Enough Already! How Much Communication Is Too Much?

black-1293798_1280One of my readers, Lisa, suggested I write about the balance between useful communication and too much information as a leader. It’s a dicey subject because you’re now going to judge this piece on that scale. (Was that last sentence necessary?)

Years ago, I had a weekly meeting in California. It was sometimes one hour and sometimes nine hours. I was one of the only senior executives on the team who wasn’t located at our corporate office. So I attended via videoconference rather than spending two travel days for an often short meeting.

On one videoconference, I made an emotional appeal for something that apparently was not well-received by a couple of people. One of my peers kindly called me afterward and said I made my point in the first 30 seconds and then spent the next five minutes killing any chance I had of winning the argument. I couldn’t see the rolling eyes of those not in the picture frame.

An extreme example of too much information is Fidel Castro, who once spoke for seven hours and ten minutes straight. I guess the defense of communism is complex.

Likewise, Ayn Rand famously used 645,000 words in “Atlas Shrugged” to defend capitalism and individualism over government intervention. I loved the book but took quite a few naps in between pages. Just to prove she was wrong, the bureaucrats struck back by writing approximately 4 million words in the federal tax code. By the time you finish reading this, it might be more.

I’ve coached verbose executives. The cure involves thinking before talking, practicing and using succinct messages, which takes discipline. As Mark Twain reportedly said, “If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.”

We might all agree that using too many words to make a point is imprudent and prone to irritate others. A teacher of mine says, “Don’t tell them everything you know, just what they need to know.”

We should differentiate, however, between verbosity, frequency and effectiveness when contemplating how to communicate as a leader. My examples above only consider verbosity.

One mistake senior leaders make is communicating key messages (e.g., vision, strategy, values and critical issues) too infrequently. Once isn’t enough. The founder of a company I worked with had several key stories that he told so often that everyone could repeat them, but there was no mistaking the intent. Frequency is important.

Likewise, effective language is critical. Leaders who make it all about themselves are ineffective. Forget politics, but remember the ability of Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton to get their message across. They balanced reason with emotion to gain support for their message.

Brief, effective and repetitive. That’s the ticket!

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  • Bob Dodge

    12:19 am September 14, 2016

    You can say THAT again!

    • Todd Ordal

      7:46 am September 14, 2016

      Thanks Bob! Im glad to see that you haven’t lost that sense of humor!

  • Amy Reinhart

    1:29 pm October 25, 2017

    Thanks

    • Todd Ordal

      2:40 pm October 25, 2017

      Of course! Hope you are well, Amy!

  • Harry Donahue

    5:47 am January 16, 2020

    As Goldilocks said “this is just right!”