3 Minor Communication Adjustments that get Major results
Last week, I received a prescription reminder from CVS. For years, I have been getting text reminders like these from various organizations. If I'm being honest, I know I need them but have still always found them rather annoying. Leave me alone, I would think, I'll do it tomorrow. Therefore, on this particular occasion when I picked up my phone and checked the message, the last thing I was expecting to do was smile.
"Hi Kristen, it's CVS Pharmacy. Pick up [your prescription] before Wed, 06/28. Got your back w/reminders if you forget."
One simple sentence changes this from annoying, to helpful. Got your back w/reminders if you forget. Rather than being frustrated by the poke, I now see it as a gentle nudge that's here to help me if I need it.
When it comes to communicating, one sentence used the right way, at the right time, can change everything.
For the past several years I have worked with organizations adopting new software. As the change management specialist on the project, it is my role to advise our project team on how to communicate to their organization in a way that reduces resistance and increases adoption of the technology being deployed. In my experience, the most impactful changes to a communication don’t come from hours of carefully crafted messages, but rather from making a few minor changes. Why is that? Well, most projects don’t have the time to carefully craft long messages, because changes in today’s world happen quicker than they did in the past; communication strategy needs to be agile and easily adapt to the situation at hand. Long crafted messages end up sitting in a communication plan somewhere, untouched, while the actual communications go out without any care for the impact to the reader. This is not because the project team doesn’t care or isn’t trying to manage the change, but rather because most of the communication that needs to go out is unplanned or differs greatly from anything created in a plan. Mastering those comms, the last-minute-we-didn’t-plan-for-this comms, is what will make your project stand out. Great communicators can send clear messages with a well thought out and detailed plan; exceptional communicators can send clear messages with just a few seconds and the right tweaks.
The SECond Strategy
When a last-minute change happens and a last-minute comm needs to go out, it can feel rushed and haphazard, which is why I have developed a simple pneumonic device to help slow things down and focus on the essentials. After many moments of saying let’s just take a second to review this before we send it, I now remember to do exactly that: take a SEC, and review. After a very rough draft has been written, take a SECond to see if you’ve been Specific, Empathetic, and Clear.
Was I specific? Anytime you ask someone to do something, you should include why you want them to do it, when you when them to do it, and any consequences if they do/don’t do it. Every message has an action, so if there is no action then the action ends up being wait for further instruction. In those cases, when can they expect to hear from you again and in what format? Go through your message and imagine you are the end-user reading it; be specific enough that they won’t need to ask any follow-up questions.
Was I empathetic? When people are given reminders about something they are supposed to be doing, a default reaction many will have is to be defensive. The best way to decrease this defensiveness is to be empathetic while you are writing your message; don’t assume that the reason someone hasn’t done your task yet is because they don’t care. They may be planning on it but just haven’t gotten to it yet, or maybe they were Out of Office (OOO) and haven’t seen the initial communication. Whatever the case may be, most people need to hear a message multiple times before they take action (experts say as many as 7, parents would probably say it’s even more); this is not laziness or disrespect, it’s the norm of humanity. Rather than treating repeat comms as a frustrating task, because people should just listen the first time, have a little empathy and maybe take a cue from CVS and have a little fun with it! Empathy starts by remembering that you are talking to a person - so use common greetings and call them by name when you can. Then put yourself in their shoes, what might they need to hear to make your message easier to receive?
Was I clear? After going through and adding specifics and showing empathy, the final step is making sure your additions didn’t fuzzy the message. Just because something is specific doesn’t necessarily mean it should be in the main communication. Keep your communication focused by adding things like titles and bullet points to make information easier to consume. Ask yourself - does everyone need to hear this part? If it’s not everyone, then maybe it can go into a supporting resource like an FAQ. Linking to an FAQ gives more information to those that need it without cluttering the essentials. When possible, have any FAQs ready before any communication goes out (you can always add to them as the project develops). If you don’t have time, then this is one of those moments where you acknowledge your shortcomings, you let people know what you are working on to help, and when they can expect to get it.
While this may feel like a lot to include for one communication, they all can be done with a surprisingly small number of words. The message from CVS is only two sentences and yet it is clear, empathetic, and specific. The first sentence is clear and specific: it tells me what I need to do, when I need to do it, and where I need to do it. The message overall shows empathy by saying hi, using my first name, and making the reminder lighthearted rather than judgmental. These changes are all subtle, but they significantly impact how the message is received.
Own your message
As I conclude, I want to highlight the way I am encouraging you to review your communication. I am not suggesting that you ask the question is it specific? Is it empathetic? But rather to specifically ask yourself was I specific? Was I empathetic? Was I clear? This is an important distinction, because whether you are the actual person sending this communication or if it will appear to come from someone else, the person who signs their name at the bottom will be responsible for the outcome. If it is not received well, then a single person or group will be the one to take the blame. It is therefore very important to craft that email like it was coming from you; would you be proud to sign your name at the bottom?
People don’t say the email was unclear, they say leadership was unclear.
Most communication that is crafted for large projects circulates through several people before it is sent. The first person writing it may be a consultant like me that will never know your people like you do. The next round may be somebody from the corporate communications department or an internal member of the project team. Finally, it gets passed to the executive that is meant to send it out, or more likely the executive assistant that will do the sending. Through this process and several rounds of editing, it is very easy to remain detached from the outcome. Don’t wait for someone else to come along and add these elements. If you are the one writing and reviewing, then own it like your name is at the bottom.
You are always communicating; the question is what do you want people to hear? The next time you need to send out a communication, write your first draft and then take a SECond to make these minor adjustments that get major results.
Check out other related posts
Clearing the Path for Change | Part 4
It is ironic that the only way I have managed to start writing this article on Focus Time, was to wake up at 5am on a Saturday. It has been on my To Do list for weeks, but somehow there was always something more pressing that bumped it down the line. Does this sound familiar to you? Too often the environment that we are living and working in does not leave enough uninterrupted space to focus on the things that matter most.