I came across the “Rule of Six” from a blog post by Adam Voigt (you can read his post here). In the post, he says, and I quote
Apparently radio stations use this rule when a new song is released. They have a quest to have you hear that song six times as quickly as possible, which is why it seems to us as though that song is being played every second track.
After six exposures to the song, we move from analysing the song and into familiarity with the song. Even if the song is horrendous, we tolerate the song and resist the urge to change stations – just because we’re familiar.
– Adam Voigt on his blog
I would assume that this rule also applies to our communications as leaders. If there is an important piece of information that we want our teams to not just listen to but internalise, I reckon we would need to share it with them 6 times as well. And do so in potentially different forms – written (emails, documents), spoken (in meetings, recorded messages) or visual (presentations, whiteboards or infographics).
Sharing critical information is an art by itself and all of us would benefit from learning and practicing this art. Many a transformation project have gone astray due to ineffective communications.
