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August 09, 2006
What we can learn from a man and his blackboard
Next time you’re thinking about how difficult it is to reach your employees, because your organization is complex and your technology is outdated, consider this: What if your only communication vehicle was a blackboard? Or a portion of your employees didn’t read? Or if you had no budget and no staff?
That’s the situation faced by an extraordinary man in Liberia named Alfred Sirleaf, who has created a “news service” consisting of a shack and a series of blackboards that is one of the most widely read news report in the capital city of Monrovia. As Lydia Polgreen writes in the August 4 issue of The New York Times , Mr. Sirleaf is “something of an information evangelist, fervent in his belief that a well-informed citizenry is the key to the rebirth of his homeland, ravaged by 14 years of civil war. As the nation slowly comes back from the brink of annihilation, he said, he wants to make sure every Liberian can keep with the news and play a part in the country’s young democratic government.”
Although Mr. Sirleaf has no formal training, his approach provides lessons in how any of us can communicate more effectively:
Keep it simple. Says Mr. Sirleaf, “I try to write it really clear and simple so people can read it far away, even if they are driving by.”
Use visuals. Because so many Liberians can’t read, Mr, Sirleaf “has devised an ingenious system of symbols” that provide guidance on what each story is about. For a story about the difficulties of restoring electricity to the country, for example, he hung a kerosene lamp and an unlighted fluorescent bulb.
Avoid corporate-speak. Mr. Sirleaf avoids the kind of flowery language Liberian newspapers employ to appeal to the country’s elite. “I like to write the way people talk so they can understand it well,” he says. “You got to reach the common man.”
If Alfred Sirleaf can communicate effectively, so can you.
Posted by Alison Davis at August 9, 2006 10:51 AM