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Strategic Communication—An Interview with Consultant Shauna Bona

Published on Ravenwerks.com

By Paula Gamonal

Drafting a memo, proposal, plan, or letter is one of the tasks many executives dread most. Many have become very good at procrastinating, delegating, or otherwise avoiding important tasks simply because they involve writing.

Writing a document is an investment that should be taken seriously.

It takes time to write and review documents.

It costs money to publish documents in almost any format.

There is an opportunity cost for documents that fail to make their point.

There is a credibility cost to representing your company, project, or image badly. Our guest, Shauna Bona, is a strategic communication consultant with McKinnon- Mulherin, a strategic communication company in Salt Lake City that helps Fortune 1000 clients work through obstacles to ensure their investment in documents returns good value. More about our guest at the bottom of this article.

Horror Stories
Paula-
What is the most common mistake people make in their documents?

Shauna-
There are two:
Not making their point, and
Not taking enough time to polish their work.

Paula-
So, the message never gets across at all?

Shauna-
Well, either people don't take the time to develop the message they want to communicate, or they bury it so deep in the document that the reader never finds it.

You have to be really overt about what the message is, and what you want the recipient to do with that information. Everything about the document- the layout, the structure, and the organization of information needs to support the document's strategy.

The good news is that you can teach this skill. You can help people understand how to craft a document that will get the point across.

Paula-
What about the second point- polishing your work?

Shauna-
This is about execution of the document's strategy. It's more tactical. Part of the problem is that people don't take the time to have someone else look at their work, and part of it is that even when they do, it's difficult to get really frank, objective feedback.

This one is harder to teach or to learn, because people are very focused on their professions and they don't necessarily want to spend a lot of time going back and learning grammar rules and sentence structure. The good news is that there is usually at least one person in every office who is good at proofreading documents, and also, you can outsource proofreading more easily than you can outsource content and strategy.

Case Studies
Paula-
Do you have a situation where the writing clearly affected the outcome?

Shauna-
Well-written proposals have better win-ratios, but nobody is going to tell you that the writing style was the deciding factor. It's more of a subconscious credibility factor.

We did have an opportunity where we delivered core training on a system for a financial institution. The employees we needed to train were geographically dispersed, and the company couldn't affort to pull them all away from their jobs for extensive classroom training. This meant they needed to go through the classroom training in shifts, and some people were trained weeks before the new system was launched. We helped our client reduce time in the classroom by creating a preliminary online training course. The employees were able to review materials on the desktop before attending classroom training. The information was also available as support and reference after the classes and the system conversion.

Paula-
So, having them take that separate step before the class actually sped up the process?

Shauna-
This really helped level-set the classes so that they could get through the training quickly and effectively. You know what it's like to be in a classroom with people that are all at different levels. It's very time-consuming and frustrating.

This is an example of using documentation to improve process. There is a perception that documents obstruct progress, and that's true- when they're not understood, it seems like a bunch of paperwork. But when they are well done, documents accelerate action by capturing ideas and making them understood by people very quickly.

Better Writing

Paula-
What would you recommend to people to improve their writing and communication?

Shauna-
Two things:

1. Think it through, and
2. Have someone read it.

First, you have to go through the process of figuring out what your message is and what results you want; and who the audience is and what their needs are. You have to build a working relationship between your needs as the communicator and the needs of the people you're communicating to. Second, really great writers have really great editors.

The more expert you are in your field, the more vital it is that you have someone who is NOT an expert read your work. You tend to make assumptions when you write, and the assumptions you take for granted might not be as obvious to the reader.

Also, good managers and leaders can usually get good feedback. They're the ones you can go to and say “I just didn't get what you're trying to say here.” To make sure your document reads well, you have to find somebody with a good eye and insist that they be honest, and then you have to be able to take the criticism without defending your work.

Paula-
How much time should you take on a document?

Shauna-
The amount of time you spend is really a function of how much is at risk.

Let's say you have to write a memo reminding people of the dress code. If you work for a financial institution or someplace really traditional, then people are already aware of the need to look professional and this memo isn't going to upset anyone.

On the other hand, if you're at a new dot-com company, and you've always been really relaxed about this sort of thing, and a lot of your best people are used to casual dress, you might end up with an emotional explosion if your memo is worded carelessly.

You want to spend the most time on things that have the biggest impact, and make sure you spend the time to plan your documents and then polish them really well.

Generally speaking, you should spend about 15-20 minutes to outline and then write a memo or simple document. A standard is about 1 page an hour, assuming you've done all of the research and the facts you need are right there.

Paula-
What about presentations?

Shauna-
One thing people do to try to speed up the process, especially with presentations, is to put in a lot of graphics and a lot of bullet points. The problem with that is you lose your audience. A lot of people end up hating presentations because they don't have any substance. You should use charts and pictures, but first you must realize that effective graphics actually take more time to develop than text because graphics should carry just as much or even more meaning. It actually takes more time to express ideas succinctly and respect the audience's time than it does to just throw something together.

Writer's Block

Paula-
The beginning of a writing project is sometimes the worst part. A lot of people have this fear of facing a blank page. What can you do to get over that and get started?

Shauna-
I think people put too much of a burden on themselves because they expect perfect, inspired writing to just come pouring out. When it comes to business writing, there is no real inspiration, no muse. It's just the hard work of thinking through what you want to say, finding a way to make sure that resonates with your audience, and taking the time to fine-tune your work. Just get the basics down first, start with a prototype or outline, and then fill that in. You can always get help with the details and polishing later.

Paula-
Is there anything you can recommend to make writing in general easier?

Shauna-
Start putting together a good style guide. Having a corporate, office, or even personal style guide helps you not spend time agonizing over the details like names and industry-specific jargon over and over again. For example, you don't want to decide with each new document whether to refer to something as “The Acme Process” or “the Acme process.” Put some of these things in your autocorrect on your word processor.

Also, keep copies of good work- models of good letters and memos. If there's something you use all the time, make boilerplate or document templates out of it. Share good models between people and departments so that you're capturing the best work.

Paula-
Anything else?

Shauna-
I think people need to understand that writing does matter, and that it's important to develop meaningful concepts and then execute them well. And remember, you can always get help. Although we have a definite approach to writing, we try to focus on principles instead of a rigid process. We don't get too uptight if we can't implement our process each time. We understand everyone has different a different focus and priorities. Auto mechanics probably think it's absurd to miss an oil change, but they're not going to change everyone's behavior because of their priorities. It's the same thing when communication is your profession.

You have to balance all of these rules and principles with your own deadlines, budget and resources, and do the best you can.

About Our Guest
Shauna Bona is a Senior Information Design Consultant with McKinnon-Mulherin, a company she owns and operates with business partner, Kate Reddy.

She has 12 years of experience helping companies communicate effectively. Her most recent clients include IBM Global Services, Allen Communication, and Christopherson Business Travel.