Sloppy writing: Don't let it hold you back PART III

Put yourself in the place of the reader

 

Take a random sampling of everyday business communications that you receive such as e-mail, reports, memos or faxes. Divide them into 4 categories bad, good, better and best.
Try to find at least 3-4 samples for each category.

Now examine the pile of poorly written material and take note of what the badly written material  have in common with each other. Here may be some common traits that you would probably find as well:

• Too wordy
• Long winded
• Takes forever to get to the point,
• Poor grammar
• Key message is not clear,
• Boring

Now do the same for the written materials that you consider the best. List down what you find they share in common. Listed below are some of the things you should be able to identify:

• Concise
• Simple to understand
• Grammatically correct
• No spelling errors
• Neat structure
• Easy to understand
• Interesting

We all have a preference for well written material, therefore we should write in the same way. Unfortunately, in reality most of us do not give much thought to whatever it is that we are writing in the course of our daily work.

To set yourself apart from the rest of your co-workers you will have to show the ability to write well. Even if you are still far away from becoming an talented writer, there are many simple tips that will help you to significantly improve the appearance of your writing skills.

The word processor you are using now ( most likely Microsoft Word ) has many useful functions that can enhance the quality of your writing. Firstly is the spell check function. Never send out any written material that has not been checked for spelling errors. Although it might be OK for most people to make a few spelling mistakes in their work, if you aspire to become a 'Star', this is unacceptable behaviour.

The appearance of even a few spelling errors will send the signal that you are
careless, lazy and do not pay attention to details.

Often we find we are using the same word over and over again. This creates the impression to your reader that your vocabulary is poor. An easy way to address this is to use the thesaurus function in Microsoft Word. Highlight the word you would like to change and go to the Tools menu and look under language and you should find ‘Thesaurus’. The thesaurus will provide you with a list of alternative words you could use to replace the word you highlighted earlier. If you do not have Microsoft Word , you will need to use alternative methods such as manually checking the spelling of uncommon words. Indirectly too, this will improve your vocabulary.

Ask a co-worker you trust to  read through of your written material before it goes out to the intended recipient. Often we fail to realise that a fresh pair of eyes will be able to spot weaknesses and shortcomings in our own work that we would not notice. Asking someone to review your written communication even if it is a subordinate should not be regarded as a sign of weakness.

Of course good writing is a rare commodity, hence it would be unrealistic to expect to become an excellent writer overnight. Study and make a mental note of the written materials that you found to be of outstanding quality.

Write in the manner you would enjoy reading yourself and always use language that is suitable for your audience.Most of all keep on practising your writing skills.