Whether you’re a manager or a lower-level employee, having strong business writing skills is essential to getting your point across. Clear, concise, and direct writing is the best way to communicate ideas in a business setting. However, writing styles vary on an individual basis, and some are more effective than others. Enrolling in a business writing skills workshop teaches you the following methods to hone your professional written communication.
Consider Your Words and Sentence Structure Carefully
Wording and sentence structure are imperative to all business writing. Whatever message you’re trying to convey, choose your words wisely to ensure that your intentions are well understood. Before writing, collect and organize your thoughts to communicate them better. Remember, a scattered brain leads to scattered thoughts. Take the time to review the document you’re writing before sending or sharing it. If you have a hard time following your thought process, others will too. A professional business writing workshop can help you learn to better organize and communicate your thoughts.
Know Your Audience
The recipient of your writing material matters because it determines the tone you will use. Ask yourself who will read the document or email that you’re writing. Is it someone who’s a friend and colleague, your boss, a coworker, or a client? If it’s just an email to a coworker that you are friends with, then you can afford to be a little more casual. But, if you’re writing a business proposal or pitch that’s going to be read by multiple people at your company, then you need to be more mindful of that. Either way, keep your business writing professional but adjust it for different situations.
Edit and Review Your Work
Always take the time to read over any document or email you’re working on before sharing it with others. If you’ve been working on a project for a long time, it might help to have someone else proofread it for you for clarity and to check for grammatical errors. Sometimes, a fresh set of eyes can help you see things you might have missed along the way.
Avoid Using Jargon in Business Writing
You might be tempted to use a lot of business jargon or acronyms in your emails and project proposals in an attempt to make yourself seem more knowledgeable. But in reality, this can have the opposite effect. Business buzzwords are often vague and can have different meanings to different people, so try to avoid using them as much as possible. In some cases, they may even warrant further explanation, which means that your message was lost on your readers. Using too many acronyms or a lot of business jargon defeats the whole purpose of writing a business document in the first place. Keep it short and to the point and use simple language that everyone can understand.
Take a Business Writing Skills Workshop
Business writing soft skills training is a valuable investment in the growth and success of your company. The Soft Skills Group offers many in-person and online soft skills training workshops that focus on various aspects of management and communication to help you improve your professional dealings. Contact us today to learn more or to reserve your spot!
