My last post got some interesting viewpoints. Adam expressed the need for blending tone, consistency and image into the communication. Excellent perspective. Rishu talked of involving staff in the conversation and preempt questions they may have. Valid points. Annie highlighted the importance of including the ‘what’s in it for staff’ and also adding visuals that match the intent. Lastly, Pingle emphasized the need to focus on the positive outcome from the move. Very relevant inputs and thank you all for taking the time in sharing your insights.
Back to our case. Pramod is probably like the parent who believes that the best way to appease a child is to give it a colorful toy irrespective of the need or the outcome.
While good design needs to go hand in hand with equally sound content the communicator is expected to think deeply about the objectives that the communication is trying to address.
For one, while Pramod has a great story on a ‘new office’, for this specific communication (informing staff on a not-so-popular office move) and to this specific audience (staff who will be inconvenienced due to the move) he needs to do something different. Not every communication requires a mailer and not does every mailer fill a communication need.
This move is sensitive since Pramod may end up with disengaged staff and business can suffer in the long term. He is only looking at it from his perspective and ‘cool’ interiors aren’t what motivate staff to come to work. They expect to be consulted, partnered with on change and leaders to be sensitive.
Pramod will need to get his leaders aligned on the messages – that the move is unpopular yet important for business. He will need to think about how to cascade the messages – either via a face to face conversation or a Town Hall briefing by a leader in the office impacted. The messages also have to cover why and what the organization is doing to ensure business continues as usual and how we are taking into account staff’s travel constraints.
I got pointed to Jacob Nielsen’s resource recently and an argument on why great content is better than cool design especially for intranets and internal communications. The emphasis is on what he calls as “wow vs delight” – as in you can impress your users with funky design or support their understanding by giving them information that they seek. While the former is temporary the latter is enduring.
By appreciating that our audiences are mostly time crunched we need to be sensitive to the time it takes for heavy designs to load vis-à-vis giving them the information to get their jobs done sooner. Staff pretty much wants to do their work effectively and making a mailer cool may not be the solution.
Just how people scan for information (based on eye tracking studies) when they read online likewise staff look for information instead of reading all that you have given them.
Here is another resource for why content wins over design. Hopefully, it will give you ammunition for you to sell your content next time!
