Becoming an effective writer
Crafting and writing messages in an effective way is one of the most important practices that you can improve on to set yourself apart from others. Below are my notes from a Linkedin learning course Business Writing Principles. In order to become an effective writer regular consistent practice is necessary. Changing habits is not easy, so you have to be willing to change, know how to change, and practice daily. The blog below can serve as your gospel for becoming an effective writer.
What is and is not Business Writing?
Business writing is not meant to entertain or reflect, this is pleasure writing. Business writing is meant to get fact straight and to the point, to inform or to persuade the reader. In order to succeed in business, you must be able not just to write, but to write effectively.
The role of the reader and the writer in a business setting can be explained below.
| Readers | Writers |
|---|---|
| Scan for key points. | Be clear and simple. |
| Quickly decide importance. | Get to the point. |
Principles of Business Writing
- Analyze the reader
- What does my ready already know? Who is my audience?
- If you're talking to somebody with a developer background, do you need to explain the application structure every question you ask them?
- Organize the message
- Does your message begin with a purpose? Organize the message in the best way for the reader and look easy to read.
- Signal the next step
- Is there a time when a response is needed and contain contact information?
- If you're asking for a time to meet with somebody, do you include times that are available for you?
- Value the reader
- Effective business writers need to give the impression that the reader is important and not just another number.
- A poorly crafted message can lead the reader to think that you don't value their time.
- Ensure an effective message
- Decrease the need for follow up messages.
- Choose the right channel
- Email, Teams, Meeting, or Face to Face
- "Can this meeting be an email or teams message" is an extremely valuable question to ask every time you want to propose a meeting.
The 10 C's of Business Writing
A writer has the right to expect every message to be; Complete, Concise, Clear, Conversational, Courteous, Correct, Considerate, Concrete, and Credible.
- Complete: Is all of the information included so that follow up questions are not necessary?
- Concise: Use the fewest number of words possible. Including more words into your your writing leads the reader to have to wade through information that may not be relevant to the writing.
- Clear: Have you thought about what the reader knows or doesn't know or are you writing based on what you know and what makes sense to you?
- Conversational: Does your writing sounds as if you are writing to a human or to a robot?
- Courteous: Is your tone pleasant? Have you shown the reader how they will benefit from your information or policy? Does the message sound demanding or is it all about the writers interest?
- Correct: Is the your writing accurate and professional or does it give the information that it was rushed and not prepared?
- Coherent: Does your writing look jumbled or do they tie together smoothly?
- Considerate: Does your writing look inviting to read (using headings and bullets) or does it use 1 or 2 long paragraphs?
- Concrete: Have you included specifics and examples or are vague meaningless words used?
- Credible: Are all facts within the article given from trusted sources and cited?
Strong vs. Weak Verbs
Which of the following statements sound stronger and more concise?
(a) You will need to send your confirmation for your appointment by Friday.
(b) Please confirm your appointment by Friday.
12 words versus 6 words. Not only is (a) stronger, the message is more concise. Look for camouflaged words in your message, verbs that have usually turned into nouns, commonly adding the -tion at the end of the word. Conversation versus confirm.
The same principle applied for filler words.
(a) There are five people who want to attend the meeting.
(b) Five people want to attend the meeting.
Make your messages more concise, cut out the fluff and get to the point.
Create a Clear Message
Understand your reader and their ability to comprehend what you're trying to tell them.
- What department do they work for?
- What is their experience within the topic you're talking about?
- What relationship do you have with the reader?
Make your message logical and and easy to read for the reader. Your main idea should be at the top of the paragraph, utilize transitional words (first, second, although), and consider the connotation of the words that you use.
Hey John, I need you to talk about something urgent when you have time.
What would John think about this message? What's so urgent? Is John getting fired?
Hey John, we need some help understanding the requirements in this ticket [link ticket here], we have questions about… [list your questions here]
In this 2nd message John knows what you're exactly what ticket you're referring to, the exact questions you have, and knows to be prepared to answer these questions. Most of all, no worry about what exactly this urgent matter is.
Cut to the Question
Inspired from: https://nohello.net/en/
If you area asking a question to a coworker, ask the question. Letting the reader know exactly that you have a question with will get an answer faster.
Imagine you're John and you receive this message from Bob:
Bob: Hey
So your response will be:
You: How's it going?
Bob responds with:
Bob: What time is the meeting?
...sigh
John: Oh, 3:30 today.
This includes common opening phrases "How are you?" or "Hey want to hop in a call?". If you just ask the question first, you'll get the answer faster.
When you ask somebody to hop in a call, are you considering if the reader is in Deep Work? Often times, leading with the question allows the reader to find what they need without the distraction of being on a call. You'll get your answer faster this way, I promise.
Instead consider this:
Bob: Hey, what time is the meeting?
John: Hey, 3:30 today.
Straight to the point, no extra words or messages needed.
Avoid Negative Words
Negative words can lead to negative reactions.
- "No" and "Not"
- Reminders of a negative situation
- Doubtful words
How would you react if something tells you "You can't.", "You won't be able to.", "You failed.". Human nature is such where you immediately become defensive to language like this. Instead you should focus on what is and can be.
(a) I won't be able to get to your review until Friday.
(b) I will get to your review on Friday.
or
(a) Your promotion has been denied.
(b) HR has reviewed your promotion request and unfortunately they have denied it for now. I followed up with them to get some ideas of goals we need to achieve to slate you for the next round. Here they are: [list goals here]
Phrase your writing to offer alternatives to phrases that are usually negative. Be assertive on the 'when' something will happen or change.
Using positive language requires more thought, but is well worth the effort put in to better assist the reader.