Organizational Patterns or Do you want the good news or the bad news first?

When communicating a message to an audience, you have two choices: tell the what you want first and explain later or give an explanation that leads to the ultimate purpose of the message.

 

Most messages are best conveyed directly: stating the message and giving the reasons after if necessary. The direct approach works because we are frequently communicating messages that make sense within the context. When you pick up your dry cleaning, you don’t start by explaining that you had brought some clothes there to be cleaned because that is what the dry cleaner does. Your request is exactly in line with the context. Same when you make an appointment with a doctor or order food at a restaurant. When your message is appropriate and reasonably expected, there’s no reason to explain. You might provide more information to continue the conversation, like how many items you dropped off at the dry cleaner or what you would like addressed in your doctor’s appointment, but you can add those later because they are still within the context of the message.

 

When your message is unexpected or disappointing, it’s best to use the indirect approach: start with the explanation and lead the reader to the purpose. This is probably familiar to us from our childhood. You break something and have to tell your mother about it, but when you approach her, you realize that she is going to be very upset. So you don’t just blurt out, “I broke your pearl necklace playing dress up!” You start with the scene, “Alice and I were playing dress up and we wanted to add something to our fancy gowns for the ball, so we went into your room to get some jewelry and Alice insisted on wearing your pearl necklace. She started twirling it and I told her to stop, but she didn’t, so I grabbed it, and, um, well, it broke.” The hope is that if the audience understands the situation, they will be more understanding of the result. 

 

Frequently, this approach is used for bad news, but it may also be employed in any situation where the message doesn’t match the context. For example, you might arrive at the dry cleaners not to pick up clothes, but to ask for an iron. Instead of saying, “Do you have an iron?” which would be odd, you might explain that you have a dress that you just picked up from there but left in the car and so it became wrinkled. Since you so rarely need to iron your clothes, because the dry cleaner does such a nice job with them, you don’t own an iron, but would they have one you could borrow?

 

Any time you are communicating with an audience, you decide whether to use a direct or an indirect approach. We do this instinctually in conversation because it is a natural reaction to the other party’s situation and expression. However, it is just as important to consider your approach in writing, maybe even more important, since you won’t be there to react to how your message is received. 

 

Generally, if your message is expected, you can be direct. If it isn’t, try writing about the why first, so that by the time you get to the central message, the audience understands where you are coming from.