Who is the audience for this communication? What is their level of sophistication?
In the 1800s poetry in England was composed in the highest diction generally at a level of London intellectuals. A young poet at 28 had a novel idea — poetry should be for all. This liberation of thought was not well received by the leading poets of the day. His name– William Wordsworth. He responded to his critics of the transformational shift in his poetic style by observing:— if you wish to communicate with the common man, then you must use the common man’s language. A novel idea!
You’ll experience a propensity now that you are within the walls of academe to attempt to impress your reader with the extent of your lexicon. Or, as Wordsworth might say, there is a tendency, now that you’re in university, to impress your Prof with a bunch of big words! Just remember, sometimes it is more effective to use the word ‘jam’ rather than ‘marmalade’.
Consider the content. What is it your reader or your listener needs to know? Consider if you doing a business plan setting out how your organization will make money for the banker then projections and reassurance how to get the funds are paid to the bank in the event the venture is not successful will be the paramount consideration. If it is primarily for ‘internal direction’ then the plan can be focused on the cash flow projections as a metric for departments to measure whether or not their departmental contributions are on target and less on the security the bank might want to consider in support of it loan..
As strategists it is important that you understand your audience and craft your written and oral communication accordingly.
