Bill Gates famously said “Content is King”. This may be true, but without some supporting members in your kingdom, content becomes more like the court jester: a noisy curiosity that no one takes seriously.
The problem is that even the most amazing content in the world won’t ever get read if employees don’t read it. And they are chronically busy, stressed, and really just trying to keep their heads above water. To increase the likelihood that they will take advantage of the content you do provide, you have to make it short, make it sweet, and make it pop.
As a neuroscientist, I think about this topic in terms of the rapid fire bursting dopamine neurons, orienting attention, fixing that into memory, and sustaining the transition into action.
Make It Short
In visual media such as movies and television, notice how the scene changes every seven seconds or so. Has our attentional system been trained to be shorter through our modern media? Quite possibly. Is it regrettable that we can’t seem to focus on one thing for more than a few seconds? Absolutely.
But this is the world we live in. If you want to cognitively lock your message in so that it is seen, read, and digested, you’ve got to distill it down into its essence and leave it at that.
Nail The Lead
The very first thing they see needs to lock their attention into place, right away. The two things you need to do to nail the lead come right back to the first point above. Because the typical attention span is so small, the first thing you need to do is to review the goals of your communication and determine the single most relevant item you want to get across. Start with that, right up front. Don’t build to the point or make a case as you inch towards the main point. Your reader will likely never get there.
Second, consider that communication you want to get across. The aspect that will be the most eye-opening will be the info tidbit that gets the dopamine cells to fire. That’s your lead, because that is the most important aspect of the most important item you want to communicate.
Lighten It Up
The science of motivation is pretty clear. If we have an expectation of drudgery, we will avoid that behavior. If we have the expectation of enjoyment, we will go the extra mile to make it happen. If you write in a just-the-facts style, get someone else to write it for you. Because if you add levity and fun into the messaging your audience will seek out your communication. You won’t even have to chase them down.
Humor is powerful because it produces laughter. The outcome of laughter in your brain is astounding: increasing all the happy hormones, decreasing the sad ones, and even improving your immune system. Go figure.
Try these three techniques and track your participation to see how they drastically improve communications for you!
Will Clower is working remotely, currently running Mediterranean Wellness from the British Virgin Islands (18.4286° N, 64.6185° W)
