This Posting is about Message Clarity

How do you know if you even have a message? The question isn’t stupid. Clearly, if you are speaking to a large group or running for political office, you had better have a message, otherwise why bother? But does every conversation in daily life have a message? Do emails and IMs have messages? Well, yes, in a way, they all do. Sometimes the message is very simple, sometimes very complex, but everything we communicate does send a message. This is where another of the key terms in my original posting comes in: clarity.

How many people do you know who never seem to get to the point? They talk and talk and you have no idea why. The problem is they haven’t decided what their message is. In personal conversation this can be irritating; in a professional setting it can be disastrous. Whether the person has a message or not, one is being sent. A message that says “disorganised person”, “clueless” or worse.

Sometimes the message is as simple as “can we change our lunch appointment to 12:30?” So say it. All too often the conversation wanders: “I just got an email and I need to run several reports. You know, for the International project. I know we were going to have lunch together, can you still make it? I don’t think I’ll be very late, you know, 12:15 or 12:30 . . .” You don’t have to explain your life (unless you are asked), the other person just wants clarity.

Emails have become the example par excellence of this phenomenon. People receive so many emails these days that most of them only get half-read, if at all. That makes it doubly important to make your point right at the beginning. If it isn’t in the preview pane, it is likely to be missed. Especially if you are asking (or telling) someone to take action. If the critical point is five paragraphs into the email, you can forget about it.

Let’s take another example. A new project is going to start in your company. You are the manager who will assign it to your staff. One of your employees comes to you saying “I believe this is important, I am very enthusiastic about how it will be perceived by the market and I have lots of great ideas on what the end result should be, the steps to get there, who it should be targeted at, what documentation will be required, what it should be called and how it should be priced and costed.” Great. But what is his point? The employee has NOT thought out his message. He has given you lots of information, and certainly expressed an interest in the project, but why? Does he believe he should manage it? Does he want to participate as part of the team? Does he want to contribute peripherally? Or is he just talking about company events? If he wants to manage the project, that should be brought up early in the conversation, and he should be able to explain why he believes he is qualified to do it.

When it comes to clarity, the simple rule is no one can read your mind.

Finding Your Message

I have been asked by several people if this blog is about public speaking or about written communications. In fact, the answer is “yes”. It is about both of them. Messaging occurs any time you communicate, regardless of the medium. The basic rules are the same, but the way of implementing them is different. In spoken communications, you have to be very careful how you present your message, because the audience must absorb it at the time you say it, and cannot go back. A written document can be more detailed because the audience can go back and re-read anything that didn’t register the first time. However, just because you are writing a document doesn’t mean you can forget any of the basic rules of messaging: put yourself in your audience’s shoes, and what is your point? In later postings I will discuss some of the specifics of getting across your message oral or written form.

We have talked about ways of making your point, but so far haven’t gone far into understanding how to figure out what your point really is. Your point, or message, needs to be short. Ten items is not a message, it is a platform. A good example of this can be found (once again) in the current US elections. In a recent interview with Newsweek magazine, Hillary Clinton said she believes she won the New Hampshire primary because she “found her voice”. In fact, what she said was that previously she had been talking about her plans, but her message wasn’t getting through. “I get a little out there, with details, with five-point plans for this and 10-point plans for that, and I think that what I’m proposing really is both achievable and important, but it’s not what gets me up, so why should it get voters excited?”

This quote summarizes what is wrong with so many presentations, white papers, speeches, and emails in every walk of life: politics, business, schools and day-to-day communication. Plans are crucial for implementing something, and to get people to follow you, you probably need to have some plans. But you won’t get their attention, and certainly not their support and excitement, with a plan. You need a message.

