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Home > For Free > Articles > issue1vol5
How to Get the Message Across - or Not
By David Brewster July 2005
In the olden days of photography (remember film?), my SLR camera was one of my favourite travel companions. Even after years of use, I still love the magical way a blurred subject suddenly gains clarity as the focusing ring reaches just the right spot. If only such sharp clarity was as easy to achieve in business.
At one time or another, every manager has issued what he or she hoped would be a magical memo. You know: the memo which, once posted on the wall, would provide instant clarity for all who read it - or even walked past it. In every office kitchen you'll still find, behind the dirty cups, a notice alerting those untidy somebodies to the error of their behaviour.
As bits have replaced biros, the enchanted email has replaced the magical memo in the manager's kit. Press 'Send' and before you can say "persistent problem" your staff will have received the message, understood it and altered their wayward ways. If only.
For the more sophisticated message, we need a more sophisticated method of persuasion. This is where the paranormal PowerPoint comes in. Gather everyone together, darken the room, throw up the bullet points and, voila, the message sinks in. At least we hope those glazed eyes indicate enlightenment and not drained brains.
If none of these work, we can always get someone else to provide the magic for us. Perhaps a conjured course will make things clearer. Customer service a problem? Easy, send them to a one-day customer service workshop, say 'abracadabra' three times and you'll be winning satisfaction awards before sunrise.
Let's face it: we've all done at least one of these at one time or another. Whether in haste, or out of frustration, or simply because we like kidding ourselves, we attempt to fast-track clarity and understanding through mystical means.
This is done with good intentions, of course. People need to know what's expected of them, what authority they have, what the 'big picture' direction is and so on. When this clarity exists, life for you as a manager is made more simple because your staff are more self-sufficient and reliable.
But, as usual, making things simple takes effort. Magic only happens in Harry Potter novels.
When you next have an important message to get across, perhaps it might pay to look at at what advertisers do. They use multiple modes (newspapers plus radio plus billboards, for instance). They use repetition: a 'one off' message will rarely cut through. And they focus mostly on the WIIFM ("What's In It For Me?") of their audience. All of this takes work.
Photography has changed enormously of late. Most cameras use electronic magic to automatically focus in an instant. Unfortunately, in the real world of managing people, such instant clarity is a pipe-dream. If you want clarity, you have to work at it.
(c) David Brewster, 2005
You can read a longer paper on the Manager's Mission here
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