Minney.org Ltd

Have you ever tried to write something in clear English? I mean to crystal mark standard? I’ve just been set that challenge, and it’s a fascinating process.

The challenge is, to get across what are quite often quite difficult concepts, without losing the meaning. Concepts such as: reducing health inequalities, which could be dumbed down (eg ‘Equal care for all’) to the point where it doesn’t mean what it is supposed to mean.

Let’s start at the beginning, by deciding who this is for.  Are we talking about a mom and pop in the street? Or Joe public? Will these people find their way to my web site and want to read what’s there? If not, what kinds of people do I want to appeal to? And if I can identify them, what will appeal to them? 

I’m certainly enjoying the process. It forced me to have a look at some of the concepts that I thought were complicated, and really work on rephrasing them without losing the meaning. Reducing health inequalities becomes: giving everyone an equal access to health, which means making sure that those with the greatest need, receive the most care. 

To explain something clearly you have to understand the subject, but you also need to be able to take a step back.

One thing I do is identify the different groups of people I intend to appeal to, and then write versions for each audience. This means that I have to work out all of the benefits for each group, and ways of explaining what’s in it for them so they understand. It’s useful to have people representing each group to try it out.

My aim is to end up with a single message, but writing the message out lots of times in different ways makes it simpler and clearer. Of course if you need to say different things to different people, you run the risk of getting people suspicious – are you promising the moon to one group and then promising the same moon to a different group, for example promising great services to patients and really low costs to NHS managers?

If you need to write in plain English, it’s often easier to employ an outside consultant. We have a better perspective, and experience with a wider range of audiences Your own team work so closely with the subject matter, that it can be difficult to remember what is jargon and what isn’t. 

Of course you may disagree. I’d be delighted to hear your thoughts, please leave comments below: