Why simple scares us

Simplicity is often misunderstood and underrated.

One of the biggest myths in business writing is that complex topics need complex documents. The more important the topic, the more complex we think our writing needs to be – especially when the stakes are high.

Writing to the board? Better stretch it to a ten-pager then. They’ll be expecting it and it will make us look like we know what we’re talking about.

Yes, they probably will be expecting it, but only because they’ve become resigned to wasting hours each month wading through documents that are four times longer than they need to be.

Pitching for a big contract? Time to wheel out the dictionary of Documentese, so we can fill the proposal with million-dollar words and phrases. Anything less and we’ll just look like lightweights.

Or so we think.

Waffle brain

The reality is that the client might spend time translating all those words back into the ones they would naturally use (probably the words you first thought of). But only if they already really want to work with you. And by the time they’ve done it, they’ll be too exhausted for your brilliant offer to fully register in their waffle-addled brains.

We might not admit it, but the complex-topics-need-complex-documents myth is rife in today’s workplace.

The problem has reached epidemic proportions in the last decade, as we’ve become ever more reliant on the written word. (I assume something’s wrong if my phone – a device originally designed for talking – actually rings.)

Imposter syndrome is often to blame. Everyone suffers from it, no matter how much bravado they might hide behind. We worry that no-one will take us seriously if we just tell it like it is or stop writing before we’ve downloaded every last obscure fact from our mental hard drive.

If you really don’t know enough, then no amount of lofty language will make up for it. Forcing a reader to work their way through reams of pointless paragraphs and then realise you’re actually not saying much is unlikely to enhance your reputation.

The truth though is that you almost certainly know more than you think you do, as we consistently underestimate our own expertise. So you’re far more likely to pitch the document way over the reader’s head.

 

 

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Write to express

Write to express your expertise, not to impress with your vocabulary. Research shows that big words wow readers far less than we think.

Of course, this is easier said than done when everyone else is stuffing their reports with Documentese and writing like a corporate robot. It will always feel safer to follow the crowd, even when we know it’s wrong (as I explained here). There’s only so much you can do on your own. It’s organisations that really need to change.

As the economist EF Schumacher once said, ‘Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction.’

He was actually referring not to writing but to technology and innovation. (The quote is from a book Schumacher wrote way back in 1973, called Small is Beautiful: a study of economics as if people mattered.)

But the principle holds for documents, too. Simplicity signals both expertise and confidence.

Readers are normal people, just like us.

We need to have the courage to write for humans.

A different path

What would life look like if we took that path? How much time would we save? How much confusion would we avoid? How many brilliant ideas might we uncover if they were no longer shrouded in a fog of long words?

Would we make more progress if everyone stopped hiding behind a wall of text?

These are not rhetorical questions. Think about them for a moment. Ask your colleagues, too.

A few minutes pondering the answers could be the most profitable and productive you spend all year.

Check out Kathy Gemmell’s complete guide to making documents readable.

Image credit: Kraken Images/Shutterstock

Author: Rob Ashton

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Rob Ashton is the founder of Emphasis and posts mainly about writing and the brain – a topic he's been researching for seven years. You can read more of his work in Writing Matters – our weekly bulletin of career-building writing advice backed by science.