TABLE OF CONTENTS The best starting point is to put yourself in the shoes of the person you are trying to reach.
5 mins
You are short of time, and you have a lot of written material to deal with.
When a document, letter, e-mail, note or memo reaches you, it places more demands on your time. What can the sender do to make your task easier?
Jot down three or four ideas.
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If the sender is thinking about the receiver's needs (your needs) there are two main things he or she can do.
The first is to make it as easy as possible for you to:
identify who sent the communication and what it is about;
decide whether it is important or not.
Managers often have problems dealing with the flood of incoming material. They need to be able to prioritize quickly: do I read it now, read it later, file it or 'bin' it?
The second is to make it as easy as possible for you to:
read the communication, if important;
work out what it is saying;
decide what action you need to take as a result.
The easier you make it, the more likely the receiver is to read it, and the more likely you are to achieve your objectives. What makes it easier? I would say:
keeping it as short and simple as possible;
using plain and simple language;
making the 'key messages' ...
