A 15-minute chat with a janitor changed how I write internal memos

I was stuck on a company-wide email about new software rollout last Tuesday, so I grabbed coffee in the break room. The janitor, Mike, nodded at my screen and said "People don't read past the first line if it sounds like a robot wrote it." He told me he worked at a factory before this and their best safety updates came from a foreman who wrote like he was talking to a buddy. Now I filter every draft through "would Mike skim this or actually read it?" Has anyone else had a random coworker totally rewire their approach to comms?

2 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In

2 Comments

patricia_kelly4mo ago

Got a similar wakeup call from a security guard named Dave at my old job. I used to write these long, formal emails about policy changes and he told me straight up "nobody cares about your big words, just tell them what to do and why." Started keeping my messages to like 5 sentences max with bullet points and now my team actually responds instead of ignoring me. Also dropped all the corporate buzzwords like "leverage" and "synergy" - those just make people roll their eyes. Mike sounds like he gets it, the real trick is writing like you're explaining something to a friend over lunch.

4

stellac974mo ago

My uncle Jim had a similar thing happen at his factory job back in 2002. He used to write these massive memos about safety protocols and the guys would just toss them in the trash. One day the foreman told him "Jim, just draw a picture of what you want them to do." So he started making these little stick figure diagrams with arrows and like three words each. Suddenly people were actually following the procedures. It's wild how we overcomplicate things when the simple approach works way better...

5