Posted by By Oretta Croushore, Property Manager for Home Rental Services
“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that is has taken place.”
-George Bernard Shaw
Communication is so critical to every aspect of day-to-day life, it’s easy to take it for granted. However, there is a difference between communication and effective communication. The difference is in the successful reception and understanding of the information being conveyed.
I think of when I used to sell eyeglasses. A patient with English as a second language would ask me a question about how a product or a treatment worked. (Some of that technical information gets lost in translation.) I learned that just because the patient smiled and nodded along with my information, that did not mean they understood it. I might have conveyed the answer to the question but if it didn’t land, the communication was ineffective.
Conveying Important Info
Our business requires conveying all kinds of important information to everyone we work with. Many of those communications come in the form of documents written in legalease. Legalease… now there’s an oxymoron. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I rarely use words like hitherto and indemnify in my everyday language. I also try to avoid the long, confusing, run-on-type sentences that legal contracts seem to have found a loophole around. We are always trying to find better ways to convey information so that it’s digestible to the reader.
Read It
The first challenge we face is actually getting people to read the information we share.
As a society, we are so accustomed to instant gratification where information is concerned. Google doesn’t even make you dig into various websites to get most of your answers any more. We have a shorter attention span and a lower desire to sift through a ton of fluff.
I’m a meat and potatoes girl, myself. It took me a long time to develop the patience required for me to get through most YouTube videos. If I want to know how to replace the cabin air filter in my car, I just want to see that. I don’t want your intro, don’t ask me to subscribe, I don’t even care what your name is. Just tell me how to do the thing! Don’t get me started on most recipes, patterns, etc. you find through Pinterest. I just want to scream, “No one cares how much your family liked this recipe or how many people requested it! How do I make it???!!!!” Jump to recipe changed my life more than I want to admit.
“Great communication begins with connection.”
-Oprah
Connecting
Here are some tips to make your content more easily digestible and increase connections.
- Bullet points: I love bullet points. They make it easier to see how much content you are dealing with. They also allow the reader to easily scan the parts the writer considers the most important. A bold header on bullet points can further draw the eye to the places the writer wants the reader to go.
- Short and sweet: Effective communication experts suggest trying to keep it under 10 words or less to avoid being cut off on mobile devices. Remember to consider that content looks different on mobile devices than it does on a computer screen. (If you read my writing regularly, you know that short and sweet is not my strength. I’m working on it).
- Be clear and specific: State the purpose of the communication. Especially if it’s important. We send renters emails at various times during the move in process. One of the ones I send after move in states at the top, in a bold, large font, “Please read everything in this email, including the attachments as they contain important information.”
- Make it easy to read: I have reached a point in my life where I really appreciate a nice-sized font. That sounds kinder than the truth, which is, small print makes me mad now. A font smaller than 11 is just inhumane. Consider good spacing and formatting, too. I like a double space between those bullet points.
- Don’t over communicate: There’s a fine line you want to be watchful of. On one hand, repetition is good. On the other hand, if the reader feels bombarded by you, they can feel unnecessary irritation and hostility.
Location, Location, Location
We’ve recently been trying to find ways to make important information more easy to locate. We switched from emailing a document at move-in to renters, to uploading it in their portal. There’s a lot of information in there that they need, but they don’t necessarily need it while they are moving into the house. This way, they always have good access to it. In addition, we beefed up the Renter FAQ section of the HRS website. Now, there is a great, central location for a renter to go to find some basic information when they need it. (We liked it so much, we are working on a similar section for owners!)
I often ask how responsible we, as the conveyors of information, are for the effort people are willing to put into extracting that information. I have learned there is very little I can do to MAKE people do anything beyond their nature. However, we are always looking for ways to help make it easier to find the answers to questions. It’s worth taking a little time to look over your communications, at least once a year. Canned responses are life savers, but it’s easy for those to get stale. I know what the basic content is supposed to be in the canned responses I use regularly, but if I don’t check them occasionally, I don’t know if that information has changed or the processes are done differently.
We have so many ways to communicate, it’s easy to get caught up in the production of quantities of delivered information. The truly impressive task is to increase the quality of communications.
“The art of communication is the language of leadership.”
-James Humes.
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