A couple of posts ago, we started talking about readability.

Like most things these days, readability can be given a numeric score. The one we tend to use is the Flesch reading ease score. (To see how  Microsoft word actually works this out for you, click here)

There are other indicators but broadly, they judge a document on 2 things.

1. The length of sentances (number of words) and
2. The number syllables in each word

(The exact formulas are available on sites like wikipedia but to be honest, they do look very scary..)

Armed with these 2 simple facts and very little else, we can make very powerful inroads into improving our readability scores.

Let’s look at two sample passages of text/strong

“the purpose of this document is to ensure that all staff are aware of the required safety procedures” (18 words)

includes a lot of what we called “clearing the throat” text. It can be shortened to

“this document shows staff the safety procedures” (7 words)

Now, we want to get our flesch reading ease score as high as possible.

Why?

Because we want our document to be read and most people stop reading at the age of about 15 or 16 (when they leave school).

Here is the Flesch reading ease table.

90-100 : Very Easy
80-89 : Easy
70-79 : Fairly Easy
60-69 : Standard
50-59 : Fairly Difficult
30-49 : Difficult
0-29 : Very Confusing

How easy is this to do?

Very, if you know where to look. Look for “clearing the throat” words & phrases.

The most obvious ones are “In order to”, “the purpose of” etc.

Also, read the classified ads in the Sunday Papers – they have to be absolutely miserly with words. “Lose weight – free book shows you how” is just 7 words (and just 7 syllables also) but gets the message over perfectly…

Ok – Now off you go to look over your own documents…

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Blog post originally from Sharp End Training

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When we talk about readability, peoples eyes tend to glaze over and think we are going to talk about “school meals operatives” and “vehicle access approval officers” instead of old fashioned “Dinner Ladies” and “traffic wardens”

Wikipedia says that

“Extensive research has shown that easy-reading text improves comprehension, retention,  reading speed, and reading persistence.”

Now this should ring bells for us managers and trainers – getting our message over quicker and with less resistance and scope for misunderstanding.

But how can we incorporate readability as an everyday habit.

Let’s face it – when most of us write, we just start writing. When we have finished, we give it a quick once over, maybe spell check it and send it to where it is going. Very few people will read and re read to check for clarity.

Lets look at a sample survey which you can find on almost any website or catalogue

“The following questionnaire is designed to provide us with information that will help us to improve the site and make it more relevant to your needs.  Please select your answers from the drop down menus and radio buttons below. The questionnaire should only take you 2-3 minutes to complete.”

At the bottom of this form, you can chose to leave your name, address and telephone number. If you leave your name, address and telephone number, you may be contacted in the future to participate in a survey to help us improve the site.

If you have any comments or concerns that require a response,please contact customer services.”

Here are some comments

The following questionnaire is designed to provide us with information that will help us to improve the site and make it more relevant to your needs.

This is just “clearing the throat” type of writing, it makes the writer feel important. Remember – you aren’t writing for you – you are writing for your reader…

“Please select your answers from the drop down menus and radio buttons below.”

Most people know how to fill in a form on a website. You are likely to scare them by using phrases like radio buttons. Most people don’t know what they are.

“The questionnaire should only take you 2-3 minutes to complete.”

I am not yet convinced of WHY I should actually fill this in yet. The word “should” generally means it might actually take much longer. (“Your car should be ready by 5pm” generally means “It won’t be..”)

At the bottom of this form, you can chose to leave your name, address and telephone number. If you leave your name, address and telephone number, you may be contacted in the future to participate in a survey to help us improve the site.

This looks scary and the reader is not sure if they are likely to be pestered again (“you may be contacted in the future”). The writer obviously hasn’t read the text back to themselves. Putting long phrases like your name, address and telephone number back to back makes it hard work to read.

If you have any comments or concerns that require a response,please contact customer services

But it doesn’t actually tell me how to do this…

In the next couple of days – we will re-write the text making it much easier to read.

Related course – Plain english

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Free articles on management styles

A colleague of mine recently used the phrase” the airport manager”. By this he meant that sometimes Managers with two hours to kill at the airport have picked up a book at the bookstall usually called something like

“Seven styles of management – to solve all your management problems (you need never worry about problem staff again).”

Now, I don’t know about you, but promises of that sort should always be looked at very sceptically. Books full of ‘How To’ information about management styles can be a bit like a ‘placebo’.

What is a placebo?

According to Wikipedia

A placebo is a sham medical intervention intended to lead the recipient to believe that it may improve his/her condition. In one common placebo procedure, a patient is given an inert sugar pill, and told that it may improve his/her condition.

And that’s the same with books for ‘airport managers’; and for free articles on management styles.

A good manager will learn from his/her mistakes while on the job – not from the books he/she has read, and his or her style of management will develop in the situations which occur.

Learning to swim by watching videos and reading books is the best way to drown.

Yes, It is possible to make a list of the types of management styles that different people use in their own workplaces but there are a whole host of factors which will influence the style of management that you adopt.

These include

Health and safety – This is the biggy. You can’t have a laid back management style if the health and safety of your staff and workforce is at risk. In situations which are hazardous to health, you need clear procedures and control mechanisms.

Legislative and statutory – Whilst not (immediately) hazardous to health. There are likely to be many legal requirements which affect your management style. If you work in food or food preparation, you should know what affects you and how to present this to the staff you have.

Personnel & staffing – This will obviously be a major factor is how you manage. What is the experience level of your staff? What are the skill levels to do the tasks of the job? Can you recruit quickly and easily? Is there a lengthy training program required?

Financial – Financial aspects are tied to personnel & staffing to some extent. For example, if your workforce if performing poorly and output is suffering but there is no money to pay for staff training. Then you have a problem. Which style is appropriate here?

Technological – There are likely to be many factors affecting your management style but these are, again, likely to come under one of the other previous headings. Here is an example. If your processes are heavily automated, but the technology is constantly breaking down and disrupting staff moral, again, you have a problem.

How would you manage these situations?

Hopefully, these ideas have got you to realise that your management style is a lot more than getting a free article (or buying a book from the airport), reading it and living happily ever after.

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