Just because I say something, doesn’t mean you understand it.
This is the most common challenge with communication; presenting what we want to say in a way that others understand.
It’s a conflict between accuracy and resonance. We could focus on accuracy, but it frequently means sacrificing resonance. Like with academic papers full of technical jargon and complex theories, all accurate information but extremely difficult to understand. Or we could focus on resonance, but that frequently means sacrificing accuracy. Like with pop science books that sell extremely well, but are based on questionable science.
Ideally, we don’t have to sacrifice either. And to ensure we don’t sacrifice either, we need to make mess meaningful.
Reality is messy.
For example, the human eye is only capable of observing 0.0035% of the electromagnetic spectrum. Think about that for a moment. That’s like saying we are only capable of seeing one single grain of sand from all of the grains of sand that exist on our planet. Consider just how much information we are not capable of observing.
History is another example of how messy reality is. Throughout most of human history, an extremely small fraction of people who have ever lived have written historical accounts that survived to this day. There are so many stories, possibly even civilisations and cultures, that we will never know of because they were all lost to the abyss of time. And those who did record history are people, which means they are full of bias. Historians have to corroborate historical accounts with scientific evidence of things such as climate change to gain only a rough understanding of what actually happened. There is so much we will never know about history.
And probably the most obvious example of how messy reality is, is politics. Look at the political tensions between nations around the world. Even within some countries and regions there are striking political divides. Even in some households family members cannot talk about certain topics without erupting into a fully blown argument. There are so many different ideas about how the world should be run, and it seems there is not quite enough unity. There are so many people, and so many different ideologies, and because of this it seems there is just too much complexity for everyone to happily co-exist.
This is why the world needs storytelling. Stories weave meaning out of this mess. A story is a ping on our radar, the only signal we can pick up from this dark void. And this signal comes with important information about what we should care about and what we should do.
Stories will always involve sacrificing some reality for the sake of meaning, because not all reality matters. The only thing our minds care about is being able to control this reality so that we can survive and get what we want. So the only reality that matters is the fraction of it that we are able to control.
When I’m crossing a road, I don’t need awareness of the full electromagnetic spectrum, I only need to see when there is a gap in the traffic so that I can safely cross the road.
When I’m buying a new gadget, I don’t need to know the history of credit and the impact that had on society, I just need to know how to use my credit card to pay for it.
When I’m having dinner with my relatives, I don’t need to understand all the arguments for and against each political ideology, I just need to know what topics to avoid so we can enjoy our meal without arguing.
And our job when storytelling is to find that fraction of reality that matters.
A fantastic example of people who do a great job of this is the people who create the highlight reels for football matches.
A football match is 90 minutes. Now, I’m a bit of a football fan, and I enjoy watching a good football match, but if I’m entirely honest, most of those 90 minutes are quite boring. A lot of it really doesn’t matter. This person passed to that person, the ball went out for a throw in, this person passed to that person again, the goal keeper kicked the ball, this person passed to that person again.
I like to watch the English Premier League, but because I live in China, the time difference results in most of these matches being played when I’m asleep. So when I wake up in the morning, I go online and check the highlights.
Whoever creates these highlights has saved me a lot of time. They condense 90 minutes of football into 10 minutes of really good clips.
These clips show the things that matter. This player got a red card. That team scored 3 goals. This goalkeeper made an incredible save.
I mentioned earlier that the only reality that matters is the fraction of it that we are able to control. So what does football have to do with control?
The answer is entirely subjective. Not everyone cares about football, and for those who do, some care more than others. For me, knowing the results of a football match gives me a bit of emotional control. If I know they’ve had a good run of results recently, then next time there’s a match that works for my timezone, I’m more likely to watch because I feel there is more hope of enjoying the satisfaction of watching my team win. If they play poorly, then I might avoid football for a while because I know it’s just going to leave me frustrated! Or I might pay more attention to the transfer news to see what new players my team might get.
I watch football for the excitement it brings into my life. The highlights help me control how much excitement I choose to get from football.
When it comes to making mess meaningful, we should follow the same process the creators of these highlight reels make. We can sum this process up using 3 steps:
- Find the Details That Matter
- Show the Details That Matter
- Sequence in a Meaningful Way
Find the Details That Matter
Writing a monthly report? Or a sales pitch for a new product? Or writing a cover letter for a job application? These are typical situations in working life where we start with a tangled mess of details. The first step is to always look through this tangled mess of details to find the few details that really matter.
The only details that matter are any details related to goals.
As we saw in The Principles of Storytelling, there are two main reasons why goals matter:
- Attention is goal directed
- Goals put things in context, and we can understand so much more easily when things are in context
There are only two types of goals that matter:
- Your goals
- The audience’s goals
So let’s put these ideas into context.
What are your goals for your monthly report? Do you want them to recognise how hard you’ve worked this last month? Do you want to persuade them to support you in certain ways? Do you have important feedback you need them to pass on to senior management?
You also must consider who is the audience you are delivering this report to, and what are they reading your report for? Do they want an idea of how they should adjust the team’s strategy for the coming month? Do they just want assurance that everything is going to plan? Do they want big picture overviews that they can convey to their leaders?
