Struggling to Reach Your Team, Clients, or Key Stakeholders?

Dr. Elke Framson
Oct 12
3 min read

If you're not getting through to your audience, your communication may be missing the right balance of two essential ingredients: conciseness and consideration. Here’s how to achieve it – and get results.

Conciseness: Maximum Impact, Minimum Waste.

Being concise means expressing your thoughts clearly and efficiently. Whether you speak in a meeting or reach out by email, you aim for maximum clarity and impact with minimum wasted words.

Why it Matters for Entrepreneurs and Leaders:

Getting through to your team or clients has become incredibly hard. Holding their attention for more than a few seconds feels almost impossible. Many people don’t read their emails, they tune out in presentations, and they multi-task in meetings.

It’s not ill-intentioned. It’s mental overload. With so much information competing for our attention, it only takes a few seconds before our ears, eyes, and minds move on to the next item.

That’s why you need to learn to package your message differently – shorter, crisper, and clearer.

Focus on what matters.
Say it in fewer words.
Make it easy to grasp.

Why Is Concise Communication so Powerful?

Concise communication won't just increase your chances of cutting through the noise but also of getting results.

For one, it signals authority, certainty, and confidence: you know what you’re talking about and have confidence in the validity and value of your ideas. That makes you more convincing.

What’s more, the longer your message, the higher the risk of losing your audience before you can make your point and deliver your call to action.

Short and clear messages

are more likely to hold people’s attention until the end.
are easier for your audience to understand and remember.
are therefore more likely to lead to action and results.

Is Conciseness Natural?

Crafting crisp messages doesn’t come naturally. We often feel that we need to explain everything in detail to get the point across. If we say more, we'll have more impact. But the opposite is true. Over-explaining results in long, wordy messages that can’t hold your audience’s attention and have zero impact.

Conciseness is a skill you must develop with intention. Small-team workshops and one-on-one coaching yield the best results.

Learning this skill takes a bit of effort, but it'll make your communication powerful!

Four Essential Ways to Be More Concise:

Always start with clarity in your own head: What’s my goal?
Focus on what matters for your audience: What do they need to hear?
Choose words and sentence structures with intention: How can I make this easier for my audience to grasp and remember?
Avoid these habits: over-justifying, over-explaining, and over-apologizing. They make you seem indecisive.

The Balance: Concise Doesn't Mean Blunt.

A focused message doesn't need to be stripped of warmth, respect, and empathy. Aim for precision with a human touch.

Some people confuse being concise with being overly direct. For my European readers: If you're working with Americans, being too direct can come across as blunt and insensitive. To connect with your U.S. audience and build trust, it's essential to show consideration. You can do it with a few well-chosen words.

One technique for this is verbal hedging. Click here if you want to learn more about it. A word of caution: Too much hedging can make you seem indecisive. Make sure to hedge strategically, not excessively.

The Takeaway:

Conciseness is a crucial skill that will help you cut through the noise, get people to pay attention, and get your ideas heard. It’s memorable and actionable. It also supports your position as a strong leader and expert.

It doesn't mean being blunt. Aim for precision with a human touch. Conciseness and consideration are not opposites, they’re complements.

Balancing conciseness and consideration is a high-level skill – but once mastered, it can truly help you make your messages land. Are you ready to take it on? Reach out to me for a free consultation on how we can work together.

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