In Workplace Communications, More Is Less

Suppose your team leader proposed an idea like this:

"[The idea] will make us more productive, effective, powerful and efficient. It will also make it easier for us to on-board new employees, document and measure our goals and progress, and attract new partners and sponsors. It will also be inexpensive and easy to implement quickly, and our IT team says it will be compatible with our existing programs, apps and devices."

The leader might think: "Eleven benefits in three sentences—nailed it!"

But without looking back at that paragraph, how many of those benefits could you repeat? And even if you could repeat them all (congratulations on your photographic memory), which of those benefits are most important?

The answers are difficult, if not impossible, to get. When a speaker shares many ideas at once, each point fights for attention in the listener's brain simultaneously, diluting the impact of all of them.

Listeners also need more time to comprehend the idea a speaker conveys. While the speaker is well acquainted with the idea, the audience is hearing it for the first time.

Audience members will not only listen to the idea but digest it, ponder it, consider its relevance and decide whether to write it down. Meanwhile, the speaker is several sentences down the road, and some of those missed ideas may be just as important, if not more so, than the first one still being processed.

How to Keep Communication Brief but Effective

As I often like to say to my workshop participants: Say many things and they will remember none. Say some things and they will remember some. But say ONE thing, and they will remember ALL.

This phrase may sound similar to the adage "less is more," but what it really means is "more is less."

No stranger to problem-solving, Albert Einstein diagnosed the challenge and hinted at the solution when he said, "If you can't say it simply, you don't understand it well enough."

I interpret this to mean that brevity is not simply about chopping words. It means understanding your core message thoroughly enough to recognize which parts must be preserved and which parts can be discarded.

These five tactics can help you deliver a point that's clear, not convoluted:

1. Know Your 'Need-to-Know' vs. Your 'Neat-to-Know'

Audit your message by identifying "need-to-know" points (ideas your audience needs to understand) and your "neat-to-know" points (ideas the audience might find interesting). If you're not sure, ask someone as you practice.

Once you've identified your "need-to-knows," focus on them and disregard—or at least deemphasize—the rest. Unless you're a comedian, your most powerful point is always "need to know," never "neat to know."

2. Identify and Remove Redundant Ideas

Wherever you see a list of words or concepts (usually connected by the word and), ask yourself: Do I need all these descriptors that tax my audience's attention or are some of them virtually synonyms?

Even if they're not synonyms, is one vastly more important than the other? Also, check to see if a description renders an adjective unnecessary.

When you remove redundant and less important ideas, chances are that you'll gain more in audience retention than you'll lose in word rejection.

As a quick test, which of these two phrases can you more easily process? And how much of the big idea is lost in the skinny version?

1. This effective and productive campaign will excite and inspire our most important and relevant customers to love and adore our product. (23 words, four ands)
2. This campaign will inspire our most important customers to adore our brand. (13 words, 0 ands)

In the first example:

• The description illustrates productivity and effectiveness, making the words effective and productive unnecessary.
• Excite and inspire are virtual synonyms.
• Love and adore are synonyms.

The second example removes redundancy to more clearly state the point.

3. Convey More, Explain Less

Explaining is often a defensive act. We think the audience doesn't understand something, so we explain it.

But in that scenario, explaining primarily serves to remedy a failed expression. When you focus on conveying points instead of explaining ideas (or educating or informing your audience), you'll communicate more precisely.

Communication pathologist and neuroscientist Caroline Leaf says that overexplaining can be a trauma response linked to a desire to people please. So overexplainers may be trying to subconsciously "regulate other people's emotional states."

Explaining, educating and informing also focus on what you know and say, which is misguided. Conveying and delivering is about what your audience hears and receives, which is more important because, at the end of the day, if your point isn't successfully received, there's no point in giving the speech.

4. Limit Paragraphs to Three Sentences

If you're writing your idea in a document or email, try to cap paragraphs to three sentences or less (as I've done throughout this article). This tactic makes it easier for readers to digest your points because they have smaller chunks to process.

And because you're writing in short, direct points versus long pieces of text, you may find yourself writing less overall. Everyone—even students—benefit from applying this easy rule.

5. Hear Your Words

No matter how much you review your own writing, hearing it aloud will always identify redundancies and places to cut. You can read it aloud yourself or use the "Read Aloud" feature in Microsoft Word, which enables you to customize the voice by speed and gender. Other editing tips include changing the size or font of your writing—anything that will help you see it with fresh eyes.

Achieving more by saying less is not about wordsmithing but about point awareness. When you say even one word more than you need to, you make your point one word harder for your audience to receive. This is partly why nobody ever complains about a speech that runs short versus a speech that runs long.

So follow Einstein's lead in all your workplace communications: Know your point well enough to express it simply and remember that more is less.

About the Author

Joel Schwartzberg is the senior director of strategic and executive communications for a major American nonprofit and has conducted presentation workshops for clients including American Express, Blue Cross Blue Shield, State Farm Insurance, the Brennan Center for Justice and Comedy Central. The author of The Language of Leadership: How to Engage and Inspire Your Team and Get to the Point! Sharpen Your Message and Make Your Words Matter, he also contributes frequently to Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, Toastmaster magazine and Inc.com.