they know this information. But I also know human nature. If I ran an
article about a new law that increases their exposure, they’d toss the
newsletter aside—not because they don’t want to know, but because
they’d hope to avoid it a little bit longer.
“So what I did was position the information in a positive way. I used
a headline that read ‘Five Strategies You Can Use Now.’ The introductory
paragraph read ‘The five strategies detailed below can help protect
you from liability. It’s under your control.’ Then I began with a Q&A.
Instead of asking ‘Do you want to know your liability?’ I phrased it as
‘What can I do to avoid liability?’ Every question was worded as a positive
or neutral statement.”
Procedure Manuals
Procedure manuals often force employees to read through long-winded
narratives filled with legalese. Consider using a Q&A organizational structure
instead.
Amy, director of computer services for an entertainment conglomerate,
said, “I organized the entire procedure manual using a category organizational
structure. Within each category, I used a Q&A organizational
structure. It worked well. In fact, it was so effective that, during a recent
revision, I added an index that listed all the questions covered in the manual
by category.
“I made sure that all the questions were positive. I wanted to highlight
certain policies, and I positioned those questions first. For example, in the
section that detailed our policy against sending jokes or cartoons, I wanted
to highlight that our concern is to protect against viruses, not to stifle humor
or imply that cartoons are a waste of time. After all, we’re an entertainment
company. Instead of ‘Why can’t I send jokes or cartoons via E-mail?’ I
phrased it as ‘How can I help protect the company against viruses?’”
Note how important it is to choose words carefully. Simply avoiding a
negative word (“can’t”) and using positive words (“help protect”) conveys
an upbeat message.
Visual Layout: Ensure Easy Access to Information
Using a visual layout makes sense when you have long units of copy containing
more than five facts, statistics, or numbers. For example, consider