Talent Management White Paper

If talent selection and retention are topics that interest you, a colleague and I just completed a white paper on the topic titled, " Selecting and retaining talent: How you do it now could be damaging your organisation PART I". If you would like a copy please send me an email at nasser@nasserismail.com with the subject 'White paper'.

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

Keep your message short and simple

In most successful organisations, people will be struggling to balance the many tasks that they need to attend to daily. We live in a very competitive world where almost everyone is trying to standout and outshine other people to get ahead. Therefore time is a very valuable commodity.

Crystal clarity in your writing should be your goal, always!

This makes it even more important to be able to convey your message as clearly as possible in the shortest period possible. Although short and brief is preferred, it should never be at the expense of high quality content and good writing.

If you can say what you need to say in two short paragraphs, use two short paragraphs. Do not feel that you have to fill up an entire page of a letter purely for aesthetic reasons. Would you not rather read two paragraphs instead of two long chapters if the two paragraphs can tell you what you need to know?

One technique which I find extremely useful is the use of headers before a paragraph which will act as a guide posts to the reader. Instead of paragraph after paragraph of text, try to break it up into logical chunks. This creates the illusion that your piece is actually shorter. Which would you rather read, the mass of text on the left or the more structured piece on the right?

Even short notes or emails can benefit from good formatting and the use of headers and bullet points

Another technique is the use of short idea/concept summary at the start of your paragraphs/key points that will help to lead the thoughts of the reader. Take a look at the examples below:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Company ABC offer the following advantages in their proposal:

1. Their proposal is the lowest among the 5 bidders and they provide many value added services not offered by the others.
2. They are committed to completing the project within 7 weeks.This 1 week earlier than their closest competitor and within the estimates of given by our internal technical team.
3. All their staff who will be attached to this project have a minimum of 7 years experience in managing similar projects of equal complexity. The other bidders offer much higher variation in experience among their team, with some having only 2 years of experience.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is the alternative:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Company ABC offer the following advantages in their proposal:

1. Lowest Cost -Their proposal is the lowest among the 5 bidders and they provide many value added services not offered by the others.

2. Fastest completion - They are committed to completing the project within 7 weeks.This 1 week earlier than their closest competitor and within the estimates of given by our internal technical team.

3. Most experienced project team -All their staff who will be attached to this project have a minimum of 7 years experience in managing similar projects of equal complexity. The other bidders offer much higher variation in experience among their team, with some having only 2 years of experience.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Notice how we introduce the key idea at the start and then provide details rather than make the reader have to think. Guide your reader's thinking and you will get your message across better and clearer. This also increases the probability they will agree with you and approve what you propose!

Less is MORE!

Unfortunately it is much harder to write less than it is to write more. Far more effort is required to edit and rewrite material until it becomes short, concise and clear. Always review what you have written and see if you can summarise what you have written so that it can be more shorter and easier to understand.

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.

 

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

Know your audience and tailor your message to the audience

The best written report packed with the right data will not be worth very much if it fails to meet the expectations of the intended audience. Good writers will craft their message to their targeted audience or better yet, a specific person. They way you would write for the company chairman would be very different to the way you would write on the same subject matter to a group of junior executives.

Unfortunately this does not apply to style of writing!

Unfortunately most young executives fail to realise this very important rule and know of only one way of writing to everyone! Of course its easier to do but this is not what people who want to be come Stars should be practicing. There are no shortcuts to creating excellence, effort needs to be put into it.

Make sure you are aware of the prefered formats for the different people that you will be writing to. The format for a Board of Directors paper will be radically different from the format for a memo to your Boss. Utilise your network within the company to find out the individual preference of the various people who you will need to prepare written materials. Some people need to know the details whereas some people are more interested in the ‘Big Picture’ issues.

Azhar  was a young executive who was asked to prepare a discussion paper for a Board of Directors meeting by the Chairman. After seeking the advice of his office mates who had worked with the Chairman before he found out that the Chairman was formerly an academic and was used to a very academic writing style.

Good targeted communications gets good results!

