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July 26, 2005
Less is more, especially now
If you can’t remember the day when information had value because it was so rare, then your 42-year-old boss can. And the 47-year-old VP of communication can, too. Not to mention the 55-year-old CEO.
And unfortunately, those folks—who grew up in an age when a memo was a big deal, worth stopping work to read right away—have the power to guide your communication strategies. I say unfortunately, because although those 40-, 50- and 60-somethings may have their hands on today’s technology, some part of their heads is stuck in the past.
They still believe that:
- Facts have power. That the right information, articulated in the correct way, will not only catch people’s attention, it will also convince them to act.
- Everyone wants all the details. You can’t leave anything out.
- There’s no such thing as communicating too frequently. If people don’t get it the first time, do it again.
- People should pay attention because it’s good for them. They should read because it makes them smarter. They should take the time to learn about a certain issue because it’s important to the company.
Wrong, wrong, wrong and wrong again. Go out and talk to any employee and you’ll find out misguided these assumptions are. And if the people you’re trying to reach are, say, 25, being trapped in the past means you’re even more out of touch.
By contrast, your employees say:
- “Facts are fine, but I don’t take them at face value. Tell me what something means to me.”
- “I don’t have time for a lot of detail—unless I really care about the topic. Then I want access to all the information.”
- “It seems like I am constantly bombarded with tons of stuff on the same topic. Tell me about it when it really matters and when I need to do something about it.”
- “I’m smart enough to make my own decisions about what matters to me. I’m not going to waste my time because some senior manager tells me I should.”
What does this all mean? Just this: Many employee communication programs are based on the false assumption that information is power. What today’s employees know is that information is plentiful and cheap. The power is in context and meaning.
We should not be spinning out more and more and more information, we should be paring communication down to its essence. In other words, now more than ever: Less is more.
Posted by Alison Davis at July 26, 2005 12:18 PM