Email: How can I improve my writing skills at work? Write reports. (Wales)
We learn as we go. Good writing skills are essential in business. We need to effectively communicate with colleagues, stakeholders, customers & partners. Many think good writing is an art, ones who do it well have an innate talent. Yet, the criteria for making better writing choices are more objective than we think.
Whether it’s a succinct email or a complex argument, magic happens when it’s simple, specific, surprising, stirring, smart, social or story-driven. Keep it simple, clean. Short sentences, familiar words ensure others don’t have to exert much brain-power to understand. Cutting unnecessary words, using the active voice keeps it persuasive. Specific words stimulate.
Surprise can make our message stick, a novelty factor. We process emotional connotations of a word faster, reason follows. We then combine the immediate feeling & subsequent thought to create meaning. E.g. ‘promote innovation’ can be ‘prize ingenuity’. Metaphors work better. Feelings mixed with facts create the best expression.
We can build up excitement when we clearly structure our writing – Steve Jobs iconic ‘how to live before you die’ address at Stanford. “Today, I want to tell you 3 stories from my life. Just 3 stories.” On the edge to hear these stories? Good writing is like solving a mystery. How can we create an ‘a-ha’ moment?
We’re wired to crave human connection, even in what we read. Want to understand what writers are thinking & feeling. One way to connect is to reveal more traces of ourselves, our experiences, the human angle. Stories, even fragments of them, captivate. By incorporating stories in our communications we empathise, motivate & inspire. Basically, we can thoughtfully reward readers as we would ourself.