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Human Rights  » Cure For Boring Corporate Communications

Cure For Boring Corporate Communications

Roger was in a state of near panic. He had come out of his

office to investigate the cacophony of unanswered telephones

ringing throughout the office, and had been met with a horrible

sight. Everywhere he looked, he saw his employees slumped over

their desks asleep or staring off into space, as if they had

suddenly been struck comatose.

Not a single employee in his entire department appeared to be

conscious, and all the while the ringing telephones continued

unanswered.

Had some deadly virus suddenly struck his entire staff? Had a

toxic gas come through the office ventilation system?

Roger had no idea what could be causing this horror, but he knew

that he had to call 911 fast. As he rushed back to his office he

saw his secretary slumped over her desk, drooling into her

keyboard. Suddenly he saw what she was holding in her

almost-lifeless fingers.

It wasn't a disease. It wasn't a toxic gas that was causing all

his people to fall into this stupor. It was something far, far

worse.

Today was the day the corporation's internal company

newsletter had been distributed to each employee.

There is no law that says internal corporate communications

must be boring

But you would almost think so wouldn't you? As you look through

a lot of internal newsletters and other corporate communications

pieces, it almost seems some writers are afraid they will wind

up doing hard time with an overly-tattooed cellmate named Bruno,

if they anything out of the ordinary appears in their writing.

Not true.

I think the problem comes from attempting to apply traditional

journalistic methods within the confined context of an internal

communication. Straight news reporting is fine if you have a

steady flow of really dramatic stories like the grandmother who

foiled a home invader, the latest national security crises, or a

winning professional sports team as material.

But if your subject matter is confined to the happenings within

a specific company or industry, you may not have all that drama

to rely on traditional journalistic methods. You may have to add

a dose of creativity.

Use Good Speechwriters' Methods

A speechwriter, trainer, presenter or any other type of speaker

has a very similar problem as a corporate communications writer.

How to convey a lot of factual information and ideas, without

putting the audience to sleep. Here are a few techniques used by

speakers to balance factual content with style and (dare I use

the word) "entertainment."

*Humor. Humor can be dangerous in advertising or

external communications, but generally, depending on your

corporate culture, you may have more freedom to use humor

internally. It goes without saying that humor can backfire on

you in many ways if you are not careful, so use good judgment

and get a second opinion before going to print.

Keep a humor file of amusing anecdotes, cartoons and photos

that you can secure the rights to publish. Also, be on the

lookout for the truly funny human beings that populate your

workplace. Stories about these funny coworkers will do double

duty as a humor piece and as an article where employees can read

about one of their own.

You can also solicit funny captions for photos and other ideas

from the readers. Let your employees write your humor pieces for

you.

* Second Person. When a speaker or writer addresses the

listener or reader in the second person, she involvesher

audience. But even more, the second person writing process

almost forces her to dig for ways to personalize her message and

address the concerns and needs of her audience in every way she

can think of.

Notice that after my introduction about Roger, I have used the

second person to present all of my information, ideas and

opinions since. Because I am not writing to a nameless

"readership," but to you, as an individual, and my mind is

forcing me to explore ways to write about what you want to

learn. Try second person writing on your corporate

communications writing and see how it affects your creative

process, as well as your readers' involvement.

* Stories. A study of Readers' Digest magazine revealed

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that over half of its articles begin with a story, anecdote or

narrative of some kind. Surveys of audiences have repeatedly

concluded that speakers who scatter stories and anecdotes and

stories throughout their presentations hold their hearers'

attentions far better than speakers who bury them under a

truckload of facts and information.

I made up the story about Roger because I wanted a way to

illustrate the difficulty internal newsletter writers have in

communicating their messages in an interesting manner. Stories

not only hold your readers' fascination, they also convey your

point with great power. Create your story by simply asking "what

if" about the major problem you wish to address.

* Turn Numbers Into Vivid Images. By its very nature,

internal communications within an organization tends to be heavy

on the statistics, earnings reports and other number-oriented

material.

But there are still ways to present your numbers without having

your readers go into a stupor. Illustrate numbers with examples.

If one employee out of 100 takes advantage of the company's

tuition assistance program, interview that employee and tell her

story. If the company lost $163,199 last quarter because of

employee absenteeism, show how many new employees could have

been hired for that amount to ease everyone's workload.

This is just a brief list of ideas, but I will revisit this idea

again in the future. In the meantime, I would encourage you to

adopt the methods used by speakers and trainers to involve their

audiences more. You will find a wealth of ideas that can easily

be adapted to your internal corporate communications. In the

meantime, please help Roger wake up his employees.

COPYRIGHT © 2005, Charles H. Brown

About the author:

Do you need to turn the written word into profits? Charles Brown

is a freelance commercial writer located in Dallas-Fort Worth

area, who is available to help write professional web content,

organizational newsletters, direct marketing material and other

copywriting projects for business and non-profits. Put Mr. Brown

on your team today. Visit him at

www.bizwriterstudio.blogspot.com or you may contact him at

817.715.3852 or charbrow@gmail.com.