6 Writing Tips to Enhance Your Communication Skills and Enable Professional Success
I’m a communicator by trade, so I’ve spent a fair amount of time honing my writing skills. Throughout my years in the field, I’ve come across various tricks of the trade and resources to help improve my writing.
Even if writing isn’t your main job, you communicate in this format in some way every day. Look at improving your writing as another way to enhance a skill you already have that will help you no matter what field you are in. Being a strong writer can help you make a convincing argument to your boss when developing a proposal, convey clearly what you are trying to say in the many emails you send every day and even help you land an interview for your dream job through a solid cover letter.
Here are some quick and easy ways to cultivate your writing skill set:
Active Voice. What does writing with “active voice” actually mean? Active voice refers to the subject of the sentence that is doing the verb’s action. With passive voice, the subject is being acted upon by the verb. Here is an example of two sentences written in both voices:
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- Active – Jane attended a professional development seminar on writing.
- Passive – The professional development seminar on writing was attended by Jane. The active example is easier to understand than the passive example. And, the writing is cleaner and more succinct. Looking for an easy way to check for active vs. passive voice? In Microsoft Word, hit the “Spelling & Grammar” check. After spell check reviews the document, it then displays readability statistics – including the percentage of passive sentences. As you are working to identify passive sentences, this is a helpful trick to know what you are looking for.
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Write for Your Audience. This tip is probably one you’ve heard before, maybe dating all the way back to your early writing days in grade school. Use it now to think about who is going to read this email, proposal, etc. You probably don’t talk to your boss or your boss’s boss the same way you’d talk to a colleague at your same level, and your writing should reflect those stylistic differences. Also, take into consideration what information is most important to your audience and put that information up front.
Have a Second Set of Eyes. When you’re putting together something of high importance, it’s always good to have someone serve as your second set of eyes and proofread your writing. When you are writing something, your natural tendency is to read it the way it is in your mind and not necessarily what is on the paper. This tip also applies to sensitive messages. Find a trusted colleague who can serve as your sounding board; they can double-check to see if your tone and message is what you were trying to get across.
Keep It Concise. Succinct writing helps make it clear as to what you are asking or trying to convey. The more quickly you can reach your main point, the more likely you are to get a response and avoid any confusion along the way.
Remove Filler Words. Another way to keep your writing to the point is to eliminate filler words – words that don’t actually boost what you are trying to say. Some of those filler words include: that, just, very and really. Remove these words to help keep your writing crisp.
Writing Resources. Looking for additional tips on specific writing or grammar rules? Check out Grammar Girl – a great resource for any grammar questions. Another great tool is The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White – take a little bit of time to read it and then keep it at your desk as a reference.
No matter how polished of a writer you are, writing is always a skill you can continue to develop. Try out these tips at work to help make your communication more efficient and effective.
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