So let’s take an example. You have a big plan to re-organise how your team operates. You know that by changing this computer system and having everyone do that thing and fill in timesheets covering these areas, the team will be more efficient and productive. You have a plan. The first step of the plan needs to be “get the team’s agreement”. Because you are dealing with people, not machines. If you ever forget that (and many people do forget it, to their ultimate dismay) the greatest plans in the world will come to nought. Getting the team’s agreement, what is sometimes called their “buy-in”, depends on having a message that they accept. Generally speaking, if you are proposing change, the message must be “we need to change”. It sounds simple, but the simplicity is deceiving. People are naturally resistant to change, so your message needs to include the reasons for the change. The two primary motivating factors for change are (a) fear of the consequences or (b) anticipating the benefits. Fear tends to have a very short-term effect, anticipation generally lasts longer. However, depending on the situation, you may have no choice. If your organization will be eliminated if results don’t improve, being open and above-board about it with the staff will generate fear, but can also generate solidarity and a sustained group effort. On the other hand, if your improved productivity could lead to major bonuses for the staff, that anticipation can generate positive activity, too. However, benefits must not seem too distant or abstract or they will have no impact. If your message is “we must change”, whether the reason is fear or anticipation, its impact will fade away over time, so it is essential to have constant follow-ups. Status reports for the team, encouragement on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.

The “we must change” message can be a powerful one, but it must be coupled with a vision for how to get there from here, otherwise cynicism, hopelessness and despair set in. Your message becomes transformed into “there is no way to change”. This is where your 'five-point plan for this and 10-point plan for that' become very important. They back up your message.

A plan with no point is just busy-work, a message with no plan is hot air.

The Primrose Path

The stake in the ground doesn’t work well with a highly sceptical audience. When you anticipate a tough time, it is often best to take your listeners or readers down the primrose path. For my non-native English speaking friends, the expression “to lead someone down the primrose path” means taking small and seemingly innocuous steps to lead the person (figuratively speaking) where he or she wouldn’t otherwise have gone.

As an example I’ll use a case from the scientific and academic realm. A friend was going to speak at a scientific conference. He had a very controversial finding to present, and he knew he would be greeted with much scepticism. In this situation it would have been counterproductive to start by saying “I am going to prove to you this controversial point”. Too many people would have just blocked their minds to his new evidence. This is a natural human trait: we filter what we see and hear through our own experience and what we “know” to be true. So he led these scientists down the primrose path: “We all agree on A, and Dr X’s Whatsit experiment proved B, agreed? If we join those results to this other experiment C, clearly D must be true. Everyone still agree? Good. Well, there is another result, call it E, over here in a different realm (with peer-reviewed papers backing it up) that no one ever thought of applying. We agree with that result, too, right? I have taken the implications of D plus E, and, lo and behold, F must be true, right?” And the audience who had all been nodding their agreement, suddenly awakened with a “hey, how did we get here!?!” reaction. The message got through.

One key thing about the primrose path is that when it works, you have to be ready to go through it several times, patiently, to cement your audience’s agreement. As a technique for making your point and making it stick, it is highly effective. However, it is not suited for all messages. First, you need an airtight logical argument, or your credibility (and your message) will be lost. Second, it is rarely effective as a rallying cry or call to action. It is a good way to capture minds but not necessarily hearts. This means that when you use the primrose path method of presenting your argument, you need to already have plans for your follow-up steps to make sure the audience stays convinced. Depending on the situation this might be a quick follow-on email after a meeting re-iterating what was agreed, or a full blow publicity campaign. In the scientific example above, this would mean not only submitting a peer review article but also arranging for credible supporters to write letters to a scientific journal, and speaking at various conferences.

The Stake in the Ground

Last time we saw how important it is to know what you are trying to communicate. “If you don’t know where you are going, any path will get you there”, but no one is likely to follow you. So for today let’s start with the assumption that you know what your point is, and that you have a forum for making it. This could be a meeting, a speech, a document or even an email. So go ahead and say it. Keep in mind, though, that just saying something doesn’t make it so. “The world is round” didn’t make much sense without a Columbus to prove it. Generally you are going to have to convince your audience. This is true whether you are at the top or the bottom of the hierarchy.

