“Awesome business writing skills will get you nowhere.” Said no serious CEO ever.
Actually, just like a stack of Benjamins, great business writing skills can open a lot of doors for you. Especially if you lack said stack.
Speaking of stacking, let me lay some statistics down for you about business writing.
93.2% of American employers rated written/oral communication skills as an essential skill for a prospective employee.
33% of American businesses lost a customer due to a communication issue in 2020. Most of this communication appears to be written in some text format.
In other words, the written word isn’t going anywhere. It’s getting more abbreviated by the day as our attention spans shrink, but, it’s very much alive and kicking. No matter what your career entails, it’s going to be really hard to escape the need for business writing skills.
And if you can’t beat them, join them.
The Starting Point for Awesome Business Writing Skills
Either I’ve convinced you why you should spend energy reading this post or you like me enough to keep reading. So let me make it worth your while.
In the first instance, awesome business writing skills start with an awesome foundation, just like any good dish.
In my experience, this means that your business writing must add value to the reader. If you make your business writing all about you, I can almost guarantee that you will get nowhere. Fast.
This means that before you even hover your fingers over the keyboard, you need to understand your reader and what they want from you. To understand, you must learn to ask the right questions and listen to the answers.
For this purpose, the ‘right’ questions will always be open-ended:
- Who will be reading this report?
- Why is this project important to your company?
- What decision does your boss have to make?
- When must this email be sent?
- Where does my client want me to focus my research?
- How long does my boss want this proposal to be?
In other words, what components does your writing need to add value for your reader?
Past the Prep
At this point in your writing process, four very crucial matters should be clear to you-
- the desired outcome of your business writing;
- the problem or pain point that your writing should address;
- the characteristics of the person with the problem and your reader (if they are not the same person); and
- the time and space (read: length of text) that you have to explain your solution or request the reader’s assistance.
If these things are not clear, repeat step one. Go back to your supervisor, client or Google and figure out the answers.
What’s left is for you to be clear on what you want to say. You can always polish your language afterwards. But you need to be clear on what you want to say.
Unfortunately, this is where many of us struggle, including me when I first embarked on my corporate career. You might think, as I did initially, that because you have earned a high school diploma or a university degree, that you know how to write.
You don’t.
Learning how to spew facts under pressure or showing off your knowledge in an academic paper provides you with a foundation of language. However, in my opinion, it does not prepare you for the type of thought clarity which is required to produce great writing.
My mother always said to me, “If you can’t say something simply, you don’t understand it.”
She was right (as she usually is).
So how do we learn to streamline our thinking so that we can write clearly?
My Secret Sauce
In order to meet whatever arbitrary deadline was decreed, I developed the technique of the syllogism skeleton to help me clarify my thoughts, and my writing. It’s my ‘secret sauce’.
As a reminder, a syllogism is a form of deductive reasoning, using two premises with a common element to create a conclusion. For example:
- All birds can fly. (Premise 1)
- A penguin is a bird. (Premise 2)
- Therefore, a penguin can fly. (Conclusion)
This is perfectly logical but absolutely nonsensical. That’s because premise #1 is untrue. The potential ridiculousness of a syllogism doesn’t mean that it has no use. In fact, the syllogism exposed where the error occurred in the assumption that penguins can fly.
Hence, syllogisms have always helped my clarity of thought.
Those of you who are very sharp with details will notice that I said that syllogism skeletons are my secret sauce. Yep, there’s more to this.
In order to form the outline of my business writing piece, I usually create bullet points of one sentence or less for each point of the piece. Then, I work backwards to ensure that each point will be backed by a syllogism that makes sense.
You can think of this like a mind map.
This process has always helped me clarify my thoughts in a short time. It also has the added bonus of helping me start from a concise position.
Of course, at this point, your draft will still be looking pretty rough.
The question then becomes, how do you smooth the language into a refined masterpiece?
Add Useful Filler
This is the stage where you can make your business writing compelling friends. This is where you fill in your skeleton. However, “fill in” doesn’t mean “clutter”.
Instead, it means –
- a fishing line introduction – your first few lines should pull your reader in and get to the point
- a few transition words – your points should flow from one to the other
- some compelling language – this means language which is non-inflammatory or offensive, but which resonates with the reader
- a call to action (CTA) – your CTA brings your piece to a close by referencing its purpose in relation to the reader.
At this point, your syllogism skeleton should have flesh on its bones. Your use of language should have breathed life into it. Your CTA should give it purpose and direction. It’s almost ready.
What more is needed to hit the send button?
Polishing the Proverbial Apple of Business Writing Skills
Now that you have a first draft, you need to edit. This step is what I like to call ‘polishing the apple’.
Time to check my grammar, syntax and spelling. Some people like to just go with automatic spell checkers, but I’m an old fashioned girl. I will use spell check, but I’ll also look up the grammar myself.
Another important thing to bear in mind is ensuring that you use words according to their proper meaning. There is no shame in picking up a dictionary to check the meaning of words to make sure that you’re using them in the right context. A word used in the wrong context can totally destroy an otherwise compelling piece!
Once you’ve done all this, put down your draft.
Move on to another task. Get up and stretch. Hydrate. Just take your mind off it. If you have a lot of time to go it over, then it’s best to check it the next day with a brain refreshed from sleep.
If you don’t have a lot of time, go it over one more time, edit, pray and hit send. At least, that’s what I usually do.
Now that you’ve done all this, will your business writing skills be awesome?
Notwithstanding the strength of this process, what will make your business writing itself awesome is experience. Experience will teach you what the substance of your piece should be. These business writing skills are just the framework.
At the end of the day, nothing can replace good old fashioned time.
What It All Boils Down To
To develop awesome business writing skills, you first need a framework or process to approach every task. The syllogism skeleton has been so helpful in my own writing journey. However, experience is irreplaceable. That was the je-ne-sais-quoi that was missing early in my corporate career.
What do you struggle with when developing your business writing skills? What do you wish you could do better?
Comment below and let me know!
Until the next post, go forth and be awesome.
P.S. Tomorrow (March 03), Wukkin will be 1 year old! Hurrah! I am so thankful for everyone who steps into my corner of the internet, especially my wonderful Wukkin email community!
You motivate me to constantly put out content that will be valuable to you in your career journey.
May God bless you all.