I’m sure they have a reason.
Maybe customers visited the conference room. Someone may have offered feedback about the carpet. Perhaps a person tripped.
None of these have been communicated.
“Customer satisfaction has now dropped for three consecutive quarters. We have therefore decided to replace the carpet in the conference room with tile.”
We now know the cause. We now know the effect. What we do not know is how the cause led to the effect.
This is the problem of the middle.
Done well, the middle connects one part of a communication to another. It supplies the reasoning, sequence, or chain of consequences that allows the receiver to connect the dots.
The middle is easy to miss.
From 2000 to 2002, PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting had prepared to separate from its parent company and become independent. The business had even chosen a new name: Monday.
The announcement came.
“We have been on a journey for the last two years to enable the PwC consulting business to achieve independence.”
So far, so good.
“Today we are pleased to announce that PricewaterhouseCoopers has signed a definitive purchase agreement with IBM.”
The journey toward independence had reached its natural destination: purchase by a large multinational corporation.
There must have been many sensible reasons for this transaction. There is, however, a subtle distinction between actually having a reason and communicating it. With a missing middle, the reader is left to contemplate how two years spent pursuing independence culminated in the company becoming part of IBM.
This illustrates a profound principle: the fact that the link between cause and effect is obvious to you does not mean that it has been effectively communicated to anyone else. You, the sender, have access to information that the receiver does not. Probably, this is why you are communicating with the receiver in the first place.
Having a solid middle, sadly, does not guarantee that your communication will be effective.
Subject: Fall Festival Update
Dear Parents,
As I am sure you are aware, the National Weather Service has issued a Winter Weather Advisory for our area. We have consulted with appropriate local authorities and are reviewing the latest forecasts as they are released. Snow could begin around 3 p.m. and continue through the evening. Once it begins, road conditions may deteriorate rapidly. Student safety remains our highest priority.
Sincerely,
The Principal
The middle here is solid: the school is aware of the impending storm and is in contact with appropriate authorities. The emphasis on student safety is reassuring. One key piece of information is, unfortunately, missing.
HAS THE FESTIVAL BEEN CANCELLED?
The sender has successfully communicated everything except the one thing the receiver wants to know.
This is a failure of the end.
The end lets the receiver know why all the preceding information matters. It might contain a decision, an instruction, a request, or an answer.
Every message stops at some point. Stopping is not the same as ending. This distinction can be subtle.
In a 2022 Reddit post, a bride-to-be described a small problem with her wedding invitations. The invitations told guests the date and location of the wedding. They provided information about the transportation, reception, dress code, children, and whether +1s were welcome.
The guests knew where to go, how to get there, what to wear, and who, if anyone, to bring.
They did not know when to arrive.
The message had stopped. It had not ended.
Now that we understand the end, we can conclude.
There is, however, an additional matter that we should probably address.
The beginning is the mirror of the end. It establishes what you are talking about.
“Did he take it?”
“What?”
“The offer.”
“What offer?”
“The one we made him.”
“Who?”
“The guy who got the offer.”
“What offer?”
The speaker, presumably, knows what he intends to convey. This is promising. Communication, however, usually involves another person. A good beginning opens the door. It identifies the subject, establishes whatever background is required, and prevents the receiver from having to reconstruct the sender’s thoughts from scratch. Without it, the receiver enters the conversation by climbing through the basement window.
An old story about speedboat racer Gar Wood illustrates the problem.
A newspaper editor wanted to know Wood’s age. Telegrams cost money, so the editor economized.
“HOW OLD GAR WOOD?”
The reporter replied:
“OLD GAR WOOD FINE. HOW YOU?”
Without a proper beginning, this conversation takes on the properties of Schrödinger’s cat: it is about neither Gar Wood’s age nor his condition. Collapsing this uncertainty is the role of the beginning.
Before explaining something, concluding something, or asking someone to do something, it is generally advisable to establish what that something actually is.
Together, a clear middle, end, and beginning can solve most communication problems. Arranging them beginning, middle, end can also be a good idea, but I digress.