If you are trying to convince people of something, having a big title or being the boss may ensure you are listened to, but they are no guarantee that you will be believed. In many cases, distrust of management or “elites” is such that you will have to work even harder to be believed. So the bottom line is that whoever you are you have to back up your message if you are going to get through to your audience.

There are generally two ways of organising your proof: the stake in the ground and the primrose path. I’ll concentrate on the stake in the ground method for this post, and deal with the primrose path in the next one.

The stake in the ground means tell them right up front what your main points are, then go about proving them. This can be thought of as the classic advice given to presenters: tell them what you are going to say, say it, then tell them what you said.

Using this method, a CEO might announce to the company’s engineering teams that they are to start on a new, totally different project. “I need your support to develop a crash program to produce a product to not only get us into the XYZ market, but put us on top”. There is the key message. The CEO has their attention, but now comes the hard part: overcoming their scepticism and transforming it into enthusiasm. “Our market has changed, deep and fundamental changes that mean customers who loved our ABC product will NOT be looking for a next generation version but for a transformational change”. The CEO has painted a picture of the need for change. He has to be careful here not to paint too bleak a picture. The “bad news” about the troubles they face must be immediately followed up with a forceful explanation of how they can get to where they need to be: “the experience you have in ABC design is directly applicable to this new market. In fact, senior engineer John Smith tells me that some of you have already suggested to him ways we could leapfrog the market . . .” The CEO needs to build up enthusiasm by appealing to something that excites the audience. For engineers that may be the technical challenge of being on the cutting edge, for sales people it may be the temptation of a hot selling product, for teachers the satisfaction of putting their own personal touch into a standard curriculum. Whatever it is, it is important to a) know what will excite the audience and b) address scepticism early and forcefully.

The stake in the ground is a very effective format for getting people to follow you. It lends itself to generating excitement and enthusiasm. It does, however, depend on the credibility the speaker has with the audience and their willingness to listen.

How do you deal with an audience that isn’t open minded? We’ll talk about a useful technique next time.

So what is your point?

There is still a lot more to say on the subject of your audience, and I’ll certainly get back to it at a later date. For now I want to talk about the phrase specific ideas. This is the nitty-gritty, the real meat of what you want your audience to retain. I use those two words very carefully, because when you want to communicate you are sure to have a whole lot of stuff you want to say. But your audience doesn’t usually want to hear ‘a whole lot of stuff.’ They want to hear only what you have to say that is of interest to them.

You can already see there is a natural tension between speaker and audience. You want to tell them a lot. They may want to hear a lot, but (get ready for the hit to your ego) not just from you. Your message is only one of many they hear in their personal and professional lives. Which is why it is so crucial for you to be sure of your message to them. Most people can only retain two or three items in memory at a time – a muddled message doesn’t make the cut.

When I prepare business executives for major speeches, sooner or later I almost always have to ask “So what is your point?” People naturally try to explain their thinking, articulate the steps they went through, including the dead ends, to reach a conclusion. This is fine for your psychiatrist, but not in public. You have reached a conclusion: say it.

When I ask “So what is your point?” I am sometimes confronted with an exec who says “well it’s obvious, isn’t it?” No, it isn’t. What is obvious to you will not be obvious to most of your audience. You need to clearly articulate the conclusions you want your audience to draw.

Often, the executive cannot articulate what he means to say. This usually is a result of “something has to be done” thinking. By this I mean we often realise there is a problem that needs a solution. But standing in front of a group – whether 2 or 2000 people – saying “we have a problem, let’s do something” won’t rally many. And it won’t be the start of something. If you want people to do something, tell them what it is.

More Political Messaging

I know I said this time we’d talk about your message, but I realise there is another aspect of a politician’s messaging which differs from most others, and needs to be mentioned. I don’t want to defend hypocritical politicos, bit it is worth pointing out that there are loads of hypocrites in other professions, they just aren’t as visible. And that is the point about political messaging: every audience sees every message. The press, pundits, the blogosphere and YouTube all conspire to ensure that nothing can be hidden from anyone. A message appropriate for one group of voters often is not what another wants to hear. Yet by definition a politician must appeal to a wide variety of constituents. He or she is always walking a tightrope.

