Happy Effective Communications Month!
Yes, apparently that’s a thing. And honestly? We need it.
Because somewhere along the way, a whole lot of us started confusing “I told them” with “I communicated.”
Those are not the same thing.
“I sent the email.”
“I put it in the meeting notes.”
“I said it on the call.”
“I posted it in Teams.”
“I mentioned it last week.”
Congratulations! You distributed information.
That does not automatically mean you communicated.
Communication is not measured by whether words left your mouth, your keyboard, or your outbox. Communication is measured by whether the other person understood what mattered, knew what to do with it, and could act on it.
That’s the part we’re less sure about.
We dump information on people and then get annoyed when they don’t respond the way we expected. We send the long email with six different topics buried inside it and then wonder why the one thing we actually needed got missed. We leave a voicemail with no clear next step. We run a meeting where everyone gets “updated” but no one leaves knowing who owns what. Then we tell ourselves the problem is that people don’t listen.
Maybe…
Or maybe the problem is that we’re calling everything communication when a lot of it is just noise with punctuation.
Information dumping is easy. It lets us feel productive, and gives us a record. It also protects us a little bit because we can point back and say, “Well, I told you.”
But that’s not leadership or collaboration. And it’s definitely not effective communication.
That’s a receipt.
And to be clear, receipts matter sometimes. Documentation matters. I am not suggesting we all sit in circles and process every single detail until the end of time. No one wants that. I certainly don’t. People complain about having too many meetings as it is. I don’t want to start a revolt.
But if your goal is action, alignment, buy-in, clarity, or accountability, then dumping information is not effective.
Effective communication requires more effort than transmission.
It requires thinking about the person on the other end.
What do they already know?
What do they need to know?
What is most important?
What could be confusing?
What decision needs to be made?
What action needs to happen next?
What does “done” look like?
What do I need from them, by when?
Most of us don’t slow down long enough to answer those questions before we start typing. Or talking.
And then we create work for everyone else.
You know the email I’m talking about. It starts with three paragraphs of background nobody asked for, includes a forwarded thread with 47 messages, references “the thing we discussed,” attaches two documents without explaining what to do with them, and ends with “thoughts?”
What kind of thoughts, exactly? (You may have read my “thoughts” on that topic on LinkedIn, and if you missed it, you can check it out here.)
That kind of message is not communication. It’s a scavenger hunt.
If we want people to respond clearly, we have to communicate clearly. Usable communication helps the other person understand three things:
- What matters?
- What does this mean for me?
- What happens next?
If any of those three things are missing, don’t be surprised when people don’t act. Or express confusion. Or say, “I didn’t know what you wanted.”
This is where a lot of workplace frustration comes from. I hear it from many teams I support.
“What other information do they need? I gave them everything I had!”
“I don’t know why this is so hard. I already explained it.”
Did you?
Or did you just explain everything swirling around in your own head and leave everyone else to sort it out?
Good communication is generous. It saves other people from having to decode you. It respects their time, their attention, and their workload. It doesn’t make them work harder than necessary to figure out what you meant.
And yes, this takes a little more effort up front.
You may need to name the actual ask. You may need to separate FYI from action required. You may need to say, “Here’s the decision we need to make today.” You may need to check for understanding instead of assuming silence means agreement. You may need to ask more questions.
Here’s a simple test before you hit send, speak up, or end the meeting:
Can the other person clearly answer:
What is this about?
Why does it matter?
What, if anything, do I need to do next?
If the answer is no, try again. And if you’re not sure what else to tell them, try asking what information they need to be able to move forward.
Effective communication is not about saying more. It’s about making people do less work to understand you.
That’s the standard we should be aiming for.
Not “I told them.”
Not “I sent the email.”
Not “It was in the notes.”
The real question is: did they understand what mattered, and could they act on it?
If not, we’re not done communicating yet.
Want some help with this? Let’s chat.
