Even if it doesn’t work, there is something healthy and invigorating about direct action.
- Henry Miller
Here’s a little HR communication hint: Not everyone with a pen is a communicator.
You know how it goes. You write something. Then it gets edited. And edited again. Pretty soon what you end up with is an empty shell of its former self. The life — the intent — is lost with the stroke of a red pen.
What qualifies people to be editors? That they got an “A” in their Senior English class? Being a good writer for English class has about as much to do with communicating as being good on Nintendo’s Madden 2007 has to do with playing in the NFL. One is theory, the other is practice.
Communicating with your employees requires action. Sure, pick great words. Think about your audience. And at the end of the day, take Henry Miller’s advice. Even if every single word isn’t “perfect,” just go ahead. No single communication will be the Eureka! moment. It’s about what you say in composite, not the choice of a word or the construction of a perfectly formed sentence. That’s English class. This is business.
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If you are the boss, remember this: your people will tell stories about you. As they pass the story around and share it with friends it will become more dramatic and a bit further from factual reality. The only thing you can do about this as a boss is give them something positive to start with. It will become more remarkable with the telling. Do otherwise and the story-sharing cycle will make you look worse and worse with time. It’s your pick.
Wally, it’s starting that positive spiral right from the beginning, isn’t it? Doing the right thing is always the right thing to do…and doing wrong early is hard to ever overcome.