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Importance of Communication Skills |
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Do you prepare to write by sitting in front of your computer, waiting for inspiration to strike? Or do you sit at your desk staring at a blank piece of paper? For many people, starting a writing project is like thinking about cleaning out your garage. You know it needs to get done, but for the life of you, you just can’t figure out where to begin. It seems so overwhelming. The key to painlessly putting together a writing project is to break it down into manageable pieces. There are three main steps to preparing any business message:
Determine Your Purpose There are many different reasons to write a business message. Think about some of the writing you did at work last week. You probably wrote a combination of e-mails, memos and letters. Perhaps one message informed employees that their health insurance coverage costs will be changing. Maybe you wrote an e-mail to answer a co-worker’s question about a project Or perhaps you wrote a letter to a customer who had a complaint about her experience in your store. Each one of these messages had a different purpose. To help you organize your thoughts, put together a purpose statement ‘The purpose of this memo is to...” and then fill in the rest of the sentence. Using the examples listed above, you could put together three different purpose statements:
Organize Your Message You can compare writing a business message to making a cake. In order to have that delicious chocolate cake for desert, you need to follow the recipe. When you look at a recipe, everything should be written in the order you need to add the ingredients. First, the recipe tells you to set the temperature on the oven and then you continue to follow directions as you add the ingredients, mix it, and bake for 30 minutes. What would happen if you didn’t have the recipe written in an orderly fashion? Would you still be able to make the cake? For some of you who are experienced cooks, you might still be able to make the cake. For others, you would get lost and not be able to figure out what to do. The same thing happens when we try to write without some form of organization. It takes longer to write and it becomes a frustrating experience. Knowing why you are writing your message helps you to organize your message. Main Points In order to get started on your writing you need to have an outline of where you want to go. If you wanted to go from Corona to Ventura, you would need a map to figure out how to get there. You wouldn’t just get on any freeway and hope you get there. You need to know where you are going and how you are getting there. It’s the same thing with writing. Start by making a list of your main points. Pretend you are writing a memo telling your employees that, during the summer, the company will be working a 4-lO schedule. (This is your purpose.) Some of the main points might be: Working a 4-lO schedule will decrease the company’s utility costs; Childcare services will be available on-site; All departments will be working the same schedule. Now you just need to decide how you want to organize your main points based on importance. Organize Main Points Your main points will be organized based on how your audience is going to react to your message. Most business writing can be put into two basic categories: to inform or to persuade. Everything you write will be a variation of these two categories. Direct Approach When you expect the reader to be pleased, mildly interested or neutral, you start with your main point and then follow through with your details. This is called the direct approach. if you are writing to inform, you use the direct approach. Most business correspondence is written in the direct approach. Indirect Approach When you expect the audience to be uninterested, unwilling, displeased or even hostile, the indirect pattern is more appropriate. In this pattern you don’t reveal the main idea until after you have offered explanation and evidence. In other words, you explain your reasons for saying “no,” before you say “no.” A persuasive message uses the indirect approach. How would you organize the memo about the 4-lO schedule? It could go either way. If you know the majority of your employees will dread working a 10-hour day, then you would use the indirect approach. If you know they will enjoy a 4-lO schedule, you will use the direct approach. The Details Your main points build support for your purpose. You support your main points with details. Think about what the reader needs to know to make your points clear. Let’s go back to the 4-lO memo. List each one of your main points and ask yourself what details need to be included to make the message clear. For example, just telling your audience they will have a 4-10 schedule is not enough. They need to know what time to come in and what time to leave each day. They need to know when the new schedule starts and when it will end. They need to know what day the company will be closed. These are the details that support your main point. This is what will make your message make sense. Now you are ready to write your first draft. Wasn’t that easy?
This article reprinted from the Riverside Business Journal |
