Suppose that one of your colleagues has just sent you an e-mail about a meeting that you will be having in a matter of an hour. The e-mail is to be supposed to direct you with the key information that you are expected to present during the meeting for an important project of the company. But the issue is that the e-mail is written badly in a sense that you fail to find the required data. There are spelling mistakes and sentences are not complete. Paragraphs are confusing and lengthy to an extent that it took you three times more than it should have in order to find the needed information. As a result, you are not well prepared for the meeting and it does not go the way you expected it to be. Living in today’s technologically driven world where the information is overloaded, it is significant to communicate concisely clearly, and effectively. People do not have time to read lengthy e-mails and also they do not have enough tolerance to search for the required content from a badly constructed email. Hence it will be true to say that better your writing skills are, the better impression you will have on the surrounding people. This includes your boss, colleagues, and even your clients.
How to Improve Your Written Communication Skills
In this piece of writing we will be talking briefly about the common mistakes that should be avoided in order to improve the writing skills:
Audience and Format
The first step to write a clear message is to choose the appropriate format. Are you expected to send an informal mail? Write a detailed report or creating an advertising cope or a formal letter? The format along with your audience will define the writing voice of your e-mail or message.
Style and Composition
Once you are aware of what you are about to writ, and for whom you are to write; this is the time for you to actually start writing. Try the underlined tips in order to compose and style your document:
- Start with the audience: Your reader should not know about what you are about to tell them. What is that they need to know first?
- Outline: In case you will be writing a long document; then it is suggested that you come up with an outline of the report, or speech or a presentation. This will facilitate you in identifying that which steps will be taken and in what order.
- Make use of AIDA: Make use of Attention-Interest-Desire-Action formula.
- Be empathetic: Even if you are writing a complaining message it should be in an empathetic tone.
- Identification of the main theme: if you are finding it difficult to define the main theme of your message then you should act like you are explaining your position. This will facilitate you in exactly knowing what you want to communicate and this will be your main theme.
- Simple language: Make use of simple language unless you are writing a scholarly article. There is no need to write long words just to impress other people.
