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Hone your writing skills for better communication
Do you read everything that piles up in your in-tray? Do all your intended readers read everything you have written? The amount of paper going straight from in-tray to wastepaper bin represents a horrific cost, in money terms, in environmental terms, and in wasted writer-hours. Writers need to be read. And, just as important, they need to be understood correctly. For the reality of your communication, of course, lies not in what you wanted to write, or even what you did write, but in what your reader understood.Let us see what, from a reader's point of view, are the barriers to reading and understanding:
-- Too much else to do.
-- The document seems irrelevant to his or her needs.
-- The length (or even weight!) of the document. We all tend to deal with short matters first, and push the long reports to the bottom of the pile.
-- It is visually unattractive, with long paragraphs, small margins and no headings.
-- The structure is poor, with no logical links between points.
-- The
language is difficult to understand, with long words and sentences, jargon and technical terms. As a writer you can and must break down these barriers. You can even influence your intended reader's workload by considering, before you pick up your pen: "Should I write at all? Why?" There are good reasons for writing:
-- To establish a permanent record.
-- To make the message more formal.
-- To convey the same message to many people.
-- It can be comparatively cheap, at least in direct costs.
-- Delivery and response may be reasonably rapid (using fax, telex or electronic mail) or more delayed (postal systems), whichever you want.
But in many cases, a telephone call or quick face-to-face chat is more effective. If so, don't write; talk. Readers and Objectives Once you have decided that you should be writing, your next question is not "To whom should I write?" but "Who needs to read this?" The difference is more than just one of phraseology - it is one of approach, of putting
your reader first and seeing through his or her eyes rather than your own, probably the single golden rule which will make any communication more effective. Effectiveness, achieving your objective, is after all the sole reason f or communicating. You do need to have the objective clear in your mind, of course. Think back to your last piece of writing. What was your objective? When asked this question, even experienced trainers, accustomed to expressing training objectives in terms of trainees' desired behaviour, are liable to answer: "I wanted to say ..." But behavioural objectives are just as important for writing as for training courses. Stating what you "want the reader to do ..." is the first step to having that happen. As with training objectives, the key to formulating behavioural objectives for your writing lies in making your reader the subject of the sentence, and then using an "action verb". So start your objectives with the formula: After reading this, my reader will ... and continue with an
"action verb", not the vague know, understand, appreciate which so easily spring to mind, but the specific decide, carry out, complete, remember. For example, the objectives of a joining letter to managers nominated to attend a presentation skills course could be: Readers (managers nominated to attend the presentation skills course) will:
-- Attend the course.
-- Want to attend the course.
-- Know when and where to go, and what to bring with them.
-- Identify their personal needs for the course.
-- Prepare themselves for the course.
-- Know what to expect from the course.
-- Be prepared to admit and address their fears and weaknesses.
-- Let the organizers know if they cannot attend the course. The behavioural nature of the objective may be obvious ("attend the course") or less so ("want to attend the course", and show this in behaviour, however subtly). As a bottom line objective, you should always want all your readers to remember what you have written or, at least, that
you have written something on the subject. If even that is not really necessary for some readers (or more likely non-readers), remove them from your distribution list. Their in-trays will be grateful! Having a single reader simplifies your job as writer; it is, however, comparatively rare. Even a letter or memo addressed to one person may, predictably, be shown to others. Whether you have one reader or several, the more you know about them, the better. First of all, their names. "Dear Sir or Madam" letters should be avoided wherever possible. Then consider:
-- How well do they understand your language (both the English language and your technical jargon)?
-- How much do they know about the subject?
-- What are their concerns and prejudices likely to be?
-- What authority do they have?
-- What could prevent them achieving your objectives? If you cannot answer these questions, a little initial research will save a lot of later frustration. Sometimes, if you have multiple readers, theirneeds may conflict. You may be able to accommodate this in your writing, for instance, by putting background details, needed by only some readers of a report, in an appendix. You may concentrate on meeting the needs of your most Important reader, not necessarily in status terms, but the person who will achieve your objective. You may write different documents -- the full report for the person who needs to know all the details, and a summary, or a note explaining what the report covers and where it is filed, for the person who only needs to know that it has been written. Or you may just have to live with the conflict (for example, where one trainee may need the course joining letter to stimulate his excitement and another to reassure his fears) and mitigate the effects by talking to the people concerned. Planning All this is part of your initial planning. It answers Kipling's "why" and "who" questions. He had four others: How? What format you should choose, e g letter, memo, report, is also
important. Part 2 of this book gives tips on how to handle the different writing tasks you may need to perform. "How" should also cover the tone you want to convey -- formal or friendly, rational or inspirational, decisive or questioning. When? If you have a deadline, meet it. If you do not have a deadline set yourself one and meet it. To see if the deadline is realistic, work backwards from it, and judge how long you should allow for revision, typing, writing, planning and research. Do you have enough time? If not, can you change your deadline? If not, what can you reduce? Maybe someone else can do part of your research; maybe you will have to limit the scope of what you cover. But, for your reader's sake (and therefore your own), meet your deadline. Also consider the time of day when you work best. Some of us are larks, wide awake and fully functioning in the early morning; others are owls, animated in the evening. Whichever you are, choose if you can that time for writing. Where? Balance the peacefulnessof writing at home, without the distractions of telephone and interruptions, with the convenience of having all your information available at the office. An empty training room, or even someone else's office, could prove the ideal solution. And, wherever you write, set up your environment to make it as easy as possible -- comfortable chair, good lighting, telephone off-the-hook, reference materials to hand. Encyclopaedia OF Practical Management Training (VOL 3;Pp 176) Nancy Stimson Crest Publishing House
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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