A message can be accurate and still fail

A message can be accurate and still fail.

That is one of the most important lessons I have learned across twenty years of working in communications.

A memo can contain the correct facts and still leave people uncertain. An email can state the policy and still damage trust. A public announcement can be technically complete and still miss the people it was meant to serve.

Why? Because communication is not only about what was said. It is also about tone, timing, channel, context and the next action you make clear for your audience.

The problem most organisations do not see

Most organisations measure the success of a message by whether it went out — not by whether it landed. They count the emails sent, the posts published, the announcements made.

They rarely ask: did the right people understand this? Did they know what to do next? Did they feel respected by the way it was delivered?

This is the gap between communication activity and communication strategy. Activity is sending; strategy is landing.

Four questions to ask before you send anything important

Before sending a high-stakes message, whether internally or publicly, run it through these four questions:

• What does the audience already know?
  Don't start where you are. Start where they are.

• What are they likely feeling right now?
  A message that ignores the emotional context of its audience will land badly even when the facts are correct.

• What do you want them to understand or do next?
  If you cannot answer this in one sentence, the message is not ready.

• Could the tone be reasonably misread?
  Read it as someone who is anxious, sceptical or defensive might read it. If it does not hold up, rewrite it before it goes out.

Clarity is not about adding more words

The instinct when a message fails is to add more explanation. More context. More qualifications. But clarity is not a volume problem. It is a design problem.

A clear message knows its audience. It respects their time. It tells them what they need to know and what to do with it. It arrives through the right channel, at the right moment, in the right register.

Most communication problems are not failures of effort. They are failures of design. When you fix the design — the message, the tone, the channel, the timing — the results follow.

If your organisation is sending messages that are accurate but not landing — that is a communication strategy problem. It is also a fixable one.

Garth Williams is a communications strategist based in Kingston, Jamaica. He works with organisations and leaders who need to communicate with greater clarity, authority and purpose.