Business Writing Skills: ACE Your Writing at Work with These Tips

Why are we so short on business writing skills anyway?

Mark Twain supposedly said, “Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words.”

Obviously, he was being sarcastic because there’s a lot more to writing than crossing out the wrong words, right? But what? What are we missing? What do we not know?

Well, it turns out there’s a lot we don’t know about writing…especially business writing.

One study found 26.2% of employers think college graduates have deficient business writing skills—not weak but deficient.[1] As for those of us who graduated a while back, we’re also lacking. Why? Because once we’re out of school and in the workforce, our business writing stays stagnant.

But when we don’t write well…

• We don’t communicate clearly.
• Writing is tedious and time-consuming.
• We make mistakes.
• We can hurt our careers or lose clients.

On the other hand, when we do write well…

• We communicate clearly.
• We save time.
• We get more done.
• We give our careers or income a boost.

Simply put, we are more confident and productive when we write well. I’ll even argue that your writing can be your superpower at work. How? Because when you write well, you:

• Communicate clearly and concisely.
• Tackle writing projects with ease.
• Slash the time you spend on email.
• And consistently put your best self forward.

If you want to improve your business writing skills, keep reading for ways to do so as we talk about how to ACE your writing at work.

What is Business Writing?

First, let’s clarify what we mean by business writing, just in case you’re someone looking for writing tips but not for writing at work.

What is business writing? When I say business writing, I mean writing at work. This might be emails, chat messages, documentation, reports, manuals, presentations, blog posts, job listings or any number of other types of writing at work that are part of your job.

And how does business writing differ? Ideally, business writing is focused on the goal: to communicate.

In the past, business writing meant writing in a formal, stiff manner. And that is still the case in some corporate cultures.

Today, however, I think most people would agree that the formality is old-fashioned. That doesn’t mean we are writing at work as if we were jotting down notes to a family member or emailing a friend about weekend plans. We still need to be professional.

But the piece that tends to be missing in much business writing today is the clarity. We’ve moved away from formal writing to writing that is done poorly and quickly. That has gotten in the way of the whole goal of business writing: communicating. (And it has turned out to be veeeeeeery expensive!!)

Because we are all writing at work for a reason, right? We need to communicate something to our boss, coworker, customer, vendor, team member, etc. We aren’t writing simply to dash off words and look busy.

So read on and we will dive into ways to ACE your business writing skills.

What is ACE?

When I say ACE your business writing skills, I mean:

• Write for your Audience.
• Strive for Clarity.
• Check that it’s Error-free.

As we dive into each of these, you’ll see why they matter.

Business writing skills—A is for Audience

ACE starts with A for audience. By audience, I mean the person or persons on the receiving end of your email, chat message, presentation or document. Your audience matters when you’re improving your business writing skills because they are on the receiving end. If you don’t communicate clearly to them, then you haven’t done what you set out to do. Period.

Ignoring the audience when writing at work is counterproductive. If you’re writing something, whether a chat message or an email or a longer document—even a presentation—you have a goal. And that goal is to communicate.

Ignoring your audience gets in the way of that goal.

You have to write for your reader…not yourself, not your busy day or your long task list. You have to write with the intention of communicating to the person or people on the other end. That is why you need strong business writing skills.

When you do, you benefit too, because you communicate clearly in the first place. You eliminate those back-and-forth emails. You avoid confusion. You get back some of your precious time.

How do we fix improve our business writing skills to write for the audience? In four ways:

1. Know your audience.
2. Think before you write.
3. Write to engage.
4. Offer a solution.

1)      Know your audience

Knowing your audience and what they do or don’t already know, plus what they need to know—meaning what they will learn from reading your email or document. Ask yourself:

• Who is it?
• How much do they already know vs. not know?
• Why do they need the information you’re sending or compiling?
• What level of detail will they need to understand your message?
• What is their viewpoint and the lens through which they will read your message? Are they receptive or resistant?

You’re not writing in a vacuum. You are writing to someone and you have a purpose, a goal, something you need to accomplish. Keep your audience in mind when writing and you’ll communicate better, to save everyone time and improve productivity.

2)      Think before you write

Think through the reasons for writing whatever it is you’re writing. Why are you writing this? What is your goal? What do you want to happen as a result of your text, email, document, proposal or other business writing?

3)      Write to engage

Writing to engage means you avoid writing formally and hiding behind big words. You’re writing to and for your audience when you write to engage them, not write at them. To do this you write something worth reading and write like you talk.

4)      Offer a solution

Offering a solution is another way to put your audience first. Do you know the saying, “If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem”? That applies in our business writing too.

In our current hurry up culture of busy-ness, people seem to hand off problems, not address them. When you communicate both the issue and a possible solution, you’re putting your audience first. This can be as simple as not only saying “we should talk about that RFP,” but also suggesting a date and time to do so. Do you see how that can reduce the back and forth?

Let’s recap four ways to focus on our audience when writing:

1. Know your audience.
2. Think before you write.
3. Write to engage.
4. Offer a solution.

Get more tips on writing for your reader.

Business writing skills—C is for Clarity

C for clarity. Why does clarity matter? Because you want your business writing to be clear so it is easily read, understood and acted upon.

