8 ways
to avoid misunderstandings, communicate better, and get more done at work
Anyone who’s had a project go awry knows that misunderstandings between co-workers can cost a company as much time, money, and energy as unnecessary meetings or poorly run processes. But getting aligned with people gets even harder as digital communication tools increasingly become the most common way to interact at work.
Considering how much of every day we spend typing—whether it’s blog posts, tweets, messages to big public channels, or in private conversations—it’s more important than ever that we’re able to communicate clearly in writing.
But getting the words right every time? That’s hard. Making sure that people understand your intention and your tone? Also hard! To prevent this productivity quicksand from dragging you and your team down, here are some tips for bringing greater clarity and context to your digital communications at work.
1. Meet people where they are. Before firing off your thoughts, take a moment to consider your reader. If you’re writing to someone who is typically pressed for time, keep your statements short and snappy. If you’re talking to someone who has less experience, you might want to approach the conversation as a mentor and provide a little more context or offer some words of encouragement. Knowing your reader and tailoring your message ensures your point isn’t just heard, but well received.
2. Be your own editor. If you’re writing a slightly longer missive, like a brief, a report, or a note that requires more explanation, don’t just write everything that comes into your head expecting your reader to dig out your point. Read what you’ve typed a few times over (and wonder out loud if you can’t get your message down by 40%, or better yet, 70%) before pressing “send.”
3. Choose your words wisely. You have it in you to empower, educate, and delight with your words. You also have the power to exclude, alienate, and confuse. So, for example, instead of addressing a group of people as “You guys,” consider using a more inclusive term, like “Team,” or if appropriate, something a little more affable, like “Folks.” Be conscious of your words and use them to build community with your coworkers—it makes for a better work experience for everyone, which motivates people to do their best work.
4. Make sense. Words are important, but if you’re just having a conversation (as opposed to writing a formal report), don’t futz about wondering if an infinitive has been horrifyingly split, or whether you need a serial comma, a contraction, or an em dash. Being understood and responsive is better than being absolutely correct.
5. Define to align. ARR? KPI? TMI! When you find yourself working with people from other teams, departments, or outside organizations, it’s never a bad idea to break down business lingo and acronyms so that everyone’s operating on the same level of understanding. Don’t assume everyone knows exactly what you’re talking about. Be kind: define.
6. Get specific with feedback. When you go beyond saying a generic “Good job!” and take the time to specify why something is good, or where it could be improved, it gives people the opportunity to adjust and learn every day, rather than waiting for the end of a project or the next feedback cycle, when those lessons are likely moot. Offering your feedback in writing is like a form of continuous coaching, and doing it in a public setting (courteously, of course) means that other members of the team benefit from the learning opportunity as well.
7. Use emoji. Really. Everyone loves the speed of texting, but when most human interaction is reduced to text alone, it can be hard to really connect. Emoji help you to be more succinct and more expressive at the same time. Your choice of emoji can help recipients infer your mood and level of humor, and they can also be used to convey concrete information like acknowledgments, approvals, urgency, or congratulations. For example, use a pair of eyes to denote you’re looking into something, a green checkmark or a thumbs-up for approvals, a red circle to express urgency, or applause to say congrats on a job well done.
8. Know when to take the conversation offline. The written word is best for relaying and documenting facts—who, what, when, and where. But when discussions veer into more nuanced or emotional territory, (i.e., the “why”), you might have a greater chance of being understood if you hash things out face-to-face, over video conference, or on the phone. Don’t hesitate to call a timeout on a digital conversation in favor of an in-person one—you can always summarize the discussion and the resulting action items in writing for everyone else’s knowledge afterward.
Not only is clear communication a courtesy to your co-workers, it’s one of the simplest ways to prevent setbacks at work while also contributing to a more amiable and inclusive work culture. But sometimes communication—especially in writing—is anything but simple, so remember that practicing good writing isn’t about striving to be the next great novelist. It’s about striving for mutual understanding and alignment so that everyone can confidently move forward together.
no emails between this hour and this hour, and this is the maximum number of people who should be invited to meetings,” says Dan Ariely, a professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke University, and co-founder of the productivity startup Timeful, since acquired by Google. “The job of the leader is to make people better than they are naturally,” says Ariely, “and that includes helping them with this.”
IF PRODUCTIVITY WERE a comic strip, the supervillain would be distraction. More has been written about managing email and social media than about the meaning of life. A whole category of productivity tools corrals wandering attentions.
CEOs are certainly not immune to the social siren. But some suffer from the opposite problem. They are so consumed by their companies— their creations—that they become hyperfocused while the world around them recedes. And that can be detrimental. Great leaders have lively minds: They are curious and empathetic. Engaging widely with the world, not bound by an agenda, they think the big thoughts that produce genuine change.
In the ’90s—before the universe coalesced at our fingertips—I visited a library-supply company in Wisconsin whose CEO practiced something he called “universal scanning.” Staff members regularly pulled intriguing articles from a vast array of publications and pinned them to the walls of a room. Periodically, the CEO would enter and spend an hour or so simply browsing through the headlines. The practice, he said, broadened his frame of reference, inspired unexpected connections, and heightened his creativity. Distraction—or exposure, as he thought of it—made him better. “The enemy of productivity is that the world is really interesting,” says Ariely. “Having lots to do and think about is a blessing.”
And, yes, technology can create space to indulge that blessing. My onetime correspondent Ferriss’s research on outsourcing eventually morphed into chapter eight of The 4-Hour Workweek, in which he recommends that employees hire remote personal assistants to handle scheduling, research, and online errands. Having someone in India handle the grunt stuff, he says, is not an expense but rather an investment, as it “frees your time to focus on bigger and better things.”
There’s another advantage to this techenabled outsourcing for any founder. The ability to “manage (direct and chastise)” your virtual aide, writes Ferriss, “is also a litmus test for entrepreneurship.”