3 crucial ingredients to effective workplace communication

Communicating at work can be a confounding experience.

Simple messages are often misconstrued, taken out of context or just ignored. Communication is typically an afterthought—an anonymous offensive lineman who is essential to the team yet woefully overlooked. Half-hearted effort leads to half-baked results.

There’s no secret recipe for whipping up crystal-clear communication, but you might consider three factors when crafting a message at work—or anywhere else:

1. Levity

Corporate communication often sounds robotic, stilted and solemn. A stiff tone isn’t wrong, but you might be losing some people with stodgy wording. Don’t you typically bail upon sight of “synergy” or “innovation”? So do your readers.

The answer isn’t pivoting to snark or cracking jokes. That approach works for some, like Wendy’s, but attempts at corporate humor can backfire spectacularly.