Clear Communication for Creative Professionals | Lucinda Atwood

Boosting Your Career with Clear Communication

You?re not a writer and never claimed to be one. You?re a designer, artist or developer. Your clients hire you for your unique vision, not your ability to write. But are you sabotaging your career with poor communication skills and habits? Clear communication builds healthy studios and loyal clients. This is a quick-start guide to improving your working relationships.

Why is Clear Communication Important?

When you communicate clearly, you reduce mistakes, delays, and bad feelings, which improves your relationships with clients, suppliers and administrators. Clients like working with you because they know what to expect and when, and feel included in the decision making process. They think you are a genius because you are able to clarify, for yourself and them, what they want and need.

Communicating Clearly Is Easier Than You Think.

1.???? Write And Speak So Your Audience Understands You.

Always write or speak to your audience. This means knowing who your audience is. The bigger and more diverse your audience gets, of course, the harder it is to know them and tailor your speech to individuals. But where possible, it?s important to know who you?re talking to, then you can speak directly to them, and tailor your content to their needs.

What do we mean by ?audience??

Your audience is whoever you?re talking to?it could be one person or many. When you write an invoice, for instance, your audience is your client or their accountant. If you write a Design Brief or Project Proposal your audience could include the client, their marketing, legal and administrative teams, as well as the designers and developers you will be working with. And when?with my help?you become rich and famous and give speeches to thousands, your audiences will be the people listening in the stadium, and the millions listening online.

Knowing a bit about your audience helps you gauge their goals and the best way to communicate with them. Ideally you would know the following:

• who is your audience?their age, literacy, amount of time and interest in what you have to say
• what they already know
• what they need to know
• what they want to know

How does knowing about your audience translate into changing the way you communicate with them? Imagine, for example, that you knew your audience included people who don?t speak English as a first language. You would use fewer idioms and slang. Another example: If you know that your audience is older art directors, you don?t give them a proposal package in 10-point thin type at 30% grey which looks stunning on the monitor but is completely unreadable to over-40 eyes. No. You just don?t.

2.???? Communicate Clearly.

Clear Communication is giving useful information in useable format. It?s using the fewest words that still get your idea across, and presenting your ideas in a way your audience can easily understand. You communicate clearly when you:

• organize your thoughts beforehand
• give the right amount of information (not too much; not too little)
• include only useful content and don?t confuse your audience with too much detail
• present your ideas in logical order
• use everyday words and familiar terms
• use only active words, not fillers like very or really (and um, like, or you know when speaking)
• request feedback where appropriate, or simply observe the results and learn from them

3.???? Use Simple Words and Short Active Sentences.

Use the simplest word that works. Big or rare words can be confusing and intimidating. You don?t want to make your client feel stupid, so impress them with your great ideas instead of fancy language. Remember:

1. Nothing?s more embarrassing than a misused complex word?just ask the person who claimed to be self-defecating instead of self-deprecating.
2. When someone writes or speaks over our heads, we?re usually pissed off instead of impressed. First, we can?t understand what it means so our time?s being wasted, and second, they?re making us feel stupid or under-educated.

When we engage in business communication, especially when we write, we quickly become overly formal or vague. We provide business solutions for select clients means little; I can?t tell if you sell software or toilet paper. Using overly-fancy language just comes across as snobby. Even the gossips agree. Write and speak like you speak in conversation.

Clear Language makes your words and ideas accessible to non-experts, busy people and those with lower literacy or language skills.

Clear Communication Rules!

