DO NOT feed the animals

DO NOT touch rails: danger of death

DO NOT swim: strong currents

Safety messages have to be short, sharp, direct. Instantly understood and immediately acted upon. Our lives depend on it.

Why can’t all communication be like that? We should demand the same level of clarity from everything in our lives – time is too precious a commodity in the current climate to be wading through communication in order to figure out what we’re actually being told. Far too often, simple concepts get turned into long-winded statements, key points disappear into thin air and we’re left with a frustratingly incomplete picture.

360 is a prime example. People need quick-fire information about their performance which is summed up in a few pages, not long enough to be used as a make-shift doorstop. It needs to distil and summarise opinion, not repeat and recount my take, your take, their take. Clarity and accessibility should be prerequisites, not pleasant add-ons.

It’s true there has been a change in recent 360 thinking in HR circles – people are slowly moving away from stat-based feedback in favour of the far superior quality of text-based analysis. But that text needs to be honed so that it’s instructive, useful, pragmatic. Otherwise HR moves on but still retains the same old stigmas of yesteryear: “it’s a waste of time, a tick box culture, going through the motions, yet another useless fad with minimal output.”

It doesn’t have to be like that.

Sharp and relevant communication style
+
Accurate, Balanced, Concise feedback

= A document clearly signposting your strengths, your areas of development. It sharpens self-awareness and gives individuals the opportunity to take positive, remedial action.