How will you make your communications stick out?
About what to put apostrophe more?
What the Experts Say
Overworked managers with short amount of time may think that improving their writing is a boring as well as frivolous exercise. But knowing just how to fashion an appealing and intelligent sentence is vital to communicating effectively, winning business, and setting yourself apart. “As Marvin Swift memorably said, clear writing means clear thinking,” said Kara Blackburn, a senior lecturer in managerial communication at the MIT Sloan School of Management. “You could have all the great ideas on the planet and in the event that you can't communicate, nobody will hear them.” Luckily, everybody has the ability to improve, says Bryan Garner, author of The HBR Guide to Better Business Writing.Effective writing “is not just a gift that you're born with,” he says. “It's a skill that you cultivate.” Here's how to write simply, clearly, and precisely.
Think before you write Before you add pen to paper or hands to keyboard, consider what you need to say. “The mistake that lots of people make is they start writing prematurely,” says Garner. “They work out the thoughts as they're writing, helping to make their writing less structured, meandering, and repetitive.” Think about: What should my audience know or think after looking over this email, proposal, or report? If the clear answer isn't immediately clear, you're moving too quickly. “Step back and take more time collecting your thoughts,” Blackburn advises.
Be direct Make your point right upfront. Many people see that the writing style and structure they developed in school doesn't are well in the business world. “Among the great diseases of business writing is postponing the message to the center area of the writing,” says Garner. By succinctly presenting your main idea first, you save your reader time and sharpen your argument before diving into the majority of your writing. When writing longer memos and proposals, Garner suggests stating the matter and proposed solution in “a maximum of 150 words” at the top of the first page. “Acquire a skill for summarizing,” he says. “If your opener is not any good, then the entire little bit of writing will soon be no good.”
Cut the fat Don't “use three words when you might do,” says Blackburn. Read your writing through critical eyes, and make sure that each word works toward your larger point. Cut every unnecessary word or sentence. There's no need to say “general consensus of opinion,” for instance, when “consensus” will do. “When readers feel that a piece of writing is verbose they start tuning out,” says Garner. He suggests deleting prepositions (viewpoint becomes viewpoint); replacing –ion words with action verbs (provided protection to becomes protected); using contractions (don't instead of don't and we're instead of we are); and swapping is, are, was and were with stronger verbs (indicates rather than is indicative of).
Avoid jargon and $10 words Business writing is full of industry-specific buzzwords and acronyms. And while these terms are often unavoidable and can occasionally be helpful as shorthand, they often indicate lazy or cluttered thinking. Throw in too many, and your reader will assume you are on autopilot — or worse, not understand what you're saying. “Jargon doesn't add any value,” says Blackburn, but “clarity and conciseness never walk out style.” Garner suggests creating a “buzzword blacklist” of words to avoid, including terms like “actionable,” “core competency,” “impactful,” and “incentivize.” It's also wise to avoid using grandiose language. Writers often mistakenly believe employing a big word each time a simple one is going to do is really a sign of intelligence. It's not.
Read what you write Put yourself in your reader's shoes. Can be your point clear and well structured? Would be the sentences straightforward and concise? Blackburn suggests reading passages out loud. “That's where those flaws reveal themselves: the gaps in your arguments, the clunky sentence, the section that's two paragraphs too much time,” she says. And don't be afraid to ask a colleague or friend — or even better, several colleagues and friends — to edit your work. Welcome their feedback; don't resent it. “Editing is an act of friendship,” says Garner. “It is not an act of aggression.”
Practice every day “Writing is a skill,” says Blackburn, “and skills improve with practice,” Garner suggests reading well-written material every dy, and being mindful of word choice, sentence structure, and flow. “Start watching the style of The Wall Street Journal,” he says. Choose guide to create and grammar for reference — Garner recommends Fowler's Modern English Usage.Most of all, build time into your schedule for editing and revising. “Writing and reworking your own personal writing is where in fact the change happens, and it's not quick,” says Blackburn. “The full time is well spent because good writers distinguish themselves on the job.”
Principles to Remember:
Do:
Plan out what you will say to make your writing more direct and effective. Use words sparingly and keep sentences short and to the point. Avoid jargon and “fancy” words. Strive for clarity instead. Don't:
Argue that you just can't write. Anyone may become an improved writer with practice. Pretend your first draft is ideal, or even passable. Every document could be improved. Bury your argument. Present most of your idea the moment possible. Case study #1: Don't be afraid to share When David McCombie began working as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company, he immediately seen that the writing style he'd honed at Harvard Law School wasn't well suited for executive-level communications. “It was the structure of my arguments,” David says. “I was getting feedback that I wanted to get to the stage more quickly.”
With legal or academic writing, “you're planning to generally start with gathering the case, and put the main point entirely by the end,” he says. “In business communications, it's best to begin with your conclusion first.”
To create his writing more direct and effective, David asked several senior colleagues for all their past presentations and reports so that he could mimic key aspects of their format and style. He also copied trusted colleagues have been particularly skilled communicators on important emails and called for their feedback.
David has carried these practices to the private equity firm he founded in Miami, the McCombie Group. “I send anything that's very important to my partner and he reads it over,” David says, adding that he knows a lot better than to take the edits personally. “We speak about whether there's a better way to convey an idea, how we could be much more succinct.”
Improving his writing has received an immediate influence on David's capability to become an influential voice in his field. He's currently writing a book on his private equity firm's niche market, The Family Office Practitioner's Guide to Direct Investments.
“Even if I knew good business writing from the get-go, I believe continually improving your writing and taking it to the next level is completely key to success,” David says. “The more you get it done, the easier it becomes.”
Case study #2: Study good writing Tim Glowa had already built a successful career as a strategic marketing consultant when he decided to set his ambitions only a little higher. “I desired to be perceived as a thought leader,” Tim says, “and to achieve that, I needed to truly have a perspective and I needed to put that perspective out in public.”
He knew that crafting smart, digestible op-eds, and research papers were key to improving his professional reputation. His writing had been well-received by colleagues and peers but much of his experience was rooted in academic writing. So he started reading business publications, like McKinsey Quarterly, for style. “I studied how they communicate,” Tim says, “and made an endeavor to make my very own writing more direct and concise.”
He also incorporated an outlining ritual into his writing. Before writing reports and memos, he now begins with a quick outline of the three main objectives. “You can't just start typing and expect you'll go somewhere,” he says. “That's like opting for a walk and being unsure of where the destination is.”
Tim, now the co-founder of a marketing analytics firm called Bug Insights, believes the efforts have made him a far better communicator, improving not only his longer writings, but his emails and even his voicemails. “It filters down into virtually all my communication,” he says. And his work is to get an audience. A number of his papers have been downloaded more than 100,000 times, and a Fortune 50 company recently used one of his papers in an interior training and development program.
Tim is gratified at his progress but says he's not going to prevent setting up the excess effort. “You have to work at it,” he says. “Anytime you create a new skill, you've to review it.”
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