• Use everyday words and familiar terms.
• Speak and write in simple, active sentences. An active sentence goes subject > verb > object. Bob bit Eddy. (Eddy was bitten by Bob is passive.)
• Use a positive tone?what to do instead of what not to do. This project will be completed by October 15^th instead of This project will not continue past October 15^th.
• Spell out acronyms or abbreviations the first time you use them.
• Remain jargon-free unless you know that everyone in your audience understands your term.
• Organise your ideas and presenting them in a logical order. Some ways to present information are:
  • Chronologically
  • Order or importance
  • Order of appearance
  • Alphabetically
  • Simple to complex
  • Resolved or completed to in-progress or upcoming
• Reread your writing and remove extra words or phrases that don?t add to the readers? understanding. You can usually remove words like really, greatly, at this time, it is to be hoped, furthermore, however and overly.
• Formatting: if you?re a designer, this should be easy, but if you?re not, make yourself look good with these simple tips:
  • Include lots of white space
  • Keep paragraphs short (especially for on-screen and mobile reading)
  • Use consistent font sizes and styles; rarely more than a couple per page
  • Present your information in an obvious and scan-able hierarchy
  • Let bulleted lists be your friend
  • Add your contact info to each page
  • (And hey, you designers need occasional reminding about font sizes. Yes, 6-point type in 50% grey looks lovely, but most people over 40 can?t see it and will hate you for using it.)

4.???? Communicate Early & Often.

Clear Communication is a huge part of good project management, business development and client retention. When you talk to clients, you?re bridging cultures. Their world is business, finance or whatever; yours is creative practice. They don?t understand your world or speak your language?that?s why they hired you.

Part of your job as a creative professional is to educate your client. You need to explain your choices and their rationale to someone who may have no experience in your world. They also may report to a team or committee so your words have to be simple enough that they will be remembered and relayed accurately. The last thing you want is your project turning into a game of Telephone where each message gets slightly distorted as it passes from one person to another. Expressing yourself clearly in language your client understands makes their life easier and helps them look good to their boss and clients. You may want to give them written notes to take back to their team; this will ensure that your words don?t get mistranslated.

By taking responsibility for communication you also set the tone of your relationship. You present yourself as an honest professional who deserves respect. Clearly outlining all expectations and responsibilities reduces the chance of missteps, creating a smoother process for everyone.

Some examples of clear communication practices are:

• Maintaining the client?s preferred level of contact before, during and after a project. Do they want every little detail or a weekly status report?
• Being proactive about deadlines and managing expectations?if you?re going to miss a deadline, let them know and renegotiate it.
• Educating clients so they can appreciate your choices and recommendations (ie recognise your brilliance)

Clear Communication Practices

• Keep it focused on the client (what you can do for them). Remember that your job is to make them look good.
• Read between the lines, and listen to what?s not being said.
• Collaborate with your client?this is their baby too. Expect them to see themselves as the ?real? parent and you as the surrogate. It?s also a basic human desire to personalize things, so build in places where the client can have input. (Create choices they can?t muck up too much.) Exploit their product knowledge and industry expertise.
• Give clients choice but don?t overwhelm them. (see above)
• Don?t lie to or avoid your clients. If you?re going to miss a deadline, alert them. They may be responsible to a boss or committee?don?t make them look bad.
• For many clients this project is just another item on their to-do list. The easier you make it for them to check it off, the more they will love you.
• Creative professionals (like you) often get emotionally attached to their work. Try to be objective when talking to clients?they often have a more business-centric approach.
• Educate your client. If they ask for something that just won?t work, don?t assume they?re an idiot or trying to drive you crazy. They are smart in their field?educate ?them about yours. Explain why something won?t work, then give options and explain why those are better. But accept that sometimes you have to go with the client?s choice.
• Set clear deadlines for delivery, meetings and payment.
• Ask questions.
• Ask for feedback. Make it simple and structured: do you prefer this color or that one; would you like to add those features even though they?ll add three weeks to the timeline?
• When you answer a question, ask if you?ve answered the question.

A client who feels treated with respect and who understands your choices and recommendations is more likely?and faster?to hire you, pay your invoice, and hire you again. That?s how you build a beautiful clientele.

About Lucinda

Lucinda Atwood is an author and teacher based on the west coast of Canada. She teaches clear communication in workshops and private consultation. Learn all about Clear Communication at LucindaAtwood.com, or follow her on Twitter @lucindaatwood.

Source: http://lucindaatwood.com/clear-communication-for-creative-professionals/

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