By Stever Robbins

Today's topic is being smart about your communication. The quick and dirty tip is to provide context with your messages.

You know how much I love meetings? I don’t. I hate meetings. That’s because it seems like meetings are chock full of irrelevant, useless, boring information. I used to marvel at my friends who were addicted to online virtual games. I’d naively think, “Why would someone spend hours in an online virtual world when they could have 3D, millions of colors, and a multi-sensory, first-person interface in the real world?” Simple. The real world has meetings. Online doesn’t.

So you can imagine how my ego shattered this week when I discovered I was part of the irrelevant, useless, boring information problem. Eager to make a good impression on my new co-workers, I sent out several articles that were relevant to our project, useful, and fascinating. I was expecting accolades and praises for my intellectual brilliance. Instead, my boss said, “OK, Stever. I spent my Saturday night reading the 75 pages you sent. Was there anything relevant in it? It seemed totally irrelevant, useless, boring information.” Ouch. Really, ouch. Double ouch.

No One Knows What We’re Thinking (Whew!)

What I’d forgotten to do was provide context. It turns out we all have brains (except politicians, but that’s not my main point). My main point is that what happens inside our brains is private. No one knows about our Arena Rock air guitar fantasies. Our brain is off-limits to everyone but us and the space aliens monitoring us with invisible electrodes. In particular, no one knows the logic of why we do things. Why we do what we do is perfectly obvious—to us. We always make complete sense, and we’re always, always 100% right.

What makes it so funny is that we kind of understand that the idiot down the hall with the dumb ideas thinks he’s right, too. But he’s obviously not. He’s wrong. We never take that next leap and consider from his point of view, we’re the idiot down the hall with the dumb ideas.

We Know What We're Thinking. (Yippee!)

When we share information, we know why we’re doing it. We’re sending our spouse the spec sheet on that new Maserati because we expect a nice birthday gift, this year. We’re sending our boss a copy of the sales report because we want her to notice our sales numbers were the highest. And we’re giving our co-workers 75 pages of reading because we want them to realize that the theoretical underpinnings of post-modern, deconstructionist pedagogical design is congruent with the economic process characteristic of cross-disciplinary value-investing over a 40-year boom and bust cycle. Isn’t it obvious?

Apparently not.

Tell Them What We're Thinking

When you’re giving someone information, remember that they have no idea why you’re giving it to them. “Because they asked for it!” you say. Well, they did ask for it. But that was 15 minutes ago, when their mind was somewhere else entirely. Maybe Mars. Or maybe on the other 5,000 projects they’re involved in.

So assume nothing. When you give information, ask yourself “Why should they care?” Then write that down in the cover letter. Make it really clear, so when they get it, they can quickly get context. You want to help them decide, first, whether they even need to read the info or just file it for future reference. If you want them to read it, let them know how to fit your info into their mindset, job, and goals.

For example: Dear team, Here are the 75 pages of Charlie Munger’s lecture. I’m sending it because I thought page 45, paragraph three, footnote two has a great idea we can use to organize our new football team.

If you’re writing a report, tell people which sections are relevant to them. If you’re giving them something they asked for, remind them that they asked for it. They may have forgotten. If you’re giving them something that will make their life easier, be sure to say that. Most people love getting messages that start off, “I’m sending you something that will make your life easier.” (Personally, I love getting messages that start off, “Remember I promised if I won the MegaBucks Sweepstakes, I’d give you ten million dollars? Well, it just so happens…”)

If you’re giving them something to review, tell them so, and tell them what feedback you want. “Here’s the proposed summer catalog cover. Please tell me what you think about the lime jello theme. It’s my most creative, yet!”

Don’t assume people know what you’re thinking. Don’t assume they remember context. Go to the trouble of anticipating their every desire and you’ll soon have a loyal following.

This is Stever Robbins. Email questions to getitdone@quickanddirtytips.com or leave voicemail at 866-WRK-LESS. If you’re bogged down with email, conquer it with my audio program You Are Not Your Inbox: Overcoming E-Mail overload at YouAreNotYourInbox.com.

Work Less, Do More, and have a Great Life!