Member Article

How to Keep Your Business Writing Skills

When one holds an executive position in any company – big or small – communicative skills are of utmost importance. Different sets of skills are applied in oral communication and in written one. Arguably, written skills are more important, and there are two reasons for that. First, when you interact with a customer, a partner, or even a colleague, you often enter into correspondence first. If that goes well – then you actually meet the person. This means that communication is more vital to ensure the successful partnership in the future. The second reason is that a written text is a more substantial evidence than word of mouth. You can refer to a written email, and it will be a more solid proof of the information communicated than something that someone has merely said. Of course, it does not mean that we should not trust any information communicated orally, but a written text simply has more substance to it. Especially, if it is written properly.

This is why business writing skills are crucial for a successful career. However, learning to write properly just once is not enough. It is not like you have mastered business writing once, and you can safely forget about it and concentrate on other things. Business writing demands constant update and improvement, and – once again – there are two reasons for that: let us refer to them as diachronic and synchronic.

The DIACHRONIC one means that in any given culture any new generation brings something new into the culture, including the culture of business writing. Some things that were acceptable 20 years ago are not acceptable anymore, and vice versa. In other words, you need to be prepared to communicate with people from all generations and mind their peculiarities.

The SYNCHRONIC one means that in any given period of time many communicative cultures exist. Some things that are accepted in the American or British communicative culture will not be tolerated in the German one. Even if your company does not work internationally, it is still a great perk to be aware of the peculiarities of other cultures.

This is why it is at all times important to keep your business writing skills up to date in our ever changing environment. Here are some tips on how that can be done.

PRACTICE. As mentioned before, writing is not a skill that you are born with, it needs developing and constant cultivating. Be advised to devote at least an hour a day to perfecting your writing. This can suggest several different activities which you are free to do in any combination you like:

- freewriting. Just put on paper whatever comes to your head. It is a good exercise to master the skill of composing sentences automatically, without spending too much time and effort thinking about it.

- reworking. Take some of your old mail and brainstorm on how you could write it differently. Then analyze the variants and see which one looks more clear and comprehensive to you.

- reading the press. If you want to keep your writing style up to date, it is a good idea to refer to the professionals. These being the journalists who work at respected newspapers, such as New York Times or Daily Mail, and whose job and talent is writing. It is part of their job to keep an eye on the most recent tendencies in writing. So, they are a reliable source on style.

- reading professional literature. There are researchers whose field of expertise is writing style. Be encouraged to browse through specialized forums and social networks to find out which author’s writing guide is the most recommended. Be sure that it will not be time wasted.

THINK IN ADVANCE. When one needs to write something, one often just goes for it straight ahead and formulates ideas on the go. This is a totally wrong approach. It results in the writing being unclear, sporadic, and inconsistent. Instead, before putting your hands on the keyboard, think about what message you want to convey to your reader and what idea and/or impression you want them to have upon reading your text, and keep that in mind when you start writing.

BE DIRECT AND LACONIC. At school you were probably trained to write your text according to a strict plan: a comprehensive introduction, followed by the main part, followed by the conclusion paraphrasing the introduction. Business writing is not the case. Business people value their time a lot, so they get irritated when they encounter unnecessary information of any sort. It makes them feel like someone is stealing their time, even if only a few seconds. This irritation may be critical for your fruitful cooperation in future. This is why you need to get straight to the point in the very beginning. Also, avoid overusing complicated words and phrases, as well as jargon. Dropping one or two of those can be a good idea. But when you abuse it, you give your reader the impression that you were too lazy to put whatever you have to say clearly. So, work on the clearness and value your reader’s time.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sophia Clark .