Five by five

If you've been reading my posts for a while, you may know that I believe there are many lessons to learn from great telly and that I am not immune to a good Buffy the Vampire Slayer analogy.

Reading a poor communication from a company the other day reminded me of a saying from BtVS's other slayer, Faith. She would let people know that she'd got the message and was good with things by saying, "Five by five". Like you'd say, "Okay".

But that expression originates as military jargon in World War II. It’s a one-to-five scale measuring the strength and clarity of a radio signal. Five by five means loud and clear; one by one would be very weak and garbled.

Communication is the lifeblood of workplace collaboration and productivity. It needs to be five by five. A strong, clear signal fosters an environment where ideas flow seamlessly, fostering innovation and problem-solving.

Signal strength is the potency of the message conveyed, ensuring that information is not lost in transmission. Clarity, on the other hand, represents the quality of the message.

Get rid of the noise, be clear about what you want to convey and create a five-by-five approach to communicating in your workplace.