New Delhi: For writing to be an effective form of communication, it must do more than merely impart information. If a sentence is boring, the reader might skip it. If a paragraph feels overly polished, they may doubt its sincerity. Even if a passage is accurate and technically sound, it may lack the human touch needed to make it believable.
“I have read that more employees are less likely to read internal communications because they fear all of it is AI-generated,” said Emily Fraser, corporate communications director at the commercial real estate and investment firm CBRE.
Ragan’s upcoming three-part writing certificate course seeks to explore these issues and more for communicators interested in getting the most out of their AI-assisted writing. Fraser will appear as a guest presenter. She gave a sneak-peek at how she uses AI on the job to make sure her messages are read and understood.
Tailor the message
CBRE is big. The Fortune 500 company consists of 155,000 employees located across 500 offices around the world. A one-size-fits-all approach to communications has no chance of working.
To overcome this hurdle, Fraser uses CBRE’s proprietary platform Ellis AI (named for Richard Ellis, which the company acquired in 1998) to tailor messages to different employee segments, ranging from facility managers to client services coordinators.
“It’s helping us distill a block of information in several different ways for several different audiences,” said Fraser. “I can take my key messages and put it in something that makes sense for our executives, our sales team, our technology team. The messages all ladder up to the same thing, but are presented in different ways.”
For adapting an existing communication for different audiences, for example, Fraser provided the following prompt:
The provided content was originally written for a [developer or other] audience. Adapt the context and tone to resonate with a [Global Digital & Technology or other] audience. Prioritize clear language over technical jargon. Preserve the structure so it can work as an email, intranet post or leadership share.
For developing a series of communications based on the same key messages, yet tailored to different audiences, Fraser uses the following prompt:
Using the provided key messages for [project/campaign], develop three complementary emails from [Leader Name] to Global [Company] Executives, Corporate Function Partners in People and Legal, and Global Digital & Technology employees. At the end of each email, include a bulleted list of the top three things the audience is most likely to remember.
Adjust the volume only when necessary
Like many communications functions, Fraser is part of a lean team. AI has helped her increase her output without raising the company’s headcount.
One example: Fraser has used AI to upload more content onto various communities found throughout its internal communications and employee engagement platform Viva Engage. The fresh content keeps her colleagues informed on new ideas and developments. It can also help reinvigorate conversations that might have gone stale.
“AI has really helped me scale how we’re using Engage,” she said.
That said, the ability to produce more content doesn’t mean it’s wise to share more content with employees already struggling to keep pace with their inbox.
“It’s definitely not about communicating more frequently to the same people,” said Fraser, who noted CBRE has not increased the number of internal emails it sends or web articles it publishes despite having the means to do so.
Leave the final review to humans
AI, Fraser said, is great for first drafts. But it’s a major mistake to simply generate and publish. Everything CBRE produces, she continued, must pass human inspection before being sent out the door.
“You gotta review it from top to bottom to make sure it meets our standards,” said Fraser. “There’s only so far it can take you.”
