If you read most job descriptions, you’ll see “effective written and verbal communication skills” as one of the most-often cited job requirements. However, the degree of effectiveness varies from role to role. For a sales position, for example, strong interpersonal and presentation skills are a must. On the other hand, if you’re applying for an editorial role, being able to spot with eagle-eye precision when effect should be used instead of affect is a given.
Regardless of the role, chances are that if you’re seeking professional employment with strong hopes of moving up the corporate ladder, you will have to craft written messages — to your boss, a committee, your employees and your peers. And how well you write — your vocabulary, syntax and even punctuation choices — will leave a lasting, almost permanent impression on others.
Effective, clear and concise writing takes practice. Like everything in life worth pursuing, the more you practice, the better you become. While resources abound, and many of them are free, that can help you hone in on your writing and craft error-free copy, below are five tips to help enhance the effectiveness of your written messages.
Five Tips for Becoming a More Effective Writer
Be Mindful: Practice mindfulness when writing.
Be Respectful: Keep the Golden Rule at the forefront.
Review: Self-edit as you write.
Pause: Set your message aside before you send it.
Ask for help: Have someone else review your copy.
Practice Mindfulness When Writing
Mindfulness is described as the state of being conscious or aware of something. More elaborately, mindfulness is “a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts and bodily sensations.”
When it comes to writing, being mindful can be quite beneficial. For example, imagine you just came out of a budget planning meeting and were informed you must cut expenses by 20 percent. The cut will severely impact a new project you were hoping to launch in the coming year. Should you write an update email to your vice president about that nagging problem you’ve been having at work?
Probably not.
Being aware of your emotions and thoughts, and recognizing the impact they have on your behavior, can make the world of difference as you write. This level of awareness — of being in the moment with your true self — can prevent you from reacting and, instead, enable you to write with purpose.
Keep the Golden Rule at the Forefront
Many moons ago as part of my anthropology studies, I took a magic, ritual and belief class. Points of similarity abound in all world cultures and religions. Among them is the Golden Rule: Treat others as you would like to be treated.
The same Golden Rule applies in writing.
Don’t like cryptic, unclear messages? Don’t write them yourself. Don’t like people who are disrespectful and unprofessional in face-to-face conversations? Be polite when you write (e.g., include a salutation, such as “Hello,” “Hi” or even “Good Morning”). The way we communicate verbally and in writing is like a boomerang: Our words can either propel us to greatness or be the cause of much unnecessary pain and suffering.
Another reason to practice the Golden Rule: Written words are harder to take back.
Self-Edit as You Write
Great writers have great editors to help them. However, we don’t always have the time to wait for someone to review every message or piece of content we craft. This is when self-editing comes in handy.
To self-edit simply: Write, review, edit and repeat. You’ll be amazed how many typos and punctuation errors you’ll catch, in addition to making overall changes to your copy once or twice (or even more times).
As you review your copy, don’t forget to spellcheck. You can also download Grammarly’s free browser extension. The free version will identify punctuation errors and misspelled words as you type.
Set Your Message Aside Before You Send It
There’s nothing worse that hitting “send” too fast or submitting a report or article for feedback in a rush. At best, there’s nothing wrong with the report; at worst, your article might be plagued with errors, which might make you look unprofessional.
More often than not, it’s best to set your copy aside before sharing it with the world. If time if of the essence, practicing the tips discussed earlier will help. But if delivery can wait, take advantage of this gift of time.
A good rule is to set the copy aside for an hour or so, which enables you to look at the message with a fresh pair of eyes. Print the content and proceed to read everything line-by-line to help identify errors. Start with the headers and footers, as well as anything else that is not the main body copy. Review the main copy last. Once you make your changes, print the content once more and review everything from top to bottom.
If you don’t have ready access to a printer, try to enlarge (zoom in) the copy on the screen. Another final tip for identifying errors is to read the copy out loud.
Have Someone Else Review Your Copy
If you don’t trust your editorial skills and have access to a friendly copy editor, ask for assistance. Please keep in mind that the longer the piece, the longer the suggested lead time should be. You don’t want to drop a 5,000-word white paper at 3 p.m. with a turn-around time of 30 minutes.
Below are the suggested turn-around time frames for projects in my department. We use these as guide posts when an editorial request is made to help plan our in-house production schedule. You can use these when making similar requests of your in-house editor:
Substantive Editing: 5 pgs/hr (minimum time) to 2 pgs/hr (maximum time)
Copy Editing: 10 pgs/hr (minimum time) to 5 pgs/hr (maximum time)
Proofreading: 13 pgs/hr (minimum time) to 9 pgs/hr (maximum time)
Bottom Line
Similarly to public speaking, effective writing skills can help your professional career soar. From writing simple, yet engaging, internal emails to creating blogs and board-level presentations, it is no longer the job of professional writers to create inspiring copy. Unless you have a team of dedicated copywriters ready to help, we might be required to to bus our own tables after both cooking and serving the meal.
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