The call to action in your communication
It is easy to get too close to the topic you need to communicate about. The best writers and communicators know this and that is why proof reads are essential.
What happens is, the content becomes so familiar to us that we miss small details. That is because our brains want to conserve energy. It might seem like your brain is being lazy, but it quickly looks at the data, and looks at patterns and attempts to fill in the gaps. The busier or preoccupied mind is even better at jumping to conclusions and missing details.
As a child I would read out-loud to my dad but as I was reading (wishing it to end quickly so I can go and play) he kept making me stop and go back to re-read a sentence and I would usually find that I had missed a word. “You are eating your words”, my dad would say. I still hear his voice when I need to proof read anything.
The gaps your brain fills in are based on you own knowledge and the lens through which you see things. It is filtered through your beliefs and preferences and so, of course you aren’t just reading the words, you are experiencing the meaning. Your own version of that meaning.
But when you start to communicate, it’s not about how you experience it, it is about how the reader is experiencing it.
Start with a simple question- What is the call to action in your communication?
What is the reader supposed to do? This does not only apply to the written form. Think of your presentations, your conference calls, your emails even!
What impact do you need this communication to have on them? Do you want them to take some specific actions? Do you want them to do something different, or try something new? Do you want to give them knowledge and information that they don’t have right now? Do you need them to feel inspired, motivated and excited or shocked, surprised and uncomfortable?
When you look at your communication through this lens, you can see more clearly what is missing. What you need to include to help your reader to follow the same thinking that you have.
I sit with my daughter and hear her reading, ‘eating her words’ and I do the same thing my dad did with me, try to hold her attention long enough to hear her read. But I realise that she also wants to escape to finish her jigsaw.
Chaya Mistry
Communication Coach and Consultant
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