__David Blair is a public servant who worked in digital government, and is currently advancing regulatory cooperation with the Government of Canada. In a past life, he was a Paralympic rower for Team Canada. Both jobs taught him how to be direct. __

Look, the thing you need to know about direct communication is that it prioritises confidence and honesty.

Sometimes, the hardest part about communication is saying what we mean – especially when we want to be thorough. Often, we know what we want to say. The difficulty arises when we also know all the context, considerations, and other qualifying details that our audience needs to know to understand the topic as well as we do.

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More than once, I’ve caught myself at the end of a sentence that has stretched into a monologue. I’ve seen my colleagues’ eyes glaze over, and their faces lock in a resolute smile that seems to say, “don’t worry, he has to pause to breathe at some point”.

Nobody likes being caught in that scenario, least of all the speaker. They know that, despite their effort to share all the important context, their message is not getting through.

Our first mistake is thinking that our audience needs to understand our work as well as we do. They don’t. They need to understand it well enough to allow our ideas to inform their work. Our second mistake is emphasising context over content. Public servants often think that giving context signals their competence. This can lead to communication becoming a performative act: we become more concerned with demonstrating our diligence and the breadth of our knowledge than with ensuring our audience has what they need to do their jobs.

At this point, you may be thinking that this is an awful lot of context and background for someone who advocates for direct communication. The thing is, I shared the most important tip right at the start of this article.

When you need to get your message across, say: “Look, the thing you need to know about _ is…”.

I like this phrase because it demonstrates confidence. It structures what we’re saying not just as information, but as an argument that can be used and reused. This phrase gives the speaker permission to address only the most salient point. Once that point is made, we are free to provide additional context to support our conclusion — but no one in the audience would confuse that additional context for the main point.

The phrase encourages us to tailor our message to our audience. It addresses what you specifically need to know, not what everyone needs to know. This prompt makes it easier for us to make concrete arguments that relate to the work at hand. In addition, it narrows our communication to the single most important thing, not several assorted things, that our audience needs to understand about this issue.

Effective communication is characterised by the amount of information that gets absorbed, not the amount that gets shared. You help your audience absorb information by providing limits – specificity and priority – that make it more relatable.

“Look, the thing you need to know about _ is…” will help you build a strong opening sentence and the momentum it generates will carry you through the initial uhs.

Let’s try some examples. First with, then without, our prompt. What is digital government?

“The word ‘digital’ is rather loosely defined between and inside of jurisdictions and can be the source of some confusion. Digital government is an initiative to get more out of government, driven by groups like the Digital Nations which pushes nations to work collaboratively, with data, to support users.”

There’s nothing incorrect about that answer. Everything shared there would be good for a manager or colleague to know. The problem is, it isn’t particularly relevant. I can’t take those two sentences and use them to support an argument. Let’s try it again, this time using our prompt:

“Look, the thing you need to know about digital government is that it enables the public service to provide faster, more reliable services to our clients. We make better use of better information through technology. Barriers to digital government include outdated legal and policy frameworks and significant early investment.”

Both answers use the same number of words, but which do you think will be of greater help to decision-makers?

Using the phrase has the added benefit of building up momentum. Direct communication suffers when we use too many filler words, such as uh, um and like. Saying “Look, the thing you need to know about _ is…” will help you build a strong opening sentence and the momentum it generates will carry you through the initial uhs. Now, in most workplaces, it isn’t appropriate to address our colleagues and bosses in this way, so for the sake of your workplace relationships, I recommend saying the sentence in your head.

When you communicate directly, you show confidence and honesty to your audience. Even work that is unfinished can be communicated directly to good effect. Just think about what your specific audience needs to know, make concrete arguments, and focus on the single most important thing. — David Blair

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