by Sharon Ernst | Mar 3, 2020 | Business Writing Skills
I love to cook. In fact, I love to cook so much that I wanted to make this whole post on effective business writing about food and cooking instead. But I didn’t. OK, I started out saying waaaaaay too much about cooking. But then I revised it. So, no, this post isn’t going to make your mouth water or give you dinner ideas. But it will give you an analogy for effective business writing by pointing out the parallels between the writing you do at work and the cooking you do at home. Read through the post to see the parallels, and then...
by Sharon Ernst | Jan 27, 2020 | Business Writing Skills
Is there an author or blogger or even someone at work whose writing impresses you every time? Some writers have that knack, to take words and turn them into “wow” with seemingly little effort. It’s like watching a star athlete at the top of her game flawlessly execute a move on the field. And in reality, the writer’s ease with words came about in the same way as the athlete’s ease with maneuvers: Some inborn talent, but countless hours of diligent practice and improvement! Maybe you don’t have time to devote to honing your writing...
by Sharon Ernst | Dec 9, 2019 | Business Writing Skills
Your writing is your first impression, whether you realize it or not. Have you ever formed a first impression about someone based on how they write? I suspect we all have. First impressions are powerful and hard to avoid. Even when we want to stay objective, we are sizing up the other person without meaning to. We can make assumptions about a person’s intelligence, education level, professionalism, skill level, trustworthiness, authority, kindness, approachability, and more—much more—based on how they write. First impressions...
by Sharon Ernst | Oct 30, 2018 | Business Writing Skills
If you’re wondering how to improve business writing skills, here’s one easy way: Be specific. You’re a better communicator when you’re specific. If you mean three and you say a few, you’re being vague. If you mean three and you say three, you’ve been very clear in your business writing. That improvement in your communication adds to your credibility and it speeds up communication because your reader doesn’t have to respond with questions asking for more information or for clarification. Being specific strengthens your business...
by Sharon Ernst | Feb 17, 2018 | Business Writing Skills
When we talk about good business writing skills, we are not talking about academic writing or formal stuffy writing or writing that uses lots of adjectives or that sounds self-important. That’s because the writing we do at work has a very specific purpose, and that purpose is not to make ourselves sound more intelligent or more important. It’s to communicate clearly, concisely, accurately and sometimes persuasively. So what are the characteristics of good business writing? In my opinion, good business writing has five...
