10 simple steps to make your communications work better
Let’s talk about one of the more misunderstood terms in corporate communications.
Plain language.
When requested to put their documents in plain language, some of my clients react with horror. They point out their work is technical, complex, nuanced. Plain language is for people who can only read at a grade school level. There’s no way, they say, their sophisticated content can be accurately conveyed in plain language.
This shows a fundamental misunderstanding of what plain language writing is, and why it’s usually totally appropriate for most, if not all, corporate communications.
It’s true that some organizations and situations require documents to be developed at a certain reading level, using a proxy measurement of the numbers of letters and syllables per word. The lower the number, the lower the reading comprehension level.
But that’s not what’s meant by plain language.
Plain language doesn’t mean dumbed-down language. It means language that clearly communicates information accurately, the first time it’s read.
Plain language is about using language effectively. Readers will understand what is being communicated more quickly, with less confusion and less chance of misinterpretation. You can see why with more technical the concepts, it’s actually even more important to use plain language.
So what are the key components of plain language? Here’s the checklist I follow for clients who pay me to do their public communications or multi-million dollar RFP submissions. After I’ve done a draft, I’ll go back and continue to improve, using this list. I promise, it will improve your writing, too, whether your readers are members of the public or technical experts:
1. Organize the flow of the document so that it presents information in a logical order, starting with the most important information.
2. Use headings to break the document up into logical sections.
3. Use bulleted lists wherever possible.
4. Choose shorter, common and conversational English words instead of “corp-speak” words and jargon. Usually a good rule of thumb is to write as you’d speak, eg:
Utilize > use
Initiate > start, begin
Functionality > function, feature
Delineate > explain, describe
Threefold > three
Finalize > finish
Currently > now
5. Replace verbose, inflated language with single words. There are so many offenders: those wordy terms some writers seem to feel are expected in written communications, although they’d never use them while speaking:
Afford an opportunity > let
A significant number of > many
Due to the fact that > because
It is respectfully requested > please
Until such time as > until
Basically unaware of > unaware
With regard to > about
6. Use active verbs rather than passive ones.
Instead of “changing traffic patterns have been observed to have resulted in significant disruption to local commutes”, say “changing traffic patterns have disrupted local commutes”.
Instead of “you can expect to receive a reply within a week”, say “we’ll reply within a week”.
7. Use concrete, specific, tangible descriptions rather than vague, ambiguous ones.
Instead of “it is noted that sales have recently experienced a very sizeable increase”, say “our sales increased xx% over last year”.
8. Avoid using acronyms, especially when they only appear once or twice in a document. A general rule is to have no more than 2 per page.
9. Limit each paragraph to one key idea or concept.
10. Don’t string long clauses together in one sentence, but break them up into separate sentences.
None of this will dumb down the content of your documents or make them less professional sounding. Remember, the goal of plain language is to make your communications more effective. And that’s always appropriate, no matter how sophisticated or expert your readers are.