Inverted Communication
Hi,
This week’s email is about a communication style that can help you get your message across when talking to other people.
The information here comes from writing guides about two related writing techniques (inverted pyramid and bottom line up front).
Here are the key practical points you should know:
Inverted communication involves opening your message with the most important information you want to convey, and then adding further information in decreasing order of importance.
This mainly means that rather than starting with the background details and then building up to the conclusion, you start with the conclusion and then show the details that support it.
The key to using this style is to ask yourself “if people read only a single sentence/paragraph from what I say, what would I want it to be?”.
This style helps ensure that readers don’t miss your main point, and encourages busy readers to meaningfully engage with your message in cases where they would otherwise struggle to identify your main point.
There are cases where this technique might not work well, like when convention necessitates a different writing style, or when it’s crucial to preface a controversial conclusion with some background details.
Note that inverted communication is usually discussed in the context of presenting information, but you can also use it when asking a question or making a request. And, although this style is also usually discussed in the context of writing, you can also use it in spoken communication.
As always, I'm happy to hear your thoughts.
Have a great week,
Itamar