save individuals and organisations time, money and a lot of misunderstandings.
When you next sit down to write something at work, an email or presentation, think to yourself: ‘What is the real question I am answering?’ ‘What is the answer?’. If you can’t say the answer in one sentence, you need time to think. Get out paper and a pencil and try summarising your thoughts verbally in 30 seconds or talk it through with a colleague. Don’t expect the first draft to be perfect. When you are asked a question in a meeting – for all those extroverts out there – try not verbalising every thought. Give yourself a moment, think of the headline, and deliver it succinctly. That’ll get people’s attention.
