The skill of generation

One of my previous job roles was in healthcare, leading the Community Relations team at Peninsula Health. 

A big part of the role was crafting information about public health issues for the community, media, employees and stakeholders. 

I was helping the radiology team communicate about CT and nuclear medicine scans. 

The head Radiologist said ‘Give me an X-ray or a scan and I can write a report about it, but you’ve just made something out of nothing’. 

There were a few facts to work with, but yes, I’d generated the rest. 

This is a skill; to be able to take an idea or a concept and to make sense of it, to generate an explanation, a story, a blog (or a LinkedIn post!)

The more regularly you generate, the better you can get at it. 

While you might be waiting for all the facts to come in before you create, or you’re following a formulaic template to create it quicker, the best generation comes when you step into the shoes of your audience. 

You answer the questions they might have and expand on information that addresses their concerns and curiosities. 

This isn’t just generation for the sake of content creation. 

It’s generation ... with great consideration.