Have you ever poured your heart into an email, a report, or a presentation only to feel like it landed with a thud? That moment when you realise your message didn’t quite cut through is one we’ve all experienced, and it gets right to the heart of what I want to share today. People often think the challenge is about them, how they come across, whether they sound smart, how confident they look. But the truth is, good communication is never really about you. It’s about your audience, how they receive information, and whether you’ve made their job easier in understanding what you want to get across. That shift in perspective can completely change the way we approach the art of being heard.
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I’ve always believed that writing and presenting is both an art and a science. The science is the straightforward part. There are frameworks, templates, and structures that can guide you. They give you a methodical way to organise your thoughts and ensure nothing critical gets left behind. The art, however, is trickier. It’s about choosing the right medium, navigating the nuances of tone, and balancing the challenges and opportunities each situation presents. It’s about knowing your audience deeply enough to tailor not just the message but also the way you deliver it.
One of the most practical shifts comes from simply stopping to ask: what medium am I using and why? Too often we pick a channel because it’s convenient for us, not because it serves the audience best. Maybe you’ve fired off a quick email when a phone call would have resolved things faster, or you’ve written a long report when a short conversation could have sufficed. The choice of medium matters, and so does the audience’s preference for consuming information. I worked with a team once who were preparing board papers. They thought of “the board” as a single entity, when in fact the board was a group of individuals with different interests and ways of processing information. Once they shifted their approach and considered each person, their communication became far more effective and decisions were made with less friction.
I’ve also seen how clarity and structure can transform even difficult conversations. A participant in one of my sessions shared the challenge of writing to staff about requests that couldn’t be approved. On the surface, that’s a tough message to deliver. But when we explored it through the lens of the audience, what they might be feeling, what they needed to know, and how best to show sensitivity, the tone softened without losing clarity. It was a reminder that empathy in communication isn’t about sugar-coating, it’s about being deliberate in how we respect our audience’s perspective.
Frameworks are one of my favourite tools because they save time and reduce stress. One I often recommend is the situation, complication, question, answer structure. It’s simple but incredibly powerful. Start with where we are now, explain what has changed or why the message matters, frame the key question or decision point, and then provide the answer or next steps. I once illustrated this with a fictitious example about a supermarket whose packaging supplier suddenly collapsed. By walking through the framework, the message went from overwhelming detail to a clear narrative that a time-poor leadership team could quickly grasp. And that’s the point, we’re not dumbing things down, we’re making the essential information easy to absorb so that the right decisions can be made.
Another framework I love is the compelling pitch, which taps more into emotion than logic. It follows the rhythm of “what if you could… so that… for example… and that’s not all.” I’ve seen this used to great effect in pitches and LinkedIn posts where you want to hook your audience, build curiosity, and leave them with a clear call to action. It’s the kind of mental shortcut that, once practised, becomes second nature and speeds up your ability to create persuasive communication without overthinking every line.
What all of this comes back to is reputation and brand. Every time we communicate, whether it’s a report, an email, or a presentation, we’re shaping how others see us. Do they see us as credible? Trustworthy? Reliable? Or do we leave them confused, frustrated, or overloaded? It doesn’t mean we need to agonise over every word in every message, but it does mean being intentional. I’ve found that even a small investment of time upfront, pausing to think about the audience, the medium, and the structure, can save hours of rework later and leave a far stronger impression.
One of my favourite pieces of advice from a teacher was, “Know the rules so you know when to break them.” That’s how I think about writing and presenting. Frameworks and principles give us a foundation, but the art lies in knowing when to bend or even abandon them to achieve the impact you want. The goal is not perfection. It’s clarity, connection, and confidence for both you and your audience.
So if you’ve ever felt that knot in your stomach about the report you’ve been putting off, the presentation you’ve been dreading, or the email you can’t seem to phrase right, take heart. With practice, a few frameworks, and a shift in perspective, those tasks can move from draining to energising. And if this struck a chord for you, let’s keep the conversation going, over coffee, in a workshop, or simply by swapping stories about what’s worked. Because the more we practise the art of being heard, the more powerful our impact becomes.