Writing Skills for Business: How to communicate clearly to get your message across

Alysoun Owen is the author of the Writers’ & Artists’ Guide to Getting Published and contributed to The Right Word: A Writer’s Toolkit of Grammar, Vocabulary and Literary Terms.

She runs a publishing consultancy and creates pitches, writes reports, and communicates with companies and individuals across various sectors and countries. She has been a commissioning editor for writing and language titles at Oxford University Press. Alysoun teaches a course on Project Management for the Publishing Training Centre, which covers communication skills and how to prepare information and documentation in a business context.

www.alysounowen.com

Contents

Assess yourself: How good are your writing skills?

1. Why being good at writing matters

2. Communicating with purpose

3. Knowing your audience

4. Some types of written communication

5. Layout and formatting

6. Adopting the right tone and style

7. Grammar, punctuation and spelling

8. Recap: Writing rules – essential dos

9. Checking and editing your work

Checklists

Where to find more help

Index

Assess yourself: How good are your writing skills?

Assessment 1

Write down all the types of written texts you prepare in your job. Include all of them, from the formal to the more informal; those you write for internal eyes only and those that are ‘published’ to the outside world.

There will be more than you think. Concentrate on those that include continuous prose.

Types of written text might include (and this list is by no means comprehensive):

• company report;

• business or strategy plan;

• contract;

• blog;

• marketing or project plan;

• newsletter;

• public notice or poster;

• job application cover letter/email;

• briefing document;

• user or training guide.

Assessment 2

Now think about the ways in which you communicate in writing. How do you reach those with whom you are communicating? Tick all those that apply.

✓ letter

✓ email

✓ social media

✓ professional publication

✓ instant messaging

✓ online

✓ group chat

✓ PowerPoint presentation

Add any others.

Assessment 3

3.1. How do you feel when you sit down to draft an email to your boss or a peer?

a. Confident, I don’t think too much about it, I simply get on and do it.

b. Sometimes I worry about the wording and find it tricky to find the right tone to use.

c. I always feel anxious when contacting my superiors and colleagues, as I worry about mistakes in my writing. It takes me longer than I think it should to draft an email.

3.2. What if you are asked to write something longer – a strategy paper – for senior managers or for board members? How do you rate how you feel then?

a. mostly confident

b. sometimes worried

c. always anxious

Assessment 4

How good is your grasp of grammar and punctuation?

1. Do you know the difference in meaning between these words and in which context to use them?

a. climactic and climatic

b. affect and effect

c. fewer and less

2. Do you know how to use a colon and a semi-colon, and how to distinguish one from the other? (Answers are given in Chapter 7.)

Assessment 5

Which areas are you weak in when it comes to writing? Tick all those that apply.

✓ knowing how to start

✓ vocabulary and spelling

✓ grammar and punctuation

✓ structuring a document

✓ content flow and readability

✓ using the appropriate tone

✓ avoiding errors

✓ checking my work

✓ taking too long

✓ rushing – not spending enough time

Getting going

No one is asking you to become a literary sensation. The text you are writing is likely to be factual and practical. You shouldn’t spend hours deliberating over every word and sentence. That would not make good business sense.

Having a clear sense of the PURPOSE of what you are drafting is the first crucial step in becoming a better business writer.

1

Why being good at writing matters

Communicating effectively on the page or screen is different from giving a presentation, contributing verbally to a team meeting, introducing yourself in person to a client or briefing a colleague face-to-face. In all these situations, it is highly likely that your spoken communication will be accompanied by some written materials. These might include items such as:

• a meeting agenda;

• minutes and actions produced after a meeting;

• an email to confirm what was agreed between two or more parties to record or clarify business discussions;

• a legal document to formally ratify business decisions;

• an email to thank, encourage or inform a client or colleague;

• a PowerPoint presentation to support a talk or lecture.

Getting your message across

In the world of work, getting your message across to the right people in the most effective way may be the difference between winning or missing out on a contract. It is a core aspect of doing business and should therefore be a priority for all organizations. The way you personally communicate, as