Taking this que, Azhar produced the paper with extensive references listed in the bibliography and included footnotes as further reference in his paper. The Chairman who had not seen such high quality work since he left the academic field was very impressed. Whereas most people would not have taken the trouble that Azhar did, his extra effort differentiated him from the other young executives in the company.

Even a single badly written piece can be potentially very damaging, be careful.

On the other hand , it is an unfortunate fact of life that it is the single, badly written proposal that the important people in your career will tend to remember more, rather than the dozens of good assignments you have delivered in the past. You are only as good as your last piece of work.

Finally the language that you use must be suitable for the audience that you are trying to reach to. A memo to the CEO outlining the key strategies of your latest advertising and promotions campaign will not be written in the same style that you would be writing a memo on the same subject to the corporate communications manager. Whereas it would be acceptable to use advertising jargon with the communications manager, it would not be the case for the CEO unless you have information which suggests otherwise.

Remember, be clear in your mind who you need to communicate to and tailor your message to them and what matters to them. If you like this and the previous article, do come back for parts III and IV or subscribe via e-mail so that you do not miss it. I would also be grateful if you could like and share these articles with you friend who you think may benefit. If you have a point of view, do leave a comment. I would love to hear from you.

Sloppy writing: Don't let it hold you back

 

“Take advantage of every opportunity to practice your communication skills so that when important occasions arise, you will have the gift, the style, the sharpness, the clarity, and the emotions to affect other people.”

 Jim Rohn  American Businessman, Author, Speaker, Philosopher 

Often the very first impression you make on other people you come into contact with at work is through what you write. Think about the way you secured your first job, the covering letter that you sent with your resume and your job application was the first thing the organisation you now work for saw of you. If the HR department was not impressed by what they read, you probably would be where you are today.

Time and again the first thing that senior managers will see of a new young executive is a memo or a report that they prepared. That memo could send the message that this person is a potential 'Star', who would be an asset to the company or it could send the opposite message that this person is merely 'Deadwood' who will not have much of a future with the company.

Many senior managers agree that one of the things that they look for in employees, especially at  mangerial levels is excellent written communications skills. Good business writing is high on the list of key competencies for top quality job candidates. As more and more business communications is conducted via e-mail ( which demonstrates how well you can write concisely) your writing skills will become a differentiator.

None of us are born as gifted writers; good writing is a learnable skill which requrires frequent practice and knowledge of the right techniques to use.

Learning to write well and effectively at work need not be a painstaking and mysterious goal. Even if you have tried and failed before or have never given it much thought in the past, if you conciously make an effort you too can become an good business writer. There are many good books that have been written on this subject by countless authors however you may wish to use these 4 key rules that I have used successfully to this day. For todays blog post I will touch on the importance of a clear objective.

Be clear on what it is you want to say

A common mistake I see very often is that people do not stop to think about what it is that they really want to say, but instead go straight to the Microsoft Word icon and start typing the first thing that that comes to their mind.

Often poor writing is a reflection of poor, underdeveloped thinking. It is important to be clear on the key messages that you want to convey. For example you are writing an e-mail to a potential customer, pause and think about why you are sending the e-mail. Are you trying to start on cement a relationship? Are you sending off a covering letter to accompany a set of catalogues that the potential customer requested? Are you trying to clarify a point raised by the customer during an earlier meeting?

The 1^st Rule of Good business writing is that you must have a clear objective. One tool that I have found very effective when I am starting to write anything from a one page memo to a 20 page discussion paper is a Mind Map.

Take a clean sheet of paper and write the central theme of what you will be writing. From that central theme, write down your key points as the main branches on your map. You then proceed to further develop your key points into the details of what you will be writing, these will be the smaller branches coming from the main branches of your mind map.

The mind map you produce will be the outline of what you will eventualy write. Each branch of the Mind map could be a paragraph or it could represent an entire chapter. Find out more about mind maps here.

It is also good to make sure that you have done the required research to ensure that what you write contains solid substance  (references, quotations, facts and figures,etc) and not merely generalisations. You must be confident of what you are writing and having credible material will help you to show that confidence.

Planning what you want to write before actually doing the writing will significantly improve the quality of your written communications.

