Stop the Fatigue: Benefits-Based Messaging in Internal Communication

It is midway through 2024, and we are all tired. The rate of change, pressures on our time, and world events have exhausted us. Business news is just coverage of AI, with little room for creativity or new ways of thinking about how we work or would like to work.

According to a New Yorker article, office workers have retreated into a pervasive atmosphere of fatigue. “I just feel that I am tired of working,” a representative post on the /r/work subreddit reads. “I am tired of meetings, brainstorming, expectations, dealing with people, figuring out never-ending problems.” The ability to work from home is not a cure-all. Something’s still wrong, everyone’s tired. What started with the Great Resignation has become what writer Cal Newport calls the ‘Great Exhaustion’.

How can we start to address this growing fatigue and disappointment? What caused office exhaustion in the first place? The obvious answer is the pandemic, which introduced new strains into professional life, from the challenges of juggling child care and work to being stuck at home for far too long. But even as these specific pressures are lessening, the frustration has increased. Something deeper is going on.

Beyond the disruptions generated by the pandemic’s arrival was a subtle but even more important trend: a sharp increase in how much time the average person engages in digital communication. A recent report from Microsoft found that users of its office-productivity software now spend close to sixty per cent of their time using digital communication tools—e-mail, chat, and videoconferencing—with only the remaining forty per cent left for “creation” software, such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. One in four workers studied was trapped in an even grimmer communications spiral, spending the equivalent of an entire workday (almost nine hours) each week on e-mail alone. Meanwhile, time spent in online meetings increased by more than two hundred and fifty per cent between February 2020 and 2022.

It’s hardly surprising that the rapid transition to widespread remote work led to greater digital communication. Especially in the early weeks of the pandemic, Zoom and Slack offered a lifeline for isolated members of offices. It’s striking that digital communication has remained high even as work returned to more time spent in physical offices. (The Microsoft researchers found that the trend lines measuring communication volume sharply increased when the pandemic began, followed by a slow rise.) The problem with this new reality is that research connects increased digital communication with decreased satisfaction. This effect can seen in a 2019 Swedish study that found correlations between high communication-technology demands and poor health outcomes.

It also appears in research experiments: when researchers at the University of California at Irvine, M.I.T., and Microsoft connected forty knowledge workers to heart-rate monitors for almost two weeks, they discovered that the subjects’ stress levels rose higher the longer they spent on e-mail.

We need to embrace a “less is more” philosophy. Rather than clogging our inboxes with unnecessary messages or flooding Slack and Teams with endless posts, we must focus on thoughtful, concise communication. A never-ending stream of new messages and calendars clogged with meetings forces us to switch our attention from one target to another constantly. Seven out of ten people surveyed by Microsoft complain that they “don’t have enough uninterrupted focus time during the workday.” This deluge also blurs the line between work and home. When your inbox grows at an unsustainable rate, it isn’t easy to shut down and recharge. More than ever, work is an inescapable series of pings and notifications.

The stark reality is that the sudden surge in digital interaction following the onset of the pandemic has made work draining, fueling the subsequent wave of disruptions. If we agree that this is a problem, we must also acknowledge the importance of not adding to the noise. As long as these new and excessive levels of digital communication persist, more chaotic upheavals will inevitably follow. It’s high time we took serious steps to reduce digital communication—not just minor adjustments to corporate norms but significant reductions driven by major policy changes.

The Essence of Benefits-Based Messaging

In this context of fatigue and overcommunication, benefits-based messaging can be crucial in empowering the audience. It’s about highlighting the positive outcomes an idea, change, or initiative will bring the audience. It showcases real-world value, making the message more relevant and engaging for the audience.

The development process we employ for creating the messages uses human-centred design methodologies to get inside our audience’s minds and address the main pain points and concerns before they need to ask about them. This creates a ‘less is more’ communication strategy because the most critical problems are addressed first. What isn’t important is reduced or edited out altogether.

Why Leaders Should Embrace Benefits-Based Messaging

When leaders focus on benefits-based messaging, they can significantly improve how changes and initiatives are perceived within the organisation. Here’s why:

1. Increase Relevance: Focusing on benefits makes communication more relevant to the team. When people see how a change benefits them, they are more likely to support it.
2. Forge Emotional Connections: Benefits-based messaging often taps into emotions, demonstrating how changes can improve work life, reduce stress, or create new opportunities. This emotional connection can strengthen the support for the change.
3. Simplify Decision-Making: Highlighting the benefits makes it easier for team members to understand and support decisions. A clear understanding of the value helps them make informed choices about their level of buy-in and support.
4. Boost Motivation: Communicating benefits can inspire and motivate the team. Seeing tangible advantages encourages people to take positive action.
5. Foster Better Engagement: Messages that focus on benefits are more engaging as they address what people care about. This leads to higher engagement and more successful implementation of change initiatives.

Practical Applications in Internal Communication

1. Change Announcements: When announcing changes, focus on how these changes will positively impact the team. Highlight benefits such as increased efficiency, better work-life balance, or new growth opportunities.
2. Ongoing Updates: Regularly update the team on the progress and benefits of ongoing projects or changes.
3. Feedback Mechanisms: When seeking feedback, use benefits-based messaging. Show how the feedback will bring positive changes, encouraging more constructive input.
4. Training and Development: When introducing new training programs or development opportunities, emphasise the personal and professional benefits.
5. Performance Reviews: During performance reviews, highlight how past changes have benefited the individual and the team.

Benefits-based messaging is a powerful tool for improving internal communication, particularly in the context of leadership and change management. By focusing on the positive outcomes and real-world value, leaders can foster better engagement, simplify decision-making, and build stronger emotional connections with their teams. At Spendlove and Lamb, we are committed to helping organisations harness the power of storytelling to achieve these goals. Interested in our workshop on Benefits-Based Messaging? Get in touch!