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Cure For Boring Corporate Communications
Author : Charles Brown
Roger was in a state of near panic. He had come out of his
office to investigate the cacophony of unanswered telephones
ringing throughout the office, and had been met with a horrible
sight. Everywhere he looked, he saw his employees slumped over
their desks asleep or staring off into space, as if they had
suddenly been struck comatose.
Not a single employee in his entire department appeared to be
conscious, and all the while the ringing telephones continued
unanswered.
Had some deadly virus suddenly struck his entire staff? Had a
toxic gas come through the office ventilation system?
Roger had no idea what could be causing this horror, but he knew
that he had to call 911 fast. As he rushed back to his office he
saw his secretary slumped over her desk, drooling into her
keyboard. Suddenly he saw what she was holding in her
almost-lifeless fingers.
It wasn't a disease. It wasn't a toxic gas that was causing all
his people to fall into this stupor. It was something far, far
worse.
Today was the day the corporation's internal company
newsletter had been distributed to each employee.
There is no law that says internal corporate communications
must be boring
But you would almost think so wouldn't you? As you look through
a lot of internal newsletters and other corporate communications
pieces, it almost seems some writers are afraid they will wind
up doing hard time with an overly-tattooed cellmate named Bruno,
if they anything out of the ordinary appears in their writing.
Not true.
I think the problem comes from attempting to apply traditional
journalistic methods within the confined context of an internal
communication. Straight news reporting is fine if you have a
steady flow of really dramatic stories like the grandmother who
foiled a home invader, the latest national security crises, or a
winning professional sports team as material.
But if your subject matter is confined to the happenings within
a specific company or industry, you may not have all that drama
to rely on traditional journalistic methods. You may have to add
a dose of creativity.
Use Good Speechwriters' Methods
A speechwriter, trainer, presenter or any other type of speaker
has a very similar problem as a corporate communications writer.
How to convey a lot of factual information and ideas, without
putting the audience to sleep. Here are a few techniques used by
speakers to balance factual content with style and (dare I use
the word) "entertainment."
*Humor. Humor can be dangerous in advertising or
external communications, but generally, depending on your
corporate culture, you may have more freedom to use humor
internally. It goes without saying that humor can backfire on
you in many ways if you are not careful, so use good judgment
and get a second opinion before going to print.
Keep a humor file of amusing anecdotes, cartoons and photos
that you can secure the rights to publish. Also, be on the
lookout for the truly funny human beings that populate your
workplace. Stories about these funny coworkers will do double
duty as a humor piece and as an article where employees can read
about one of their own.
You can also solicit funny captions for photos and other ideas
from the readers. Let your employees write your humor pieces for
you.
* Second Person. When a speaker or writer addresses the
listener or reader in the second person, she involvesher
audience. But even more, the second person writing process
almost forces her to dig for ways to personalize her message and
address the concerns and needs of her audience in every way she
can think of.
Notice that after my introduction about Roger, I have used the
second person to present all of my information, ideas and
opinions since. Because I am not writing to a nameless
"readership," but to you, as an individual, and my mind is
forcing me to explore ways to write about what you want to
learn. Try second person writing on your corporate
communications writing and see how it affects your creative
process, as well as your readers' involvement.
* Stories. A study of Readers' Digest magazine revealed
that over half of its articles begin with a story, anecdote or
narrative of some kind. Surveys of audiences have repeatedly
concluded that speakers who scatter stories and anecdotes and
stories throughout their presentations hold their hearers'
attentions far better than speakers who bury them under a
truckload of facts and information.
I made up the story about Roger because I wanted a way to
illustrate the difficulty internal newsletter writers have in
communicating their messages in an interesting manner. Stories
not only hold your readers' fascination, they also convey your
point with great power. Create your story by simply asking "what
if" about the major problem you wish to address.
* Turn Numbers Into Vivid Images. By its very nature,
internal communications within an organization tends to be heavy
on the statistics, earnings reports and other number-oriented
material.
But there are still ways to present your numbers without having
your readers go into a stupor. Illustrate numbers with examples.
If one employee out of 100 takes advantage of the company's
tuition assistance program, interview that employee and tell her
story. If the company lost $163,199 last quarter because of
employee absenteeism, show how many new employees could have
been hired for that amount to ease everyone's workload.
This is just a brief list of ideas, but I will revisit this idea
again in the future. In the meantime, I would encourage you to
adopt the methods used by speakers and trainers to involve their
audiences more. You will find a wealth of ideas that can easily
be adapted to your internal corporate communications. In the
meantime, please help Roger wake up his employees.
COPYRIGHT © 2005, Charles H. Brown
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