The Naked Truth About Great HR Communication
Posted on Monday, October 12, 2009 by Frank RocheI’ve been doing HR communication for about 150 years. I’ve seen my share of good communication and more than enough bad communication to say I don’t want to see any more junk. I wrote down this list. It’s blunt. It’s the naked truth.
The Naked Truth About Great HR Communication.
- You’ll never get the exact right word.
- The exact right word doesn’t matter.
- Communication integrates words and design.
- Without a good design, your communication gets pitched in the trash.
- You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it think.
- Throwing in the kitchen sink makes a mess.
- If you write like people talk, they’ll get it.
- If you write like you’re in high school English class, you’ll fail.
- If you’re not a good writer, acknowledge it and put down that red pen.
- Heard of the Tower of Babel? It had more than one editor.
- One edit is good; two is bad; any more is a disaster.
- Leaving some raw edges in communication makes it real.
- Stock photography of impossibly happy and diverse employees is a joke.
- Believe it or not, people go to school to study communication. You didn’t.
- What you learned laying out your 8th Grade newspaper doesn’t count.
- Just because you know the words “Sans Serif” doesn’t qualify you as a typeface expert.
- Employees need stories to remember.
- Employees roll their eyes at corporate speak.
- If you write in corporate speak, you should be looking for another line of work.
- There’s no such thing as a small change in graphic design.
- Great communicators spend a ton of time on design elements that you’ll never know about.
- If designers didn’t spend that time, you’d notice.
- Effective editors question every single one of their edits — just like great writers.
- There are lots of different ways to say things.
- If you don’t close your eyes and think about who you’re communicating with, it won’t work.
- You’re not communicating to your bosses, you’re communicating to employees.
- There’s nothing wrong with repeating yourself. In fact, you should.
- There’s no synonym for synonym.
- About the time you’re getting tired of what you’re creating is when most people hear it the first time.
- Employees still like printed materials.
- You have to get to visual, auditory and kinesthetic learners. Otherwise, you’ve done one-third of your job.
- People hate surprise more than change.
- You wonder why people don’t look at your online stuff? It’s because you don’t know a UX specialist.
- Just like you do with your leased car, keep your pixel miles to a minimum.
- Communication experts want to help you. Let them.
fran melmed
Oct 12th, 2009
#13. oh god, yes! same for that goldfish i see everywhere. i’d also jump and make a run for it, embarrassed by the overexposure.
Frank Roche
Oct 12th, 2009
Fran, those stock images just kill me. It’s my goal to never, ever use one in anything I do. I’ve successfully done that for years.
Ron Ulrici
Oct 12th, 2009
Frank, Thanks for “Employee Communications 101!” I’m ashamed of myself for using stock photographs in my blog! Never again!
Frank Roche
Oct 12th, 2009
Ron, mi amigo, some stock photography is okay…just not the gray-haired guy, the younger and beautiful “wife” and the beach. Crazy.
Ron Ulrici
Oct 12th, 2009
But I am the gray-haired guy with the younger and beautiful wife!
Frank Roche
Oct 12th, 2009
@Ron You, sir, are a lucky man. It’s not stock art if it’s real.
Bethany
Oct 12th, 2009
“There’s nothing wrong with repeating yourself. In fact, you should.”
“There’s nothing wrong with repeating yourself. In fact, you should.”
“There’s nothing wrong with repeating yourself. In fact, you should.”
I could go on all day, but it’s so true. Like they say in literature, once is an accident, twice a coincidence, but three times means something.
This is a really cool post!
Frank Roche
Oct 12th, 2009
@Bethany Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Michael Black
Oct 12th, 2009
what is great about stock photography is that every one of my competitors uses the same images i do! great point of differentiation!
Frank Roche
Oct 12th, 2009
@Michael Stock photography is the Helvetica of corp. brochures…LOL about differentiation.
Bill Strahan
Oct 13th, 2009
This is a great market, but it is always a good time, to hire a young new artist to supply you art. Start a career and nourish your own!
Jennifer Benz
Oct 13th, 2009
Love this list!! Can we add “Writing a page of FAQs does not equal good communication.”?
Frank Roche
Oct 13th, 2009
@Jenn I know if we put our heads together we could come up with a list of 500
Yep, FAQ isn’t communication all by itself.
Frank Roche
Oct 14th, 2009
@Bill Nourishing a career…that’s the way to go. I’m certain I have something to learn every day. That makes waking up fun…a day of possibilities ahead of me.
Abhishek Mittal
Oct 14th, 2009
Great post! Great points!
My favorite ones:
# You’ll never get the exact right word.
# The exact right word doesn’t matter.
# If you write like people talk, they’ll get it.
# Stock photography of impossibly happy and diverse employees is a joke.
# Employees need stories to remember.
# There’s no synonym for synonym.
Really enjoyed it!
saravanakumar k
Oct 16th, 2009
Its really good to see the thought provoked truths of HR communications.
Great work sir.
Regards,
Saravana Kumar
India, Chennai
Joyce Dalgleish
Oct 26th, 2009
This is excellent, thank you. I would like to make one addition to your item 31 on NLP – the auditory digital preference. In our organisation this is the predomiant style, presenting some very particular communications challenges!
Frank Roche
Oct 26th, 2009
@Joyce Thank you…and great point about auditory digital preference.