There are many things you can do to transform employee communication that take time or budget to implement.

We’ll talk about those later. For now, since you’re about to run to your next meeting, I’d like to share the 7 simplest and stealthiest (no approvals needed) ways to improve internal communication fast. Here goes:

1. Reduce word count. Yep, your emails and articles are still too long. Snip, snip, snip.

2. Write better headlines (and subject lines). Effective headlines increase readership by up to 73%. So spend at least a few minutes making headlines catchy and compelling.

3. Get chunky. Instead of long narrative copy, break content up into easily scannable segments. Use bullets, numbered lists (like this one) and subheads to make content easy to scan. Or add a sidebar with a checklist.

4. Make sure you always explain what, how and why. What is this email, article or meeting about? How does this thing work? Why is it important? If all that is clear, you’ve provided an important service.

5. Be clear about what’s in it for employees. Sure, the VP is eager to share her important new initiative, but what’s the benefit to people in the organization? Please explain.

6. Focus on what people need to do. In this information-overloaded world, people want you to cut to the chase and tell them what action is required. So be clear with content like: "Five decisions you need to make.”

7. Respect employees’ time. Everyone is busy. So how can you save people’s time instead of wasting it? For instance, who says a town hall has to last an hour? Or a video needs to last two whole minutes? Make everything as simple as it can be and no longer than it absolutely needs to be.

Got it? Hope this helps!