Take the example I used a few days ago about asking for a pay rise. Would you really want your boss to hear what you said about it to your friend? Or have your friend privy to your discussions about exactly how much more money you deserve? Yet potentially everything a politician says - public or private - can be exposed. A tough situation and one which most of us never have to deal with. Does it lead to cynicism, or wouldn’t it be a lot more accurate to say that in many cases the “cynicism is in the eye of the beholder?”

Politicians - Focused Messages or Cynicism?

One of the key areas where audience is crucial is in politics. Trying to get elected to any office is a question of appealing to wide variety of voters, with different interests, cares and hot buttons. Politicians spend huge amounts of money on consultants and pollsters trying to figure out what messages will appeal to different categories of voters. Many critics see this as cynicism. Although probably true for some office-seekers – not to mention office-holders - it is merely an extreme form of the basic rule of audiences that I mentioned in yesterday’s post: put yourself in the audience’s shoes.

A politician deals with a wide variety of subjects and must be able to discuss all of them. When speaking to union leaders it is natural that he focus on subjects of concern to them, which are likely to be different from those he or she would bring up to university students or farmers.

That said, selecting which of your many messages to highlight is not the same as changing your position depending on whom you are talking to. Whether you are running for office or just working in one, consistency of message is crucial to building trust.

If you understand your audiences (plural!!) very well, it is sometimes possible to use the same words but send different messages to different audiences. An interesting example of this is the way US presidential-candidate Mitt Romney has dealt with his religion: Mormonism. Christian evangelicals have a heavy influence in the early Republican primaries, and many of them are deeply sceptical of Mormonism; they aren’t necessarily sure what it is but it sure looks heretical to a lot of them. He spoke specifically on the subject in December 2007, and carefully chose a number of expressions that could be interpreted differently by two of his key audiences: Christian evangelicals and other Mormons.

For example, he says he believes in Jesus Christ as his personal saviour. Good start, that certainly sounds right to both audiences. He points out that when he is alone in his hotel room while on the road he reads the Gideon Bible there. Message to evangelicals: “I read the same scriptures as you – I believe in what you believe in”. He doesn’t mention that he also reads the Book of Mormon, something that would raise eyebrows amongst evangelicals but which his Mormon audience takes for granted.

Does this sort of verbal legerdemain work? Time will tell if it does for Mitt Romney (so far the results don’t look blessed by the angels). What about for you? Generally speaking the answer lies in the sincerity of the emotion behind the hair-splitting. Listeners are generally very good at recognizing sincerity . . . and insincerity. If they feel you are trying to trick them, any positive message you may have will be swamped by resentment.

Of course, once you learn to fake sincerity, you’ve got it made. How good a fake do you think you are? For most of us, honesty is still the best policy.

All of this brings up the subject how to figure out what your message is for different audiences. We’ll look at that next time.

Audiences: The Basic Rule

Of all the points that make up getting your message across, probably the most important is audience. This is simply because if you don’t know who you are trying to reach, how can you know what you want to tell them?

Telling your best friend you deserve a pay rise feels good, but telling it to you boss would be more effective. That said, your best friend will probably accept at face value your statement, so your message is short and sweet (if rather useless). Your boss, on the other hand, may want you to provide some valid reasons.

Whenever you want to put forth a message you must decide what audience it will be for, otherwise you are wasting your time. This seems like an obvious point, but in fact people forget it all the time.

I recently worked with a manager of the consulting arm of a technology company to plan a message for the sales force. When I asked him how his consulting differed from normal pre-sales activities (determining customer needs, configuring the solution to propose, etc), he replied “because the sales people get commissioned on it.” I pointed out to him that the sales person would need a better argument than that in front of the customer. “Buy this service rather than that free one because I get paid for it” is unlikely to meet with much success!

