13th Commandment of Business Writing: Think globally

In contemporary society the internet allows anyone, anywhere in the world communicate with anyone they want- as long as they both have internet access. With so many tools today what you say can have a bigger audience than ever. E-mail, blogs, youtube, facebook, Twitter, personal websites, and a whole host of other options have opened the door for global interaction. In light of this Andy Warhol's most famous quote seems to have come true.

When using other forms of communication than the internet, and when using the internet itself, it is important to tailor our words for a global audience. The First Commandment of Business Writing holds true, always know your audience! As businesses are increasingly becoming more diverse it is important to keep these audience traits in mind when crafting your message.

Gender
Race and ethnicity
Regional and national origin
Social Class
Religion
Age
Sexual orientation
Physical ability

Any or all of these may be applicable in any given audience, and you must keep these facts in mind to avoid offending your audience.

As well as written messages, presentations or simple conversation must be kept in check as well. Body language, non-verbal communication, artifacts that you posess, the clothing you wear personal space and time all combine to present your image. Abusing these can cause people to form opinions about you, whether you like it or not. For example showing up to an important meeting looking sloppy can make your boss look down upon you, while wearing a Swastika on your arm and walking down the street will garner almost universal contempt from those you encounter.

If you learn one thing, realize that people pay attention to the image you are presenting, whether you know it or not.

12th Commandment of Business Writing: How to write long reports

But I've never written anything so long! Well there is a first time for everything so suck it up this has to be done.

Long reports need to completely cover all the topics you wish to recommend, and as such they are going to be long to fully expound your ideas. The parts you need to cover are simple:

Introduction
Background
Body
Conclusions
Recommendations
References
Appendices

Writing them may not be as simple. To write an effective report make sure that you write as much as you can as soon as you can. Also, you need to spend most of the time writing on sections that support your recommendations. This does not necessarily mean spend most of your time on the recommendation section itself.

You want to write each section one at a time in order to devote full attention to your current section and fully develop your ideas. Anything that supports your recommendation should be included and any supplementary info should be paraphrased and cited.

11th Commandment of Business Writing: Select the right letter

When applying for jobs there is the obligatory resume, but there is also usually a cover letter. Let's cover the different types and when to use each.

A solicited letter is for when you know that a company is hiring and the letter should be tailored with that in mind. State that you are applying for a certain position in the company and how your skills translate into that position.

A prospective letter is when you know, or don't know, that a company is hiring. It is sent out to feel out a "hidden job market" which might be when the company has an opening but has not advertised for it yet, or the company might create a position for you if your skills are specialized and they realize that this is an opportunity.

Letters go beyond the resume and establish you as a person who is competent and engaging. They are highly useful tools and should be used to your advantage.

10th Commandment of Business Writing: Make your resume stand out

How does a company notice your resume? Generally companies use a process of cuts determining which resumes to take a look at, when they go by hand each resume earns about 3 seconds before they are sorted into the accept of reject pile. By computer it takes about .5 milliseconds. The point is make your resume stand out.

There are two general types of resume, chronological and skills. The chronological goes in order of your education and experience to paint a picture. There is also reverse chronological, which you guessed it, goes back in time. A skills resume highlights the aspects of your experience most related to the job you're applying for, the type to use depends on the position you're after.

The important thing to remember is that although conventions for writing resumes are very important -spelling, format, etc... Write to your audience, looking to be hired as a creative consultant? Put your personal flair on a resume. Applying to be a lawyer? Keep the resume by the book and beef up the accomplishments.

9th Commandment of Business Writing: Finding and analyzing appropriate sources

To find the information you need to research a topic, keywords are your best friend. Use the phrases related to your topic online to find hard copy prints of the documents you need. A word of warning: Not all internet sources are reliable, make sure to use academic journals or periodicals as opposed to webpages or Wikipedia.

When compiling your own data, the use of surveys is an important tool. However, the questions must be worded correctly and in a way that dis-ambiguates any unclarity the respondent might have. Avoid being vague!

Once you have collected the data you need to analyze it. Follow these steps...

1. Understand where the data came from, or whether it is reliable or not.

2. Compile the numbers and analye the averages.

3. Analyze the words, what they mean, how respondents answered and outside factors influenced responses.

4. Check your logic, do not get causation mixed up with correlation or find any faulty arguments i.e. post hoc ere go propter hoc or the slippery slope fallacy.

8th Commandment of Business Writing: Plan your proposal

When writing a proposal you need to plan the document: What content will it contain? What should the title say? How long should it be? How should the format be presented? These are all important questions to consider before starting. In other words, planning is of paramount importance.

The content should focus on four things.

1. What you're going to do

2. How you're going to do it

3. When you're are going to do it

4. Evidence that you will do it well

By nature reports are not exciting documents, so only contain these elements to keep readers interest. In that aspect, the document should only be as long as you need to convey your information. The title should be clear and specific. Don’t say “Taxes on Southern Universities”, say “State Taxes on Tuition at State Funded Schools in Kentucky”.

7th Commandment of Business Writing: Interpersonal Group Communication

The best way to communicate? Listen! This applies to all areas of communication, not just business but it is just as important. When engaging in dialogue with a co-worker, listen instead of talk, this is based on the idea that humans are selfish and that your co-worker wants to talk about himself. So let him, it will make him feel better to have someone that listens and you can learn some important information from just listening. How do you listen you may ask, well its easy, pay attention, focus on the speaker, avoid making assumptions and listen for feelings instead of facts. These are usually more important to the speaker.

