Most corporate communication emails from HR start off with something along the lines of, “The ability to effectively leverage human capital is our greatest asset.”

Here’s the thing: If your company really believes that, and does “effectively leverage human capital” (buzzword bingo, anyone), you don’t need to say it. Your employees already know.

And if you don’t? Well, your employees know that, too. And saying it doesn’t make true.

It just makes your employees’ eyes roll so far back into their heads that they can’t see their computer screen. And if they can’t see, they can’t do work, so you’re actually hindering productivity. That’s not an effective use of human capital!

How to fix your communication

Get to the point. Preferably in the first paragraph.

The reason why most HR communications have that long, rambling preamble is because you’re about to deliver a message you’re worried people won’t like. So you caveat it with this spiel about how much you value your people in the hopes that it will soften the blow.

Your people aren’t idiots, though. And trying to sugar-coat your message will actually piss them off more than if you were just straight forward.

So here’s what to do if you’re delivering a tough message. Say what’s happening in the first sentence. Then spend the next paragraph or two explaining why.

If you have a good business reason, this shouldn’t actually be that hard. People may not like the change, but if they understand the reasoning, they usually won’t get as mad.

Of course, if you don’t have a good reason… Don’t forget to remind people how important leveraging human capital is to your organizational success (bingo!).