Communicating Clearly with Internal Customers

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You may be the most talented technical guru the intranet world has ever seen, but if you can't communicate with your customers (or have someone on your team who can do it for you); you might consider a career change. Why? Technology for technology sake is irrelevant in today's organizations, and in addition to a solid base of technical skills, today's IT worker also needs a generous helping of communication skills.

As everyone's time crunch and work demands get worse, new technology sneaks up on us from every angle. With the state of the economy as it is and many company's budgets in a lull (to say the least), organizations care primarily about saving time and thus money. As a result, far too often the people and the human aspect of what we do every day get lost. The impact of this can be severe since it is really the collective efforts of employees that make or break a company. Put simply, if customers don't understand the value, impact, and importance of what they do on a day to day basis, the desired business results are unlikely to be forthcoming.

As an intranet webmaster, designer, or developer, you might be thinking - what does this have to do with me? Actually, a great deal. It has to do with the difference between your company being able to use technology to enable people to better do their jobs versus adding another burden to people's day and crippling their efforts.

How do you do this? I'd be lying if I said it was easy or that it should just come naturally to everyone. However, everyone can improve his or her current level of communication skills and if we all took responsibility and effort to improve what we are able to (ourselves), the ripple effect would be profound. Communicating effectively with people on technical topics allows them to understand the benefits that the new system or solution you are implementing or designing will have. You are far more likely to have enthusiastic users if they think their job will be made easier by the new system.

So, before your next communication (written, presentation, face-to-face, or otherwise) with your customers, consider some of the following points to make it more effective.

Know Your Audience
Doesn't that sound very elementary? Certainly we have all been taught this rule at some point. Why then do so few of us bother to follow it? The plain truth is that the way you communicate your message must be tailored to your audience at hand. I cannot tell you how many technical gurus I see day after day communicating (if you can call it that) with their customers the same way they would communicate with the geek next to them.

You cannot talk to your business customers the same way you talk to other IT folks and expect them to understand. Customers do not want to be befuddled by the language barrier any more than you want to be hit with all medical lingo when you go to the doctor. So, speak to them, write for them, and present to them in a language and manner they will understand. Some ways you can do this include using:

• simple, easy to understand, everyday language (this does not mean talk down to them or be condescending)
• analogies to their line of business (provided you understand what they do)
• metaphors about something familiar to them
• questions - ask them questions and practice active listening to assess whether they understand what you are telling them