Releasing 30 Year-Old Clutter

After completing my income tax returns for the year, I decided that this would be the year I would file away the paperwork right away, instead of letting it linger on the top of the file cabinet or sit in a neat stack on the edge of the dining room table for a few months until it was finally filed away in the income tax filing box. While I was putting the paperwork away, I decided to also take the time to declutter just one of the other boxes of paperwork that still reside in the office closet.

In that box I came across a document that I’ve been carrying around with me for 30 years. It’s a typewritten first draft of a short book written by my college chemistry professor entitled “The Art of Solving Problems”. I have no idea if it ever got published beyond its typewritten pages, though I remember being particularly impressed with it when I read it 30 years ago. I remember thinking it would be a good thing to keep around. I recall coming across this document every time I went through boxes in preparation for the move to the next new home, and bringing it along on yet another move. Interestingly enough, however, I never actually pulled it out and re-read the document during all those years.

So last week, I sat down and read the book cover to cover. I had great expectations that I would find renewed enthusiasm in the words of wisdom that would come forth from the pages. I thought that 30 years later I would have new insight into the problem-solving suggestions sprinkled throughout. I was expecting to feel the same “Wow!” that led me to carry this around with me for 30 years. And, disappointingly, it was not to be.

That’s not to say that his suggestions aren’t valid. Indeed, the particular themes I took away from the book include:

• Define a problem as the desire to get from “here” to “someplace else”;

• Accept the problem and plan the solution;

• Watch out for the words “should”, “must”, and “ought”; and

• Relax and enjoy the process of solving the problem—enjoy the journey even above the destination

Armed with those four bullet points in my mind, I no longer feel a need to keep hauling around these 80 pages in my files any longer. That’s not to say it was easy to put the document into the recycle bin, because it was not---on some level I felt it was important to keep those words around that felt so impressionable to me at one time. However, this is why I have so much paper clutter in my life! I smile as I look at my clutter as my “here” and the “someplace else” I want to be is a place where important, relevant paperwork can be easily retrieved from my office. I smile because my chemistry teacher’s words did have a lasting impact on me after all. Onwards!

I’ve had some insights about a different type of clutter this past month---the clutter around communication. Communication clutter can come in two forms—too much detail and not enough detail. Either way, the result is that your intended message can become lost. The challenge is to find the appropriate balance between the two. Everyone wants to deliver their messages effectively. Determining how much detail your intended audience needs to hear in order to act on the information is an art, and key to effective communication.

All this came to light for me when I realized that communication styles which had served me well in the past did not seem to be as effective with the groups I now present information to. I tend to provide as much information as space and time allows. Even though the material I’m communicating is well organized and the flow of information is clear, there can be a great amount of detail, and that can be clutter to some individuals. In my current setting, it became apparent that that level of detail was causing people to check out from my presentation. You recognize the signs of inattention—people flipping through your presentation slides instead of actively listening to you speak, checking email on their Blackberrys or Treos, or in extreme cases, the chin dropping to the chest as the person nods off for a few minutes.

Yet one must be watchful not to swing the pendulum too far in the other direction of oversimplifying the intended communication. I’ve seen how messages get condensed to sound bytes that are succinct and memorable, although no longer precise. And this introduces clutter on its own: assumptions are made using partial information. Information becomes misconstrued with each condensation of content. It’s similar to the game of Telephone—a message is relayed through several people and what emerges at the end can be quite different from the initial message.

It is challenging to find the balance so communication clutter is kept to a minimum, and I don’t pretend to have the answers. My approach with the audiences I currently present to is to identify the key 3-5 take-away points to emphasize, and build the presentation around those messages. The presentation becomes a high-level summary of information to support those key messages. Detail can be provided as supporting documentation in an appendix. I also try to limit my speaking time to 5-7 minutes. I’m finding this keeps the attention of most audience members during the presentation, and I can gauge from the questions that follow whether I provided too little or too much information around the key points. It helps that I return to many of the same audiences and thus am able to become familiar with how much information I can provide them with before it becomes clutter.

People are bombarded with all kinds of messages throughout the day—emails, voicemails, internet pop-up ads, meetings, and conversations. There’s already a great deal of communication clutter out there; let’s not add to it! Onward!
 

--Dot Snow