Clarity helps you communicate faster because you avoid back-and-forth emails, confusion, delays and even costly mistakes when you’re clear in your business writing. Clarity also helps you to spend less time writing, explaining or clarifying…or fixing those mistakes.

I will say it again: When you’re clear the first time, you save time.

To improve the clarity of your writing at work, simply:

1. Be specific.
2. Cut the clutter.
3. Include a clear call to action.

1)      Be specific

Being vague doesn’t communicate well and it leaves room for misunderstanding or misinterpretation. It also weakens your writing. In fact, when our writing is vague, it comes across as passive and insecure.

On the other hand, being specific can help you avoid friction, frustration, conflict, miscommunications and more. Plus your writing is more engaging, persuasive and confident when you’re specific.

Being specific also sets reasonable expectations and makes sure everyone is on the same page. This is especially important right now as many industries are in flux and experiencing changes.

Those might be changes in remote work, staffing, procedures, budgeting, planning or something else. Being specific about those changes can make them easier to get through because everyone knows what to expect.

For example, let’s say a procedure is going to change but the timing and steps are not clearly communicated with specific details. You might end up with one person using the new procedure and another person using the old procedure because management was not specific about the how and why of the change.

Then you get frustration and also inefficiencies or even mistakes as a result, leading to wasted time and money.

2)      Cut the clutter

When you tighten your writing to cut the clutter, you’re communicating more directly with your reader. You’re getting rid of words that get in your way. For example, when you compare these two sentences, you see that the one without the clutter communicates clearly and directly:

Give your email a proofread before sending.

Proofread your email before sending.

I cover this topic in-depth in a class called Cut the Clutter so I won’t go into details here. But remember that your goal is clarity and cutting the clutter will help.

3)      Include a clear call to action

You are clear when you tell your reader what they need to do in response to what you’ve written. This is your call to action. Even if they don’t need to do anything, make that clear. Don’t make them guess and don’t assume they’ll figure it out. This includes any due dates or deadlines.

To include a call to action, remember:

• If you need a specific action, say so.
• If you need it by a specific date, say so.
• If no action needed, say so.

Also make sure your call to action is specific. Being specific about what you want the reader to know and/or do can help to get them to take action. For example, if you need something by a certain day, say so.

A friend once told me he worked at a company where “as soon as possible” essentially meant never because there was no deadline involved. If someone says by July 12, then it gets done. But as soon as possible? Well, it could very well be that it’s never possible because everyone else has a specific deadline.

Compare a vague call to action to a specific version one:

Please review when you get a chance.

Please check for inaccuracies in the latest proposal and return it to me by Thursday at 10 a.m.

Remember, to improve the clarity of your writing at work, simply:

1. Be specific.
2. Cut the clutter.
3. Include a clear call to action.

And now on to error-free…

Business writing skills—E is for Error-Free

Why is error-free important when you want to improve business writing skills? Because checking for errors is part of putting your audience first as well as being clear.

And we will make mistakes. We can’t help it. We make mistakes because writing is a high-level task and our brains ignore some details in order to focus on communicating our message. That makes errors a given, and the need to check for errors a necessity.

You can minimize your mistakes when you:

1. Slow down.
2. Minimize distractions and interruptions.

Let’s talk more about these…

1) Slow down

First, slow down. We’re going too fast due in part to a perceived lack of time. There’s a cult of busy-ness in society these days that has tricked us into believing we must write in a hurry. We must dash off our emails and chat messages without any real effort. The result? Technology enables us to go faster and to write worser.

Remember that your goal is not to dash off some words. Your goal is to communicate. Slowing down will help you focus on the reader. Take a little more time if you need to. Focus on what you’re writing. Yes, we work in a culture that worships busy-ness, but you don’t have to play along. You can slow down and be deliberate in your writing at work.

Then take the time to re-read what you’ve written to make sure it’s clear and error-free.

2) Minimize distractions and interruptions

Distractions are the things you can control, like social media, and interruptions are the things you can’t, like phone calls. Here’s how to minimize both:

1. Turn off notifications, both those alerting you to new emails or chat messages, and your social media activity.
2. Turn off the ringer on your desk phone.
3. Put your cell phone on silent so you won’t hear it ringing, nor will you hear your text and other notifications. Better yet, put it in another room. Research shows having your cell phone nearby is enough to distract you, even with notifications turned off.
4. Close the apps that you don’t need.
5. Close your door or put up some kind of “Don’t bother me” sign to keep coworkers (or family) at bay.
6. Move to a different location when necessary, to minimize interruptions.
7. Just say “no” to yourself when you think, “I should text Susie about dinner Friday.” Thinking the thought doesn’t mean you need to act on the thought. The text can wait until you’re done writing.

You can also accept that you’ll make mistakes when writing, then commit to finding and fixing them by proofreading your work. Learn more about proofreading here or take the free proofreading class.

And that’s it for improving your business writing skills by using ACE: Audience, Clarity and Error-free. When you remember to “ACE” your writing at work with these tips, you’ll be way ahead of your peers and a better, faster writer in no time.

[1] https://www.inc.com/kaleigh-moore/study-poor-writing-skills-are-costing-businesses-billions.html

Photo by Jalil Shams: https://www.pexels.com/photo/selective-focus-photography-of-ace-of-spade-playing-card-1007504/