306: Improving Written Communication Skills to Enhance Promotability

Improving Written Communication Skills to Enhance Promotability

Last week, I focused on Verbal Communication Skills to Enhance Promotability; today I’m covering Written Communication Skills.

Once again, I want to start with an assessment – these are great questions to ask yourself. From there, I recommend you pick the area that you felt the least confident about and set a 90-day goal for improvement.

1.     How well can I anticipate and predict possible causes for written confusion and miscommunication, and how good am I at dealing with them upfront?

2.     How often do recipients fully understand my messages, emails, or other documents? Do I give enough information and detail?

3.     Can I use communication platforms such as email to quickly and efficiently communicate complex issues?

4.     Do people often misunderstand my messages? Am I often surprised that they don’t understand what I have written?

Let’s review the four steps to the communication process as they apply to written communication:

-The words you write (correct word usage, punctuation, context)

-What you meant by those words (which is more challenging without visual cues – remember that only 7% of communication is the actual words you use)

-The words the receiver reads (the reader’s facility with the language, eyesight, communication device i.e. phone, tablet)

-What the receiver makes those words mean (experience, cultural differences, their thoughts about you/the subject matter)

There are four types of written communication:

-Informational – You are conveying information to someone who needs to know that information. No response is required, except perhaps acknowledgment of receipt or any questions.

-Instructional – You are educating someone on something they need to know. Again - no response is required, except perhaps acknowledgment of receipt or any questions.

-Transactional – You are conveying something to someone else, with the expectation of a response. The mistake many people make with this type of communication is not clearly conveying that a response is expected and the nature of that response.

-Persuasive – You are communicating the benefits of a product, service, person, or idea to elicit a specific response, such as buying the product or service or voting for the candidate. This type of communication requires a clear call to action.

Next, let’s dig into specific written communication issues you may have and ways to improve.

1.     If you struggle with grammar, spelling, and punctuation:

-You may want to take a short course to help you with this.

-Read a lot – it doesn’t matter what, as long as it’s well written. Pay attention to grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

-Do NOT depend on Spell Check.

-Take advantage of a tool like Grammarly.

-Practice writing.

-Read your writing out loud.

2.     If you struggle with clarity and structure in your writing:

-If the message is complex, outline it.

-Get to the point.

-Determine the best method for conveying this message – should it even be in writing? If so, is it an email, a memorandum, a white sheet?

-Anticipate your reader’s questions.

-Read out loud.

-Ask someone else to read your writing and tell you what they think you’re trying to communicate.

-Don’t over-explain.

-Eliminate filler words and phrases in the editing phase.

-Eliminate redundancy (State of Florida, previous experience, final conclusion)

-Go easy on the prepositional phrases (“reflected” instead of “was a reflection of,” “of the results of the quarter” can be changed to “this quarter’s results” – which also puts it in active rather than passive voice)

-Avoid padding weak words with adverbs (instead of “mostly right” you could write “had excellent points,” instead of “please respond quickly,” try being more specific with a date).

-Take a business writing course – I did in graduate school, and it was one of the best courses in my Master’s degree. You can also take a shorter-term course through LinkedIn Learning, for example.

-Get a business writing “mentor” – someone with exceptional written communication skills AND the time and patience to help you develop your skills in this area.

As with last week’s episode, let’s bring this back around to how to leverage your improvements to increase your promotability.

-Clearly communicate you goal with your boss and ask him/her for any support you need (pay for a course and possible release time, for example)

-Regularly communicate your progress with your boss.

-Make certain your boss knows you WANT to be promoted – and want to be considered for a promotion at the appropriate time.