The Importance of Framing
Effective communication often comes down to framing. What is important, what is an implementation detail, and how does the information fit into the mental framework of the recipient?
Communicating well is essential for a startup, whether it is communicating with investors, potential customers, team members, partners, FDA and other regulatory agencies, or any other influential groups.
Critical to effective communication is making sure that you make it easy for the receiver to understand what you are trying to say and to interpret how it relates to them correctly. Here are three communication principles I use that fall under the general category of framing. These principles have proven to reliably and broadly improve my effectiveness as one of the most prolific communicators for my startup:
Find a jumping-off point that connects the message you are trying to deliver to the person who is receiving it.
The idea here is to connect what you are saying now to what you said before to the same audience. Often this is most easily accomplished by looking at what you last communicated and when to allow you to frame what you are saying now in relationship to what they last heard.
Explicitly remind your audience about the main point of the last communication. Focus on what has changed. Call out what the new information is.
This approach puts the information you are providing in context and makes it easier for the receiver to understand the significance of what you are conveying.
Differentiate between the important, big picture ideas and the details.
Imagine that all communications need a framework. What are the highest level points, the next layer of details, and the finer details? How do your topics relate to each other? It becomes challenging to consume your message if you elevate details to the same level as that of important summary points.
To accomplish this, I often think about what I am trying to communicate in an outline, whether explicitly laid out that way or just to help me sort through the hierarchy of my points, will force additional clarity into your messaging. I will often use numbered or bulleted lists with subpoints, headings, or special formatting to help provide navigational cues to the reader.
Do not bury the lead.
The lead is a journalism technique in which the writer “leads” an article by emphasizing the most essential part of the story at the beginning.
After drafting a communication, I often find there is great benefit in going back over it to move points around. For example, when drafting, I work my way through the story, and at the end of drafting, I find that I have managed to bury the lead at the end. The easy fix is to make sure to apply an editing pass to catch that and move the lead message to the beginning. This practice ensures that the audience gets the most important information upfront, which clarifies everything immensely for the reader.
You can intentionally use these ideas to provide a solid framework to assist the receiver of your messages in correctly interpreting your message. They can be applied to an email, a report, a proposal, a presentation, or any other communication vehicles. Since your success as a startup leader often rides on your ability to communicate effectively, taking a few minutes to be more intentional and careful with your communications is almost always time well-spent.
