Cultivating Clarity

My friend Paul Wood--a branding consultant at REV--said something profound the other day:  "A sound byte is a cliche.  There is a difference between dumbing down and simplifying."

Simplicity--as it turns out--is in high demand.  Consider the book, Bit Literacy, by Mark Hurst...192 pages coaching readers on how to manage information overload.  And the book is hugely popular.  Why? Because we need it. 

One of the biggest pushbacks by digital immigrants on moving to a digital world is a fear of even more complexity; however, while it is the torrent of information streaming through the digital world that is heightening the need for simplicity, the digital world also offers the tools for clarifying your message.  And people who are naturally gifted in this area are being sought out in record numbers.

Who is doing what?

I've referenced Common Craft before in this column because of their beautifully simple explanations of digital world technologies such as blogging and Twitter.  When Watermark Community Church introduced a simple video of people fighting over chairs labeled with the names of the different services, it made a marked difference in traffic flow. (I found a similar video by LCBC on YouTube to illustrate the concept.)   Scribes--like Michael Lagocki of ArtLoveMagic--are often hired to capture complex strategy sessions and brainstorming retreats in a visual representation with simple phrases and images. Contrast Google's home page with Yahoo's.  Though there are multiple reasons one grew beyond the other, a reason often cited is visual simplicity.

However, simplicity isn't always in our communications DNA.  It takes a deliberate approach to choose clarity over quantity when it comes to transmitting information.

More is not always better

A pastor friend of mine was frustrated that no one in his congregation ever seemed to know what was going on, though the website was continually up to date and he sent frequent e-mails to the congregation. In canvassing people to find out where the disconnect was he discovered it wasn't in the information, but in the way it was presented.  Though the graphic look and content of the website was good, people found the website difficult to navigate and the location of current information wasn't intuitive.  E-mails from the pastor were usually filed "to be read later" because they were text heavy and people knew they would take time to read. (As they slid further down the inbox in a deluge of information they were never actually read.) Simple adjustments to communication strategies--such as locating current information on the homepage and sending out a single bulleted e-mail with hyperlinks to additional information each week--improved how much information actually reached the people it was intended for. 

Improving your clarity quotient

While some are naturally gifted in this area, all of us can improve our clarity quotient.  Here are a few ideas:

1.  Consider context.  Think for a moment how the recipient will receive the information.  Will it be in a pile of bills and junk mail? In an already overcrowded inbox?  On a Twitter stream?  Use whatever tools you have at your disposal to make your message appear simple and easy to deal with. This can be done by limiting the amount of text, incorporating large amounts of white space, and by planning a message that is easily understood by the recipient with a minimal amount of energy.

2. Leverage hyperlinks so you can leave things out.  It is easy to think that all of the information is important, but look at your message through a lens of "what if only one thing can get through?"  Hyperlinks can allow you to include  only the most important information, then give people access to more data if they need it. Note to Twitter users: Most who view your tweets won't actually click through on a posted link. Though Twitter has that functionality, it really is all about the 140 characters or less.

3. Say it in images rather than words.  It's true.  A picture is worth a thousand words.  Digital communication makes photos easy to integrate.  iStockphoto.com has a great selection of images, animations and illustrations that communicate metaphors, and the pricing is affordable.  Sermonspice.com and workofthepeople.com are also good resources with affordable pricing.

4.  Practice billboard slide development.  Nancy Duarte, in her book Slideology says that  "Presentations are a 'glance media' — more closely related to billboards than other media.... Ask yourself whether your message can be processed effectively within three seconds. The audience should be able to quickly ascertain the meaning before turning their attention back to the presenter." I once presented with a team coaching a room full of executives on PowerPoint presentations.  I stood at the podium with slides behind me (yellow text on blue background) that contained every word I was saying.  (All of these words were also in their handout.)  About three slides in--just enough to ensure the audience was locked in total boredom--the slides shortened to a single message.  Actually, they began to make fun of me saying things like: "Are you still awake?"  "I can't believe you haven't left yet."  "There's a Starbucks down the street."   All of a sudden, the audience engaged. The change was definitive. The best slides either serve as background imagery or have a single message.

5. Use animation.  Animation can allow you to take complex ideas and make them simple. (Such as Jonathan Jarvis's visualization explaining the credit crisis.) While not everyone has the capacity to animate--you likely have access to someone who can.  PowerPoint builds, flash animations and even simple hand sketches can communicate in ways simple words cannot.  In Dan Roam's book, The Back of the Napkin, he explains that humans are hard-wired to solve problems visually.  For example, if you begin to cross a street and see one car coming from one direction and another car from the other, you are able to quickly ascertain how much time you have to cross the street and make a decision on whether or not to attempt at all.  Add a child and a wayward ball into the mix, and again, you will be able to process and act even more quickly. The thrust of Roam's book is that using visuals allows us to look, see, imagine and show--which produces better problem-solving results than simple discussion alone. All of this to say, that visuals can provide clarity--and they don't even have to be very good.  Anyone can do simple stick figures--and if you want to improve your skill in this area, simply buy a box of Pictionary , invite some friends and practice.

And now for the simple step...

Sometimes being intentional about something is all it takes.  Simply make clarity a goal and watch how it impacts.

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