Stalking the Job: On the Importance of Clarity

"Biggify the words and make it kinda sparkle? What?"

Hello again everyone, and welcome back to another edition of Stalking the Job. As per the title above, today I'd like to discuss the importance of clarity - and how the ongoing  use of clarity in communications can help to save time, grief, and possibly ones' own sanity in the workplace.

When taking on any task - whether in a freelance capacity on a project for a given client, or as part of an assignment in a salaried gig, the need for clarity cannot be underscored enough. Of course, not everyone you'll encounter in the working world will necessarily understand that need. And as annoying as this particular lack of insight can be, the best policy is (and always should be) to compensate for their poor communications skills by ratcheting up your own. No matter what your field of endeavour, clients, co-workers or department heads can - however inadvertently - serve to hamper, hinder or hamstring progress. Let's look at a few examples and anecdotes so that we can explore this idea of clear communications and how we can use clarity to make the world a better place for all.

Don't lose it!

"Grrrrrraaaaarrrgh! John no like meaningless critique!" 

Okay, so say you've been burning the candle at both ends creating a series of product labels for a new line of beverages. Your client has an unfortunate habit of contacting you by phone to relay feedback in a scattershot fashion, rather than relying on email (or even text messaging) to give concise, written critiques. Worse, he/she has difficulty describing exactly what they'd like changed or how they'd like it to be changed. The trick is to always keep your cool, to never let yourself give in to frustration, and to simply be as constructive, helpful and accommodating as humanly possible.

There have been times I have received feedback from a client that's been illegibly scrawled on the back of a paper napkin, photographed (badly) and sent to me as an email attachment. No kidding. Other times I have followed a series of revisions to the letter, only to receive client feedback running along the lines of "biggify the words and make it kinda sparkle", which apart from being non-specific is almost entirely without meaning - given that they could be talking about any number of different text elements within the full scope of the project-at-hand.

In the situation I just outlined, the only reasonable course of action to take is to confirm the nature of the direction or revisions that have been provided prior to committing to making those changes. And don't rely on a verbal exchange, either; collate their requests, asking for further/added details where necessary, and send them back as part of an email. After all, you're (presumably) not a psychic or a mind-reader, and as such - you're just as likely to go tilting at a metaphorical windmill as you are to achieving a (highly unlikely) slam-dunk!

Know your limits

"Assumption", as Eugene Lewis Fordsworthe once said, "is the mother of all mistakes" - and when confronted with assumption in the working world - it rarely ever pays to shrug it off, or to act as though it's of little or no consequence. There will be times that you will find yourself being called upon to fulfill requests that might appear to the person making the request to be relatively straightforward, but which you know full well to be unrealizable, especially when the turnaround times are almost non-existent. 

That sinking feeling? That's the weight of assumption.

A close friend working for an ad agency was once asked by an Accounts Manager (halfway through a Friday afternoon) whether she could add an animated, talking dog to speak the contents of an email blast he was planning to send by 4 o'clock that same afternoon. Her response was to (after laughing uproariously) say no - as there really was no way on Earth that she could have fulfilled his request in less than a couple of hours, and that it was an open question as to whether it would be possible to fulfill it at all. But rather than simply saying "no", she was able to detail exactly why she would not be able to fulfill his request. By clearly communicating the hard limits such a project would entail under an extraordinarily tight deadline, she did herself a tremendous favour: in future, the Accounts Manager in question would be nowhere near as likely to proceed from false assumption and would himself be more inclined to ask - in a timely fashion - what the logistics of such a project would be. And everybody concerned would be all the happier for it.

It's a two-way street

Of course, it's always worth bearing in mind that clear communications are - or certainly can be - a two-way street. Not everyone you'll find yourself working with will necessarily share your first language, and even if they do, it's unlikely that everyone you'll work with will necessarily possess language skills greater than or comparable to your own. In this respect, it's up to you to gauge a given situation and to govern yourself accordingly. 

Nobody enjoys feeling that they're being "talked down to", and while I, for example, might not think anything of using relatively uncommon terms or phrases in correspondence, I will (after having given due consideration to the people and personalities concerned) make a point of using language in as inclusive a way as possible. No matter the situation - clients, co-workers or department heads - we're all in this together. Clarity in communications can (and almost invariably, will) help to ensure the happiest possible outcome for the greatest number of people.

Clear communications make for a happier - not to mention a more productive - working environment. So be happy, people!

Thanks again, and until next time - this is John Currie, your faithful scribe - wishing you all the very best, whatever your employment situation may be.