I was reading an article summarizing the important work someone had done during his tenure as a leader. I was struck by how poorly the article communicated impact. Communication is a key skill for any leader. Learn to communicate impact as a technical leader. Translate your work into meaningful business results to effectively represent your work.

In the article I was reading, the most egregious example was a bullet point that simply said “Cybersecurity is a high business priority.” I was astonished that someone would use this sentence as an accomplishment. This statement is a fact, not a result or even an activity. I continued to read the article and found how little actual impact was being conveyed in the eight bullets of accomplishment extolled as “success.”

Before you start communicating impact, know your audience. For the most part, an executive audience will not understand technology and certainly won’t see technology alone as a positive result. Many technologists have a reputation for wanting to spend time and money on frivolous technology. For example, another bullet in the same article was “leadership in blockchain…” Technology alone will rarely convey meaningful impact.

Your audience has business results that are important, not technology goals. Some examples from my experience are “hit a specific sales goal”, “achieve a client renewal goal” and “make a specific margin target.” The strategy for your organization may be slightly different. I’ve been in organization that target market share or third-party awards. As you consider communicating the impact of your technology initiatives, ensure there is a tight line to what your audience cares about.

As you communicate impact, use numbers to quantify what you achieved. The difference in launching a product that sold $1M and a product that sold $10M is huge. Paint a vivid description of your impact using numbers. For example, releasing a new version that increased daily utilization from 80% to 90% and added 10,000 new daily users over 12 months. Why settle for saying “released a new version that increased daily utilization.”

When you find that you can’t quantify your impact with numbers, one reaction is to retreat and use less specific words to still convey the accomplishment. The very best technical leaders use that moment to take action and measure the impact rather than water down the communication. Look at what results you are delivering and consider whether you can communicate it in a measurable way. If not, work to make it so.

Finally, don’t mistake activity for impact. I see many resumes that contain a list of activities someone performed in their role with no given impact. Declaring that you did something is rarely enough. Ask yourself why you did what you did, and how you can communicate the intended impact in a meaningful way. Perhaps you convened and managed a hackathon. Alone, this activity is not impactful. What if the hackathon surfaced 12 new product ideas that resulted in 2 new products launched resulting in $5M in new sales.

As a bonus, use the exercise of crafting an impact statement to establish a goal. Write down the headline you want to use when you are successful. Use that headline as a measurable and specific goal to achieve.

As you communicate, be sure you are communicating impact. Whether you are arguing to fund a project, or celebrating a success, including the impact is key. An effective impact statement: targets a specific audience and what they care about, uses numbers to quantify the impact, and avoids only describing the activity and not the result.

How are you communicating impact in your daily work?