Working in groups is non-negotiable in a business setting in the world today. You will be required to frequently meet and team up with co-workers to produce your work. Messages that groups focus on are informational, procedural and interpersonal. All of these are related to the company and how best these messages push the company’s priorities. Groups can function in a variety of ways and there are many components to a group. These roles include a person who encourages participation, relieves tension, solves interpersonal problems and listens actively. The members must be committed to the group and not personal achievement or the cogs won’t work correctly.

6th Commandment of Business Writing: Revise your Words!

Analyzing a document down to a word… Does it really matter? Y dnt u tell m3? Of course that’s an extreme example, but word choice is an important, and subtle, distinction between a good writer and a wishy-washy one. Heres an example of good words compared to words not to use.

Good                     Bad

Guess                   Assume

Nosy                      Curious

Haggle                  Negotiate

Fearful                  Cautious

Wishy-washy     Flexible

Denotation is a word's literal (definition) meaning, while connotation is the implied meaning that the word brings up when mentioned. Wishy-washy can be described as flaky, not worth attention or worthwhile, it is much close to flexible in meaning. Flexible is its denotation, the other meanings are connotations. See how the right word matters now?

The best writing style is businesslike and friendly, for business writing in a friendly environment. In truth it all depends on your audience and writing conventions of your setting. Writing a heavily researched dissertation can impress college professors but will get you nowhere with kindergarteners. Revising is always expected across all forms of writing however. Let’s go over a few ground rules that can always be applied: Use active verbs to carry the weight of your sentence, vary sentence length and structure, use parallel structure and put your readers in your sentences (indirectly but not directly).  

5th Commandment of Business Writing: Benefit your readers!

Identify the benefits your readers are looking for and then highlight them! Whether by new product or policy or an announcement of some sort, look between the lines and make sure your readers know. Benefits can be psychological, intrinsic or extrinsic. Psychological benefits are perceived by the reader and help make a happy reader, intrinsic is by proxy of the new product, service or policy being announced and extrinsic is added on solely for the reader. Make sure to develop the benefit fully, use more than one sentence to enlighten the reader on how this benefits them. This strategy makes a happy reader who looks on you and your company more favorably.

 

E-mail is an integral part of office work and a highly useful tool: But use discretion! E-mail is not private and any questionable information sent can come back to you days, weeks, years even, later.  E-mail should be as formal as a memo in a business situation, although it is tempting to become lax when using e-mail, the same principles apply. The spelling, tone, and image all still contribute to the reader’s image of you and your company. Also, always avoid sending e-mail when angry or upset in any way, use discretion with all caps, NEVER SEND A WHOLE E-MAIL MESSAGE LIKE THIS BECAUSE IT IS EXTREMELY ANNOYING.

4th Commandment of Business Writing: Know your strategy.

Negative messages are necessary, they must be used to give the bad news, have the reader understand and accept the message and maintain as much goodwill as possible. Try to omit the subject line unless there is a chance readers might overlook the message. To present a negative message to someone outside the company, organize it in this manner: Reason for bad news, give the bad news once and clearly, an alternative solution and a goodwill ending. When presenting bad news to a superior you must describe the problem, tell how it happened, describe the options for fixing it and recommend a solution and ask for action. The most common types of negative letters are rejections, refusals, disciplinary notices, negative performance appraisals, layoffs and firings.

Persuasive messages primarily are to get the reader to act, provide information on how to act, and overcome any obstacle that would prevent someone to act. There are four ways to create persuasive messages but we will be focusing on just two, direct request pattern and problem solving pattern. Direct request is self-explanatory, it involves asking immediately for information or service that you want, give the readers information they will need and then ask again. Problem solving is magnanimous, you start by describing the problem you both share, give the details of the problem, explain solution to the problem, show that any negative elements are outweighed by advantages, summarize any additional benefits and then ask for the action you want.

3rd Commandment of Business Writing: Be Positive

Formats for Letters and Memos

 

Letters and memos are essential to running a business, they are used to inform or persuade. Letters go out of the office to clients or interested parties while memos are inter-office. In this aspect letters are generally persuasive and memos are informative.  Letters commonly follow two formats – block style and modified block style. Block style is the most common and has all paragraphs lined up to the left of the page with no indentation. Modified block style can use indentation and aligns the salutation and conclusion on the right side of the page. Memos are simple and contain no salutation or conclusion and are aligned to the left with optional indentation. Whether writing a letter or a memo the format will affect the image the reader has on you and the company you belong to, thereby the format choice is an important consideration when writing.

Informative and Positive Messages

 Presenting information in a positive light affects the image of your company, therefore it is crucial to practice always using positive tone. The subject line needs to be specific and concise and the information needs to presented in the following order.

1.       Give good news and summarize main points.

2.       Give details, clarification and background.

3.       Present any negative elements… as positively as possible.

4.       Explain any reader benefits.

5.       Use a goodwill ending: positive, personal and forward looking.

Try to include reader benefits, however they are not needed when you’re presenting factual information only, the readers attitude doesn’t matter, stressing benefits may make the reader sound selfish or when the benefits are so obvious that restating them insults the readers intelligence.