How Can We Communicate An Idea Clearly?

One of the most important elements in effective communication is the clarity. Clarity means that your message is understandable to your receiver. It involves the way you put words together in a sentence as well as the general structure and organization of the message. Clarity can be attained only when we have a clear idea of what we want to say. In order to lend clarity to your communication you should choose precise, concrete and familiar words.

          Do not use technical terms and business jargons when you communicate with a person who is not acquainted with the terminology. If you must use such terms, define them briefly and clearly. Use simple words and short sentences comprising 17 to 20 words. Try to insert no more than one main idea into a sentence. Use the active voice than the passive voice way of expression. The use of active voice promotes a clear, straight order that is very easy to follow.

          The passive voice is often confusing because of the twisted order of action. However the use of the passive voice can be very helpful if you want to emphasize a point or bring more tact and diplomacy to your writing. For example, if you are writing a customer concerning late payment on an account, the use of active voice may result in a message, which is too blunt and direct.

Without clarity there is no real communication. If you want to communicate clearly, the first thing you have to do is to put yourself in the position of the audience. How much, if anything, do  they know about the subject you are going to tell them about? Who are your audience - for instance, if you are going to talk or write about a scientific subject, will they understand the technical words you use or should you explain the terms?

A good way to test the clarity of your writing, speech or whatever is to try it out on someone you know who is not a specialist in that subject. Let him or her give you a quick summary of your topic after reading or hearing it. If they can't, it may be time for you to look at the way you explain things.

Last tip -don't forget visual information. If you have a chance to use illustrations, graphs etc as well, it's always a good idea to do that.