A client, who recently got her MBA after being in the technology space for nearly a decade decided to look for opportunities inside her own company to break into the business world. So, she sent an email to a high-level executive in another business area, seeking an informational interview. She was taken aback when he shot back an email in response, communicating that he would not see her merely on the basis of how poorly that request was written!
My client was mortified! So, she quickly contacted me to see why she deserved this unexpected wrath, as she was merely trying to offer her services to the executive’s growing organization! When I looked at the original email my client had sent, I was surprised by how indecorous it was: sloppy language, incomplete sentences, incoherency of thought–in short, a piece of execrable writing! If the executive had not taken that extra trouble to let my client learn the significance of well-written business communication, my client would never have known why she got such a “rude” response to such an earnest request!
We often overestimate our ability to communicate well. I think that the disconnect occurs because we are unable to understand the difference between what we are thinking and how our thinking translates into a verbal message that someone can understand the way want them to. We understand what we are thinking and we are writing our thoughts as we think them, so what is the problem?
Plenty! Good writing is hard. As someone once aptly said, A good writer is someone for whom writing is extremely difficult! Good writing looks easy, but to write something easy to understand the first time someone reads it is difficult enough; it is doubly hard when you want that someone to act in a way that serves you. So, what is the secret of good communication? Let us beak it down and see if we can conquer this domain, so critical to your career advancement:
- First and foremost, know your audience or recipient. That sets the tone of the communication. The medium, too, is another factor. A letter is a bit more formal than its emailed counterpart. For important messages treat an email as if it were a letter. Clearly, a message sent to a high-level executive must be coherent, cogent, articulate, and concise. They should be able to see the benefit in reading it even if you do not want them to do anything for you as a result of the message. Well-written prose is just fun to read!
- Choose a style that fits the motivation and the readers’ preference. Use appropriate language to show that you respect their station in life. Choose words carefully to convey the exact meaning you plan to communicate; avoid ambiguity!
- Make sure that there is logic to the structure of your message (coherence and cogency, again!). Do not jump around, but have a smooth flow to the message. Remember when we studied geometry proofs? How we organized our arguments and went to “QED?” Good writing is much like geometric proofs; it must be logical and must make sense to the reader. On top of that it needs soul; geometric proofs are dry and factual!
- Do not use scholarly words just to impress the reader. Make sure that the reader gets the message and not how smart you are. It is like a great commercial: you do not want to remember the commercial, but the product it is pitching, instead!
- For important messages, wait for a day, make sure that you read it the next day, and then show it to someone who is a good writer just to review what you wrote. Take their inputs seriously to revise the message before sending it. See their red-lines to learn what needs to change in your writing, do not merely take their changes without understanding the reasoning.
- If you are writing-challenged, take a course in composition or even in creative writing and learn to write better. Practice writing every day as if your life depends on it and see the improvement in your own writing.
- Read well-written passages and analyze them for their writing. Develop your own style that works for you.
- Take speaking lessons or join Toastmaster’s International. This will build your communication platform.
- Volunteer writing for others and see how they see your work. This will build your writing confidence.
- Work with someone who can help you craft your message and then learn how to do it yourself.
More than any other skill, good communication can help you progress much more with ease in your career than mere brain smarts!