A USEFUL DAD JOKE, FOR A CHANGE

It’s not often my Dad Jokes result in anything more than a grimace from my sons and an odd feeling of satisfaction I get from brilliant (!?) wordplay. But recently on vacation in Florida, one of The Best Dad Jokes I Ever Made actually produced a chuckle from the kids and a reminder of a simple yet sometimes elusive principle of internal communication.

We were in the car and approaching a crossing over the Intracoastal Waterway, the inland channel busy with boat traffic. I excitedly pointed to a road sign and immediately asked my kids for a pencil and sketchpad.

The sign said, “Draw Bridge Ahead.”

I'll give you a moment to revel in the hilarity.

They actually liked this Dad Joke of mine, so I replayed it in my head a few times. And it got me thinking.

Of course the fine folks at the Florida Highway Department shouldn’t expect people to start creating pictures of bridges upon seeing this sign. That’s a reasonable assumption. The object of the sign is to let people know that the bridge ahead may be raised to let boat traffic pass, and not much more needs to be said. Draw Bridge Ahead. Got it.

But how many times as internal communicators do we prepare messaging or a piece of communication and simply assume people know what we are talking about or what we want them to do? More often than we'd like to admit.

We focus on strategic messaging or making sure we get the boss's main points in whatever we are creating. And that's important.

But I’ve also seen many examples where we fall short of answering our audience's key question: “So what do you want me to DO?”

We've all seen all-company emails that talk about a company's strategy moving forward, the importance of focusing on our goals and the need to finish the year strong.

But where does it say what we actually want people to do when they begin their next workday? Someone reads this common corporate communication and thinks: “Great! I'm on board! But what do I actually DO?”

Here are some tips to avoid this common trap:

• Be prescriptive. Unless you are alerting motorists to drawbridges, it's not always safe to assume people know what you want them to do once they are inspired to action. While it may seem excessive, spell out exactly what you are expecting from people. Most will find it very helpful.

 

• Provide supplemental resources to leaders. If the communication is from the CEO and it's not appropriate to get too tactical, provide additional talking points with prescriptive details to mid-and senior-level leaders for use with their teams.

 

• Set deadlines. Tell people what needs go be done and by when. This helps you be prescriptive. And it gives you a safety valve: if people still don’t understand what they are supposed to do, the accountability of a deadline will make them ask.

 

• Schedule report-outs. Add to the accountability by having people report on their work either in writing or via presentation. Again, if they don’t know what to do, they'll ask, providing another checkpoint for alignment.

 

• Monitor feedback. Best-case communication is two-way communication. Whether it's through channels like a comment button or internal social media, or via informal water-cooler chat, see if people understand what is being asked of them, and make course corrections if needed.

​What are some ways you make sure your people don’t whip out a sketchpad when you tell them “Draw Bridge Ahead?”