Unfair some younger graduates will say, but although many nowadays have to learn presentation skills at UNI I often think their written ramblings and paper mountain products are poor and do not justify their expensive salaries. I sometimes feel some of these upwardly mobile people are too intelligent to realise how thick they are when communicating to people who are thick, or who cannot easily understand English. To be fair some are excellent communicators.I often end up saying ‘Yer wot?. I then have to read it again. Life is too short.What I want in a communication is a date, so often missing. I want to absorb in a couple of sentences the good old fashioned summaries – What, When, How and Why. By the time I have absorbed those summaries I must at that stage have the full overall picture. Otherwise I glaze over, ignore the document flick to another webpage or TV programme etc, etc.In a longer document I want a quick index and if there are references, these to be intelligently presented. Cross references are important. Putting things into context is frequently overlooked.The Ealing Website has many examples of poor communication. Cabinet papers make me groan and I do wish the best senior communicator in the Council would grasp this, but also do something about it. One of the most important elements of good management is the ability to communicate. The English disease is that we are often very bad at it. TV adverts are a case in point.
George Knox ● 5165d