Battling information overload

Communication World, April-May, 1997 by Mark Johnson

Performance improvement booklets, employee review guides, safety manuals, leadership assessment and mentoring program guidelines, employee directories, corporate resource directories, graphic standards guides, operational models, organization charts, application forms, training and instructional brochures, benefits manuals and newsletters covering topics from A to Z are just a sampling. A Fortune 500 company will publish thousands of such documents annually.

Feeling overwhelmed? Well, so are company employees. As businesses strive to communicate more, information overload has developed as an all too common ailment throughout the ranks. Consider the department supervisor who must complete a 150-question employee evaluation for each of his 65-member staff, or the line operator, who has to pore through a list of 63 investment options contained within the company's new 401 (k) plan. Think how new employees must feel when presented with a 320-page three-ring binder to acquaint them with their new employer.

Bring on the Architects

Is there a doctor in the house? Probably not, but you might consider calling an information architect, a communication specialist who can cut through clutter and deliver salient information in a package that won't weigh more than the person who has to read it.

Information architects use principles of instructional design, educational psychology, and graphic design to reorganize information for more effective communication. Using graphic devices and text formats to navigate through complex data and make it understandable, and training and learning theories to create appropriate hierarchy for complex information, they give structure and order to pertinent information, and map out the best way to access it.

Information architects are a fairly new breed, but serve an increasingly important function. After all, communication glut in the work place is more than just an inconvenience, it may be the reason the reader never finds the needle in the haystack. This means employees may have difficulty understanding or may entirely miss essential information the communication department has worked so hard to develop and disseminate. The end result is poor performance and a waste of time and money.

The effect of information architecture is most profound among organizations that rethink and redesign entire lines of materials. But redesigning even one large document can deliver dramatic results. Such is the case with Supercuts, Inc., a chain of 1,100 hair salons, that worked with information architects to reorganize its operations procedure manual that is distributed to store managers throughout the country. "This manual is our bible," said Tammy Lukasik, management development trainer for Supercuts. "It's filled with crucial information for day-to-day operations, yet at 400 pages, it was hardly user-friendly. It was binder overload."

Supercuts needed a format that afforded managers easy access to vital information such as daily deposit information, employee reviews and safety standards. By using a variety of graphic devices such as strong headlines, boxes, shaded thumbtabs and callouts, their information was re-mapped into two-thirds of the original space, creating easier access and readability. "I was amazed at how simple it is to find what I'm looking for in the new manual," said Lukasik. "The key thought or idea we wanted to express was pulled from the text in a way that made your eyes stop there first."

Lukasik noted that because Supercuts employees were stylists - artistic, visually oriented people that create looks and image - it was difficult to get them to read much of the original manual. "We were in the habit of using pictures to break up text and draw them to important information, but...we discovered there are other, more effective ways of making text visual," she said. Super-cuts is now designing a new safety guide for managers that will roll out the first of the year. "We're using the same format and anticipate seeing a dramatic reduction in claims as a result."

Bechtel Group, Inc., a worldwide engineering and construction firm employing 18,000, now saves as much as an hour to an hour and a half of training time per employee with newly redesigned instruction manuals. According to Robert Silverforb, manager of human resources for subsidiary Bechtel National, Inc., enhanced information design can also improve performance. "Our leadership assessment tool for supervisors and managers was unwieldy at 150 questions and did nothing to open up dialogue between the leadership candidate and his or her supervisor. Since the candidate required the help of peers, customers and team members to complete the questionnaire, we had to make it brief," said Silverforb.

Their new document cut the completion time in half and opened up areas for comments in each section which form the basis for further dialogue and goal setting by the candidate. "Bechtel now uses the toot as a catalyst for discussion and as the basis for the candidate's professional development plan," he said. Silverforb also worked on the redesign of the company's performance review process which, in its original form, was what he called "an avoidance-adversarial process - the supervisors avoided it and the employees found it adversarial."