Improving Your Writing Skills Is an Investment
Straight talk on business writing is a crucial need in the 21st century. We do business with people we don’t meet. It doesn’t matter whether we work at home or in a Fortune 500 environment, being able to communicate effectively in writing affects our ability to get work; it affects our place in society.
Do you want that job as a police officer, designer, detective, cook,or landscaper? Do you need to write a deal memo or a letter of complaint? You have to express yourself well and clearly, and to know the form and style that best suits the information you’re presenting, or you won’t be heard.
“With the fast pace of today’s electronic communications, one might think that the value of fundamental writing skills has diminished in the workplace,” said Joseph M. Tucci, president and CEO of EMC Corporation and chairman of the Business Roundtable’s Education and the Workforce Task Force. “Actually, the need to write clearly and quickly has never been more important than in today’s highly competitive, technology-driven global economy.”
The National Commission on Writing also found that American corporations have been spending $3.1 BILLION annually on improving employee deficits in writing.
This fact alone has lead many companies to look on people lacking writing skills as unfit for hire and unlikely to last long enough for promotion.
“In most cases, writing ability could be your ticket in . . . or it could be your ticket out,” said one respondent.
How we write is how we are judged by others. It is often the only picture of us they see. Certainly many of the key people in our lives see more of our words than they see of us.
So I’m going to spend this series looking at communication in all of its forms as we interact with businesses — getting and giving work and talking about the work we do together — why it works and why it doesn’t. We’ll talk about targeting your audience, sounding professional and easy to work with, how to delegate properly, emails, deal memos, proposals, conversation, and when things should be in person, on the phone, and in text.
I’m interested in what else you think this series should include.It’s all about business communication. No one is perfect at that.
So comment away on the problems you see and I’ll add them to the list of what’s covered. Improving this single skill set is the quickest way to ensure job security.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
If you think Liz can help with a problem you’re having with your writing, check out the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.
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I’ve learned the importance of solid writing over the last few years. I’m a software developer and I think my profession is known for our lack of writing skills.
One might think that developers can get away with bad writing, and maybe for a time they could. But in this age, developers are asked to do more of the documentation that would have traditionally been handled by business analysts and technical writers. The business of heads-down coding and product support is being slowly handed over to offshore groups who often don’t have the advantage of speaking English as their first language.
That ability should give US developers an upper hand, but often it doesn’t. That’s because US developers often speak Java, C++ or Perl as their first language, and treat English as a second language. Those developers that thrive, or even survive in the future will need the advantages proper written expression offers.
Hi Financial Reflections
Great to see you. Your blog proves that you don’t suffer from the malady of which you speak. But your awareness is all too true.That’s why I’ve decided to crack this nut. Any help you can give as to where I should focus is welcome. The topic is VERY big.
Interesting topic.
I can’t recall the name of the magazine (maybe Fastcompany) where they had a recent article on how the quality of writing skills was
a) actually dropping over the past few years
b) was inversely related to your position of power of the company
Both related to the rise of instant messaging systems like the blackberry.
The second of those things was fascinating — particularly because they gave examples of how garbled and mangled some of these messages were (and practically uninterpretable) … and how they explained that the higher you were on the corporate totem pole, the more likely you were to write terribly by electronic methods.
The rationale was that the higher you were, the less important it was to bother communicating in a clear, written and civil way to your underlings because of the power differential.
The opposite was true of those at the bottom of the totem pole: if you’re starting out, it is critical to write eloquently, to use the appropriate diction, and of course, to be able to spell.
Facinating piece … if I find it again I’ll make sure to give a bibilography.
Writing a business letter or memo it seems is much different than writing a blog. The biggest thing I try to remember from you is of course include more of “you”.
Do you include “you” in a business correspondence? Do you just stick to the facts? How personal should you get? I know every situation and correspondence is different but in general terms which way is best?
Hi Tony!
Welcome again! That point b you make ties into something I want to emphasize. That putting people in boxes isn’t a good idea and will get you in the end (no pun intended.), because people will find ways of reminding you that they are people and worth being bothered about.
In most businesses these days it doesn’t take long for the person who is the underling to one day be the boss. I’ve seen it too many times in publishing, not to think it’s true in other indusstries as well.
