Communication Excellence Coach Agent

An autonomous agent that improves written and verbal communication skills — refining emails, presentations, documentation, and stakeholder communications for clarity, impact, and professional tone.

When to Use This Agent

Choose Communication Excellence Coach Agent when:

• You need to draft or refine important emails, proposals, or presentations
• Technical documentation needs to be made accessible to non-technical audiences
• You want to improve the clarity and impact of stakeholder communications
• You need to adapt your communication style for different audiences (executives, engineers, customers)

Consider alternatives when:

• You need copywriting for marketing materials (use a content marketer agent)
• You need technical writing for API documentation (use an API documenter agent)
• You are looking for language translation services

Quick Start

Copy
# .claude/agents/communication-coach.yml
name: communication-excellence-coach-agent
description: Improve clarity and impact of professional communications
agent_prompt: |
  You are a Communication Excellence Coach. When improving communications:

  1. Identify the audience, purpose, and desired outcome
  2. Restructure for clarity (lead with the main point)
  3. Remove jargon, filler, and passive voice
  4. Add concrete examples and data points
  5. Adjust tone for the audience (executive, technical, customer)
  6. Ensure the call-to-action is clear and specific

  Communication principles:
  - Lead with the answer, then explain
  - One idea per paragraph
  - Use active voice: "we decided" not "it was decided"
  - Quantify claims: "reduced by 40%" not "significantly reduced"
  - End with a clear next step

Example invocation:

Copy
claude "Rewrite this status update email for the executive team — they want the bottom line, not technical details"

Sample coaching output:

Communication Review
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Original (278 words, 3 min read):
  Technical jargon, buried conclusion, no clear ask

Revised (94 words, 30 sec read):
  Subject: Project Alpha — On Track for March Launch

  Team,

  Project Alpha is on track for the March 15 launch.

  Key metrics:
  - 92% of features complete (23/25 user stories)
  - Performance: 200ms response time (target: 300ms)
  - Risk: Third-party API integration delayed 3 days

  We need a decision by Friday on whether to launch with
  a fallback for the delayed integration or extend by one week.

  I recommend launching with the fallback — 95% of users
  won't be affected. Details in the attached brief.

  — Alex

Changes Made:
  1. Led with conclusion (on track) instead of background
  2. Replaced 4 paragraphs of technical detail with 3 bullet points
  3. Made the ask explicit (decision by Friday)
  4. Added a recommendation (executives prefer options with a recommended choice)
  5. Moved technical details to an attachment

Core Concepts

Communication Framework by Audience

Audience	Structure	Length	Focus
Executives	Bottom-line first	< 100 words	Decisions, risks, metrics
Managers	Context + recommendation	100-200 words	Status, blockers, timeline
Engineers	Detail + rationale	As needed	Architecture, trade-offs, code
Customers	Benefit-focused	< 150 words	Value, outcomes, next steps

Message Structure Template

Executive Summary Pattern (SCR):
  Situation: [What is the context?]
  Complication: [What is the problem or change?]
  Resolution: [What do you recommend?]

Technical Communication Pattern (STAR):
  Situation: [System context]
  Task: [What needs to be done]
  Action: [What you did or propose]
  Result: [Outcome or expected outcome]

Customer Communication Pattern (BAB):
  Before: [Current pain point]
  After: [How it will be better]
  Bridge: [How we get there]

Tone Calibration

Formal ←───────────────────────→ Casual

Board report    Exec email    Team Slack    1:1 chat
"I recommend"   "We should"   "Let's"       "How about"
"Furthermore"   "Also"        "Plus"        "Oh and"
"Please advise" "Thoughts?"   "WDYT?"       "🤔?"

Configuration

Option	Type	Default	Description
audience	string	"professional"	Target: executive, technical, customer, professional
tone	string	"professional"	Tone: formal, professional, casual, friendly
maxLength	number	200	Target word count for revised version
removeJargon	boolean	true	Replace technical terms with plain language
addMetrics	boolean	true	Suggest quantifiable data points
includeCallToAction	boolean	true	Ensure clear next step is included

Best Practices

1. Lead with the conclusion, then support it — Busy readers need the main point in the first sentence. "Project Alpha is on track for March 15" immediately answers the question every reader has. Background context, methodology, and caveats come after. If the reader stops after the first line, they still got the key message.

2. Match the detail level to the audience — Executives need decisions and risks in under 100 words. Engineers need technical rationale and implementation details. Writing the same message for both audiences wastes everyone's time. Adapt the depth, vocabulary, and emphasis for each audience.

3. Replace adjectives with numbers — "Significant improvement" means different things to different people. "40% faster response time" is unambiguous. Quantify everything: cost savings in dollars, performance improvements in percentages, timeline in dates. Numbers build credibility and eliminate misinterpretation.

4. End every communication with a clear next step — "Let me know your thoughts" is not a call to action. "Please approve Option B by Friday so we can begin development Monday" tells the reader exactly what to do, when, and why the deadline matters.

5. Use the "so what?" test on every paragraph — After writing each paragraph, ask: "So what? Why does the reader care?" If you cannot answer that, the paragraph is context for you, not value for them. Either connect it to the reader's priorities or remove it.

Common Issues

Technical writers over-explain to non-technical audiences — Engineers include implementation details that executives do not need and cannot act on. Apply the "elevator pitch" test: if you could not say it in 30 seconds, it is too detailed. Move technical details to an appendix and link to it for readers who want more depth.

Emails generate more questions than answers — The message is vague about status, timeline, or blockers, forcing recipients to follow up. Before sending, check: Does this email answer WHO needs to do WHAT by WHEN? If any of those are missing, add them. Anticipate the first follow-up question and answer it preemptively.

Passive voice obscures accountability — "It was decided that the launch would be delayed" hides who made the decision. Use active voice: "The engineering team decided to delay the launch by one week to fix the payment bug." Active voice is shorter, clearer, and assigns responsibility, which is what stakeholders actually need.