All things are created twice; first mentally then physically. The key to creativity is to begin with the end in mind, with a vision and a blueprint of the desired result.

Stephen Covey

Although we tend to perceive that “communication just happens” in most cases, miscommunication is one of the major cause of failure in life, whether in a relationship, in a business, or in project management. It is easy to forget that every single individual has a different perception of things based on their background, education, experience, beliefs, language, etc.

Whether you are writing a communications plan for the entire year or creating a short targeted email, it is of the utmost importance that your output achieves the desired outcome. The easiest and most versatile tools available out there to develop highly effective project communications is bound to be the 5W1H, the WD-40 of Comms.

The 5 Ws and 1 H are nothing new, and commonly used in journalism and story-telling. They are a simple set of questions designed to guide you in drafting effective pieces of communication.

So here are the 5 Ws you should ask yourself before you start any project:

1. Why – this is the very fist thing to ask yourself (or the project manager). Why are you releasing this piece of communication? What is its purpose? What outcome do you expect from it? This will not only make your Comms crystal clear, but also better engage your audience and help you craft the content in a focused manner. It is also a great help when it comes to defining your KPIs in the corporate world and keeping track of your achievements. When you answer that “why”, make sure you go to the root and don’t stay at a superficial level. I like to use the 5 Whys technique to make sure of that. We all have attended to way too many meetings were we wondered what we are doing there, or received emails triggering a “so what?” response. These are typical example of communications without a purpose and this should be avoided at all costs.
2. When – it is good to ask this question early in the process as it can impact the answers to the following questions, depending on the level of emergency and time constraints you have to deal with.
3. Who – as in who is your intended audience? Stakeholders? Executives? Team? Customers? This information is crucial as it will determine the answers to the next few questions. If your target audience is too large, you may want to break it down to smaller groups based on the most representative metrics of your panel (language, department, location, degree of involvement in the project, etc). That way you can draft more engaging and targeted messages that will better resonate with your receivers.
4. Where – while online communications are usually defined by the spacial boundaries of one’s screen, communicating offline must take into consideration the space and geographical location where you will communicate. With today’s global and dispersed environments, this question is not as simple as it may seem!
5. What – only once you have your answers to the above should you start gathering the content for your project. Why and Who are crucial in determining the amount and depth of information you need to include, whereas When and Where will help for crafting the form and design of your Comms. Once you are all set, it is time to craft a compelling message.

Now that all your core questions have been answered, can you move to the last question:

• How – this is really where the methods, practices, tools and techniques get deployed… but not until you have answered in detail the 5 Ws first!

In conclusion, if you apply this simple process to every single piece of communication, there is very little chance that you could go wrong. Don’t be shy to ask question, and if you are not satisfied with the answer you get, keep asking until you get to the core of it. Never assume anything and always double-check that whatever answers you received resonate with your management.

Now that you are all set, try it on your next piece of communication!