At the end of the day execution and company performance relies on communication and the big “peron’s’ success is dependent upon his or her messages being understood. 🙂
We’re going to talk about all of that, Roy, in detail — both the differences in writing a blog and for business and the differences in business writing and business conversation. 🙂
All I know is, I had a huge head start in writing because I’d consume any form of literature. Children’s Bible stories, the classics, Shakespearean plays, trashy novels, and even manuals and brochures.
Good readers are usually good writers. So I’d suggest that if anyone would want to give their children a head start, teach them to read! 🙂
We must remember that many of our blog readers know only a little English, they live in foreign countries.
I write as simple and direct as possible, but to make it a bit challenging, I will also throw in my neologisms like “digital effluvium”, “blog scorching”, “reciprocal commenting”, “bloatosphere”, etc.
Smart readers prefer my esoteric, poetic style.
But I also try to make the vast bulk of my writing very clear, because:
(1) blog readers are in a HURRY: they don’t read word for word, they skim and scan for relevant info
(2) blog readers stop in the middle of a post and zip off a comment in argument, praise, agreement, clarifications, etc…..WITHOUT reading the entire post. Mostly flamers do that.
My best tip for all bloggers = read good blogs like this one, Seth Godin, John Hagel III, Tom Peters, Jason Calacanis, etc. and Classic Lit like Mark Twain, Proust, Hemingway, Poe, Self, Grisham, Rilke, Rimbaud, etc.
plus business books if you’re a business blogger.
Tony: way to go! This is a very esoteric but important point you bring out. Thank you for adding that comment!
Typos are mandatorie. I’ve also heard that if you polish your online writing, it means you are not busy, thus not successful.
What rot. I don’t care what they say, I polish my comments, posts, emails, everything.
Vaspers: I’ve read somewhere (I forgot) that English has regained its crown as the most used language. And keep in mind I’m Filipino; it’s kinda ironic that people who are from different areas in the Philippines (thus speak differing dialects) use English to find common ground.
My point is that many of these countries, like mine, can understand English. 🙂
Ah, here we go:
“…the most widely taught and understood language in the world.”
Source: The Wikiality of Wikipedia
Sorry, Rico, but I’m saying that many foreign readers are not good with English. I know, because I get comments from bloggers in Georgia (Caucausus), Germany, Spain, etc. and sometimes I have trouble understanding them.
I’m not saying English is the Best or the Dominant Language.
More blogs are in Korean than in English, if I recall Technorati stats correctly.
I was trying to say that for every foreign reader not good with English, there’s one who can understand. I wasn’t simply trying to negate your statement. Rather, I was trying to somewhat to assure with this: you’d be surprised at how many people can still understand English.
Damn it, sorry if I’m drawing out this seemingly useless argument, but I want to make sure my point is clear.
Hey Liz –
Writing about business writing – that sounds like fun! I’m sure you’ll talk about being clear and concise and the trade-offs between the two. In many cases being persuasive is important. Business writing can also be very goal oriented writing. One interesting thing is that, depending upon what you’re trying to accomplish, stories DO have a place in business – we just need to be careful with how we use them. Bringing me to my last point (until I can begin to read what you do) – a real important part of business writing is understanding the culture, values, and semantics within your organization.
A fascinating topic – I can’t wait to see what you do with it – you’re a pro!
Ann
Vaspers and Rico,
I think you’re both saying the same thing. And doing it well, by the way.
Vaspars, you’re just not going to find combat here, 🙂
Rico, Don’t worry about offending. 🙂
Thanks Ann,
I’m really interested in any topic ideas that you have. Do email me what you are thinking. The topic is massive and does need coverage. No one is really talking about the fine point of business communication. They’re just talking about how to do business blogging. 🙂
Liz, this is an excellent idea for a business series. I’ll keep an eye close on it as I’m sorely lacking in this department.
Thanks Cat.
As I keep saying, I’m open to any and all ideas. I think that business communication as a whole is sorely left uncovered as a subject. It’s not just writing. It’s listening, speaking, reading and writing — all parts of relating to people in business that we need to understand.
Liz, that covers a large area and will make a very usefull series. Yes, I’ll certainly be sticking close!
