Sometimes you need to use numbers in employee communication.
Use them with care and they will help. Otherwise, they won’t.
Numbers can have a polarizing effect on employees. Most employees — even in financial services companies — don’t want to slog through numbers to understand what’s being said.
Yet, we are all drawn toward the order that numbers can bring. (That’s why lists are popular.)
Knowing when to use numbers, and then which numbers to use, is part of the art of employee communication. Here are some guidelines to help you make good decisions about when and how to use numbers in your employee communication.
Use numbers to support, not drive your point
Numbers are only useful when the context is provided. For example, when sharing quarterly or annual results, the objective of your communication should be to give employees an understanding of what has been achieved and what needs to happen next. If the quarter was successful (or not), say so. Then show simple numbers in comparison to targets/benchmarks/previous period to support that statement.
Also it’s sometimes useful to do the math for your audience.
Make numbers easy on the eyes
Graphs are a popular for sharing results, especially survey results. While the magic of Excel and PowerPoint has made it easy to create these charts, stop to think if that’s the right thing to do. Most times, when communicating to the entire employee population, there are only a handful of numbers that matter. A graph might look cool but it could just as easily be overkill and have a negative effect because the audience has to pick out the numbers. Is there another way you can use numbers to prove what you’re saying?
If a graph is the way to go, (e.g. to show progress or trends), be sure to strip away all unnecessary numbers and visual elements to make it easier for the audience to see the meaning of the numbers. Include only the most relevant numbers, remove grid lines, don’t use background colours, keep labels simple.
Numbers can provide structure
Don’t save ordinal numbers (first, second, third, etc.) for steps in processes. They are a simple way to help your audience know what to expect and organize the content in their own mind. Don’t be shy about including them in internal news articles, subject lines and presentations. (For example, “Four Things You Should Know About Q1” or “The 3 Things We’re Going to Do Differently Next Quarter”.) When you do that, you don’t necessarily have to number each “thing”, especially if there are fewer than five.
Tip: If you want to make it clear that there is a sequence, use numbers with periods after them. (e.g. 1., 2., 3.)
Round those numbers
It might be precise to say “we increased sales by 5.3%” or “this will affect 712 employees”. However, the better communication (meaning, making it easier for people to absorb and process) would be to say “we increased sales by just over 5%” and “this will affect approximately 700 employees”.
It’s important to note that this is not obscuring the facts or preventing transparency. There’s a psychology to numbers.
As a rule, when we see decimal points or exact numbers that aren’t “round” (there’s more on this below), we fixate on those numbers. From the communication perspective, that doesn’t help. Remember, the objective is always for employees to understand what the number means, not to be able to recite precise figures. In some cases, it makes sense to include a link or cross-reference to the place where greater details on the numbers can be found. Most employees don’t have the time or interest to know the precise figures because they intuitively know it doesn’t make a difference to their work or view of the organization.
Round numbers don’t have to be even
When rounding numbers, keep in mind that studies have shown that 2, 3, 5, 10, 25, 50 and 100 are the most easily absorbed numbers. That’s not to suggest that you should round 17 to 25, but 23 can be realistically convey as “nearly 25”. This is valuable when you do want employees to be able to remember and repeat numbers. For example, “We now have nearly 25% of the market!”
A closing thought…
When used well, numbers can help employees understand the bigger picture and see how their contributions have made/will make a difference. If not used well (e.g bombarding them with too many and/or irrelevant numbers), most of them will zone out. And when that happens, you not only lose an opportunity to give employees the info they need, you also give them one more reason to not feel good about their employer (a.k.a. your company).
