Communicators: Stop Doing These Things Right Now

Do you still get that feeling, usually late on a Sunday afternoon, that you need to stop lazing around and focus on the week ahead? No matter how old you are, why does it still feel like a school night?

Or maybe you still have that recurring nightmare about forgetting to do your homework or missing the final exam (clothing optional).

Communicators have a weekday version of the Sunday Scaries: You sit down to write a story for your company newsletter or website and promptly forget your sworn vow to ditch all those bad practices that get in the way of good storytelling.

Here are five things you should stop doing immediately as a communications professional:

1. Stop cramming people’s long, boring titles into your first sentences. I don’t know how we got on this kick, but this insistence on including someone’s full title in the opening sentence stops us cold. This is not a rule!

People want to read about people, and you can tell us their titles later. And by later, I mean the next paragraph.

It was just after midnight when the news finally arrived: Fred Jones, Machine Operator III and chair of the ERG committee at the Westminster plant, was a new father — of triplets!

No. A thousand times no.

2. Stop giving new programs cutesy names. We see this a lot in HR communication. A story about a new program, the latest initiative or an innovative health challenge should be appealing to your employees because it’s all about them and might be beneficial.

But many of those stories spend all their juice up front touting the clever name of the program, as if calling it the “Healthy Body Super Challenge” will produce a rush of employees who just can’t wait to get started.

And while we’re at it, let’s stop talking about the “rollout” like we’re working in an auto plant. Forgive me if I sound crabby, but nobody cares about the rollout. They don’t care if it’s rolling or what it’s rolling toward.

What employees want to know — and they want to know it in the headline and the lede — is that this new whatchamacallit is free or pays them money or provides a benefit they didn’t even know they have. And then tell them how they can get in on the action.

3. Stop executives from saying they are “excited” and “thrilled” with your company’s latest hire. We want our stories to have real voices in them, but we need to help our leaders find some new verbs to express their emotions.

Old way
We’re thrilled to announce that Janet Jackson is our new Assistant Senior VP of Process Improvement. “We’re so excited to have Janet join our company,“ said CEO Thomas Johnson.

Senior leaders are always beside themselves with delight when announcing new hires.

Even AI could come up with something better than the usual announcement. Well, maybe not. And no, don’t even think about it. But if the boss is really thrilled, tell us why:

New way
“Janet Jackson doesn’t work a problem from afar,” said CEO Thomas Johnson of our newest VP. “She’s more like a car mechanic, who crawls inside the engine until she isolates the problem and fixes it. We’re lucky to have her.”

4. Stop putting all the background at the top of the story. There is a never-ending battle waging in the brain of every writer. How much should I tell them? How much do they need to know? And where should I put it?

Background is essential to good storytelling, but it almost never should lead the story. Move it lower to help your readers understand the issue or topic.

We see this problem most often in emails written by project managers, who are required to keep employees informed of their progress. They sometimes read like this:

Last May, we embarked on a major project to sort out the anomalies in our new ordering platform. We assembled the team in June, led by Vince Evans, director of IT operations at the South Branch.
Vince led a series of meetings to establish the requirements for the project and the anticipated eight weeks of testing required in a sandbox site his engineers created for the project. They also chose a name: Operation New World Order.

At this point, everyone has probably stopped reading. Few will ever find out if the project has been completed successfully or is hopelessly over budget, or if Vince Evans had to check himself into an asylum.

Think about email like a hard news story. It’s meant to convey news clearly, directly and quickly, like this:

• Here’s what’s happening (the latest).
• Here are the actions we need to take or are recommending.
• Here’s as much background as you need to understand the issue.
• Here are the likely scenarios going forward.

5. Stop the pre-approvals. Here’s one practice I thought we had sent to the dustbin of history, but it’s still hanging on. Someone in the organization hands you a story, an announcement or some other content with these horrifying directions: “You can’t make any changes. This has already been approved.”

But what if it’s crap? We’ve seen pre-approved stories that would make the flintiest wordsmith weep. The only solution here is to take this to the top of the food chain.

Everyone needs an editor. One reason you even have a communications team is to make sure your organization doesn’t publish anything that will be either difficult to comprehend or possibly embarrassing to the writer or the company.

Communicators: You are the ultimate backstop for bad writing. Make it so.

The only thing Jim Ylisela loves more than clearing the crap out of employee communications is when the writers beat him to it. Want to learn more about our Build Better Writers program? Email Senior Consultant Tom Corfman to set up a free call with him and Jim, RCG co-founder and senior partner.

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