Now of all of these goals you have identified, which of these goals are most relevant and important? There is only so much you can achieve, and the fewer goals you have for this specific piece of communication, the more you’ll achieve.
Wanting them to recognise how hard you’ve worked this last month may be important for you, but is that really best done through a report? And what would you want them to recognise your efforts for? Maybe you want a pay rise, but that may be better done through a one to one discussion than dropping subtle hints in a report. Wanting them to support you in certain ways is also important, but again probably best done through one to one communication.
Having important feedback to pass on to senior management may be a lot more relevant here. Reports are saved for internal reference, and they are easily sharable. Better to focus on this goal.
But also consider your audience’s goals. Again, what is most relevant and important? If you think they should adjust their strategy for the next month, then that’s again probably better done through one to one communication instead of waiting until they read the monthly report. Assurance that everything is going to plan should probably happen more frequently than a monthly basis as well! So their goal that’s most relevant here is going to be having big picture overviews that they can convey to their leaders, which is also relevant to your goal of passing on feedback to them.
Now you’ve identified the few goals that are most relevant and important to this piece of communication, it’s time to ruthlessly filter. Drop every single detail that has either no relevance to these goals, or little relevance.
After you’ve gone through this process of identifying goals, then filtering out any irrelevant detail, the only details you’ll be left with are the details that matter.
Show the Details That Matter
Showing is the most fundamental principle of storytelling. The mind can only understand what the senses have experienced. So now that we’ve identified the details that matter, we need to find the best way of showing these details in a way the audience can understand.
For example, we want to prepare a sales pitch for a new product. Our goal is to sell our product to the right customer, and our customer’s goal is to judge if this is the right product for them. We’ve filtered out anything irrelevant and we’re now left with the details that matter. So how can we show those details?
There are a number of ways we can do this:
- Experiences
- Multimedia
- Stories
- Contrast
- Metaphors and Analogies
- Simple Words
Experiences
Let them try the product for themselves! With a bit of guidance, you can get them to experience exactly the benefits of your product that you want them to experience.
Multimedia
Show them what you want them to see. Use images, videos or audio to quickly provide a snapshot of the main benefits.
Stories
Share examples, case studies or testimonials to let them know how other similar customers have benefitted from this product.
Contrast
Compare with something they know very well, to let them see the differences and changes your product brings. You could compare with a competing product, or a product they currently use, or show a before and after comparison.
Metaphors and Analogies
Some things are really difficult to understand. Metaphors and analogies are a very quick solution to this when you don’t have time for experiences, multimedia, stories or contrast. For example, as I’m writing this Apple has just announced their new iPhone 12. On the iPhone 12 Pro they have a new technology called LiDAR. This is clearly something very new to the market and not very easy to understand, but on their website they’ve included a simple analogy to make it easy to imagine: “LiDAR technology scans the surface of Mars. And now your living room.” It’s enough to get us thinking about the possibilities, and all in just two sentences.
Simple Words
Emphasis on the word SIMPLE here. Sometimes we’re limited to showing in the written form, like on reports, books or websites. Words generally become overwhelming when we include too many of them at once. Big chunks of text are extremely unattractive and difficult to read. So if you are going to show with words, make them simple. A five word sentence is better than a five sentence paragraph. Have a scan through Apple’s product pages on its website and notice how each section is summarised with a few simple sentences to get a feeling for how to do this.
Sequence in a Meaningful Way
Now that we’ve figured out what we want to show and how we’re going to show it, we need to put everything into an order that makes sense.
Generally speaking, the storytelling principle of journeying to and from a goal is most useful here. This involves building context and showing a chain of cause and effect relationships by answering the following questions:
- What is the goal you are trying to show in this piece of communication?
- What sequence of events led to that goal?
- And what sequence of events did/will that goal lead to?
How could we apply this idea to writing a cover letter for a job application?
First, consider the goal. You want to persuade them you are most suitable for this position, and they want to choose the most suitable person for this position. Now filter out every detail of your background so that you are only left with the details that are relevant to these goals.
Now start with context. What sequence of events has led to you wanting this job?
Perhaps your current employment offers no further room for growth. Perhaps you have noticed yourself settling into your comfort zone and it is time to embrace a new challenge. Perhaps you recognise this as the only way to achieve your career goals.
Now you’ve established your goal and the sequence of events that led to this goal, it’s now time to establish what sequence of events your goal could lead to.
Perhaps the experience your current job has given you would allow you to bring fresh expertise into their organisation. Perhaps your ambitions mean you’re one of the very few people who have enough motivation for this position. Perhaps your different perspective means you can bring more innovation to their company.
Make Mess Meaningful
This is one of the most common applications of storytelling principles. The world is a messy place, and storytellers help people by making the world a meaningful place. And you can do exactly the same by just following 3 simple steps:
- Find the Details That Matter
- Show the Details That Matter
- Sequence in a Meaningful Way
References:
https://www.energy.gov/nnsa/articles/visible-light-eye-opening-research-nnsa