Yeah, Cat,
I can’t wait to see what I do either. 🙂
Tomorrow. I think we start fresh with a look at email.
Liz, I should hire you to write my FEMA appeals. (Not that good writing would help, I don’t think, but it would be worth a shot. 😉 Currently trudging through the current round.
Hi Candice,
I feel foryou. I’ve had to deal with FEMA before. We were evacuated from our condo when our son was 18 months old. We left via boat. Our cars were under water.
It happened in Illinois when the DesPlaines River flooded. The damage happened for two reasons because folks up river wanted to save a wildlife habitat and didn’t what they were supposed to do to by contract to save the towns down river and didn’t tell the folks down river that they weren’t doing it until it was too late.
That event is how my husband and I knew that we’d stay married. Weeks in a hotel room with an 18-month screaming child who didn’t know what was going on either makes or breaks a relationship. 🙂
Hi Liz (and everyone!)
Once again you have an exciting topic — my brain is spinning as I try to get about 10 things out at once. I think that for anyone interested in writing, business writing is a good place to learn.
With business writing you have all the requirements of all writing — evaluating the audience, holding their attention, writing understandably, spelling correctly, telling a story — it’s all required in every letter, memo, report or white paper you write. If we look at each of our writing projects (even email) as a writing assignment and grade ourselves on our effectiveness (and you can tell by the replies you get how effective your writing was) our writing will improve dramatically and very quickly.
One of the things I learned about myself when I had to write a lot of business letters is that my first draft of a letter would be all over the place. I’d jump into the problem and get into all the details and proof (sometimes going on for pages) — but I’d leave out a thesis sentence defining the problem in a simple sentence. AND — I’d leave out what I wanted the person to do. It was amazing how much detail I could leave out of the final letter when I started it by defining my problem and ended it with a sentence saying what I needed.
Awk, I’ve gone on way too long, but I want to say one more thing…
As you know, Darren over at ProBlogger frequently reminds us that people love lists. After reading your article today, I’m wondering if part of the reason for that love is that the lists force writers to define a problem (the title of the list usually includes it) and start a paragraph with a thesis sentence (each element of the list).
That the very nature of a list article forces clarity in the story that might not be there otherwise.
(You’ve been through a flood!? — With a baby?)
Hi Katie,
Wow! Thank you for this comment. I’m printing it out and going to use it to guide me. There is so much good thinking here. Thank you for the time you spent composing and sharing it.
I think that people love writing lists for the reasons you state. I think they love reading lists because they are easy to comprehend.
Yes, I was in a flood with a baby. I’ve had many adventures. I was once followed by the FBI for 8 days too. 🙂
It’s this habit you have of answering every comment — knowing we’ll actually have a conversation about whatever I say here inspired me to put a little thought into it. Sometimes, “Great Post!” is good enough. But not this time.
Hi katie,
Isn’t it amazing how actively listening and really caring what people say can help a person learn things that they would get to know otherwise? Curiosity is a gift and a wonder!
Yes, and going back to yesterday’s discussion, your honesty shines through these conversations and makes it easy for me to open up about things I probably wouldn’t say just anywhere. And that is one of the things that struck me about the guy we were talking about yesterday.
You said that his site was a ‘community’ site. That implies that he didn’t just post stories. But that he interacted through the comments with his visitors. And I could see how those comments could have fuelled the sense of betrayal some people felt. Articles could be art. But comments are usually taken as real (nonfiction). Aren’t they?
Katie,
I think you just hit the point that everyone talked around, but couldn’t find the words to say. Articles could be art. But comments are usually taken as real (nonfiction). Arenââ¬â¢t they?
Yeah. comments are taking as real people talking about real things.
Liz, a lot of folks down here had that kind of relationship test. A lot of people are either getting married or splitting up.
Had I owned a house, I would have had insurance, which would have made my life easier, maybe. Perhaps not, with all the hell that allstate and friends have given people. But in your case, you probably would have not even been offered flood insurance.
On the other hand I’ve never been so happy to have not owned a house.
Candice.
That was the first flood in the history of that area and by some luck we sold the condo 1and 1/2 years later to buy a house. Then there was a flood. It was the first flood there in over 100 years. We started thinking about telling cities to pay us $100K or we would move there. 😉