Comeback for my 3 other rules of good business writing or subscribe via email to ensure you do not miss them. If you like this or other articles please share via Facebook or Twitter.

Annoying, Pretentious and Useless Business Jargon

If you enjoyed my previous posting on using simple language you may want to give this Forbes article a read as well. Some of the terms may be very North American centric but overall quite an entertaining read. Enjoy!
HZQ6VAGZP5GX

10 Presentation 'Sins' : Are You Guilty?

Many of us have heard that 99% of presentations are bad and not effective. Today I though I would briefly look at why so many presentations are so bad, and perhaps suggest how to avoid these common mistakes.

1.     No clear message- When preparing your presentation, you must make sure you are clear on what your objective is. It may be to just inform, to advocate a point of view or you are seeking an approval. Whatever it is, make sure you are clear why you are giving the presentation. If you start with the end in mind the rest should be easy.

2.     Your slides are boring- Unfortunately 99% of presentation slides are really bad and will not be able to grab the attention of the audience. Nobody likes to look at page after page of hardly visible text on the screen, which the presenter is reading like a story book. Generally, less text works better. Simple text with powerful images work best. Remember the slides are there just to help you as visual aids, do not rely on them. You are the ‘star’ who needs to ‘wow’ your audience.

3.     Not enough material/content- Sometime your presentation fails due to insufficient content to make a convincing case for the audience. For example, you did not provide enough evidence to back up your argument or point of view. Another example would be a new business proposal which did not include risks and the mitigating contingencies you will put in place.

4.     Too much material- Just as bad as not having enough material is having too much material covered in your presentation. Firstly, people have a very limited attention span that rarely exceed 20 minutes. Secondly, having too much material to cover will make it harder for you to highlight the key message or objective of your presentation.

5.     Monotonous voice- Nobody enjoys listening to a robot. You need to modulate your voice so that there are times when you raise your voice to emphasise a point and there are times you pause and say nothing, to give your audience time to absorb what you just said. There are times you will speak quickly and times when you will speak slowly to highlight a point in your presentation.

6.     Not rehearsing- The vast majority of people do not bother to practice giving their presentation thinking that they are already quite good at it. Unfortunately, they are not! And that probably includes you too. Even the late Steve Jobs spent a lot of time rehearsing his legendary presentations. Take the time to practice and make it a habit. It will make you comfortable with the material and make you far less nervous. This will create confidence that the audience will be able to spot and makes you case stronger. Alternatively, if you do not practice, you will appear less confident and you will not be as convincing.

7.    Complicated language- Depending on your audience use language that is as simple as possible. The less the audience has to think about what you are trying to say the better. Avoid jargon and complex terminology unless you are speaking to a room full of experts. Use simple words and short sentences, your audience will appreciate it.

8.     Not getting to the point quickly- People hate waiting. Try to get to the point of your presentation quickly. Often it is best to tell them up front what the objective of the presentation is at the start of the presentation. Also another tip is to tell them how long your presentation will take before you begin, this will put the audiences feeling of anxiety at ease. Unless you are told how long a presentation will take, your audience will be speculating and wondering when you will get to the point.

9.       Poor structure- To be effective your presentation needs to be properly structured for the objective you are trying to achieve. Like any good story, it will need a start, middle and an ending. A good basic structure is to start with an introduction of the problem or issue you wish to address, and then go into the implications for the audience of the issue. Only then do you go into introducing the solution and also address any possible concerns relating to the proposed solution. Finally you have a call to action, what you want the audience to do. This is just a basic example; the main point is that you need a logical flow in the structure of your presentation.

10.   Giving out hand outs too early- A common mistake many people do is to give copies of their slides before the present. This is a guaranteed way of ensuring the audience will not listen to you because they will be busy reading your slides and they can read much faster than you can present. They will be on your fourth slide when you are still on the contents slide. Give your hand outs at the end of the presentation so that you will have their full attention.

      Each of these issues is worthy of their own blog post and I have touched on some of them before. If you have any other common causes of bad presentations, please share them in the comments section. I would love to hear what you think.