Aiming at the immediate audience rather than the ultimate audience, as this manager had done, is a very common mistake. It is easy to say “I am talking to sales people so I'll tell them what is in it for them: money.” That is fine as far as it goes. But it doesn’t follow the basic rule of audiences:

Put yourself in the audience’s shoes

What do they know? What technical level do they have? What objections are they likely to have? And most importantly, what does your audience really care about?

For the consulting manager, putting himself in the position of the sales people might lead to an internal dialog something like this:

Speaker: “Sell my consulting rather than free pre-sales because you earn big commissions!”
Sales person’s thoughts: “Don’t be ridiculous, why would the customer buy something he can get for free? You’ve obviously never sold anything.”

Game over. Message did not get through.

Let’s try again.

Speaker: “The consulting we are talking about will provide the customer with a detailed evaluation of his current situation, an analysis of his future plans, a variety of options for getting from here to there. It goes far beyond simple pre-sales configurations. And my staff can help you explain all this in front of the customer.”
Sales person’s thoughts: “Now that is something my customer needs. I can use the consulting staff to help sell it so I won’t embarrass myself. And I’ll get commissioned on it!”

Bottom line: Package your message so it responds to what your audience cares about, and so it overcomes any objections even before they come to mind.

The Focus of "The Messagist"

Messaging means communicating specific ideas that you feel are important to your audience. Messaging is all about clarity. Clarity starts in your own mind, but the goal is for your message to be clear in the mind of your audience; what is crystal clear for you may be quite confusing to them. A message is also a two-way street: not only are you trying to evoke specific responses, you also need to be able to measure if you succeeded or not.

There are so many good, and bad, examples of how people get a message across. A lot of what I’ll focus on can be summarised in just the few words I used in the first paragraph of this entry:

• Communicating: what mechanisms do you use to get your message across? In what medium? The way to message on the web is very different from that of radio, and even more different from a one-to-one conversation. In front of a large audience your message may be reinforced or completely masked by the way you come across.
• Specific ideas: to communicate a message you must first know what your message is. This is far more difficult than it sounds. In many cases you may know your subject so well that everything seems important. But it isn’t. Rarely will your audience really need or want to know as much about your subject as you do. How do you separate the wheat from the chaff for them, especially when it all looks like wheat to you? Alternatively, sometimes you are called upon to create a message where none seems to exist. Turning your boss’s loose jumble of inchoate ramblings into an inspirational message can be an extremely daunting task. But don’t worry, it is possible: speechwriters do it for politicians all the time!
• Important: your ideas all seem important to you, but which ones are important to your audience? Even more crucially, which ones will motivate your audience to do what you want them to do? There may be many things you could tell your sales people; which ones will get them to sell the most high-profit stuff for your company? There is a lot you could tell your manager about the job you are doing; which are the ones that will make him give you a salary increase or bump up your bonus?
• Audience: Who is your audience? This is not necessarily the same as “who will hear your message?”. When you present in the staff meeting, your colleagues may be there but your boss and his or her boss may be your true audience. If you speak at a trade show, hundreds of people may hear you, but only certain ones are going to buy, or influence others to buy, your product. What can you say that will go straight to the heart of the matter for them? And can you be interesting for everyone else at the same time?
• Clarity: Humans are unique in our capacity for language. This can be both a blessing and a curse. Communication depends on words, but use too many of them and your message gets lost. Be too concise, and the message is ambiguous. And non-verbal communications can have an even bigger impact than words. Being clear depends on you and your audience. We will discuss how to provide the right level of clarity for every audience.

Other areas that are related and that I’ll be looking at are branding, slogans, and logos. All may be part of your message, but each has specificities that make them different.

Part of what is amazing about the massive variety of our cultures, mores, habits and languages. They are so varied I sometimes wonder how we ever communicate anything. But we do, and how you translate, transliterate, and transcend language, culture and geographic barriers are all part of what I want to do here.

I hope you will enjoy it, and that you will participate in one of the key aspects of delivering any message: feedback. What do you think of my ideas and suggestions? What are your ideas? Do you have examples of great messages, or messages gone awry? This is not a monologue – work with me here. I look forward to our dialogue.