By Marjorie A. Gordon-DeLee, MA (November 30, 2018)
This is a topic that I have been wanting to write on for such a long time, especially since 2010 when I began my employment at the Job Link Center with Palmetto Goodwill. It was at that time when I discovered that there were so many people who lacked in the skill of writing. For these particular individuals, it was primarily an inability to have good penmanship. Name recognition was not readily understood when I reviewed the names that were either printed or scribbled in cursive on the sign-in sheets. Many did not realize the importance of their own given names as to why capitalizing the first letter of the first and last names was so important, with all the other letters being lowercase letters.
Therefore, at every opportunity I instructed my clients to always capitalize their first letter of the first and last name and to make sure that they took the time to capitalize all proper nouns as well. And the proper nouns being the names of a specific person, place, or thing (i.e., brand names, companies, days of the week, months of the year, holidays, organizations, etc.).
Granted, there were some clients who did not have their high school diplomas and had not designated an enormous amount of time on the skill of perfecting their reading, writing or spelling. But there were also some clients who had completed high school, as well as college and still did not possess proper writing skills. Their inability to write properly was observed in the resumes in which they created prior to arriving at the Job Link Center, through the paper applications that they attempted to complete in my presence, as well as their completion of online applications.
It was clear to me that the public-school systems have not been putting an enormous amount of emphasis on writing skills since the introduction of technology to the classrooms. Technology is an excellent resource for the classroom, businesses, and in the homes. However, technology should never replace the skill of writing. It is still extremely important to an individual’s personal life and work life. In their personal life, nothing beats sending a personal handwritten letter, greeting card, or note to a family member, special friend, or a thank you note to an interviewer after a job interview. Having good penmanship, knowing the words to use and how to connect words together to formulate that special message through a person’s own deep thoughts is irreplaceable.
Additionally, on the job, there is the quick memo on a notepad that needs to be written, notes written on paper, or possibly a quickly written note to a coworker. So, having the ability to produce quality handwriting is essential.
Also, when an individual write they are in the practice of spelling words and must know the pronunciation and what the words actually mean when using the word in a contextual form.
Thus, the basics need to be established early on in life and with lots of practice an individual will be able to use with ease so that this particular skill can be added to other skills to accomplish a vast amount of assignments and tasks on the job. Another thought is if there is not access to a computer, the individual should always have a backup plan to organize their thoughts with ease by putting their thoughts down on paper. This has happened to me many times, whilst driving in my car, sitting in a waiting room at a doctor’s office or relaxing outside in the sun with paper and pen to capture my thoughts.
Effective Business Writing
Now, to address the main focus of this paper, I will now address business writing. Every person looking to advance their career in any area of business need to be skillful in business writing.
Some of the various forms of written communications that are used internally for business operations include:
Memos Reports Bulletins Job descriptions Employee manuals Emails Instant messages
Examples of written communications generally used with clients or other businesses include:
Email Internet websites Letters Proposals Telegrams Faxes Postcards Contracts Advertisements Brochures News releases (Manker, n.d.)
It is vital to the position of a Manager to possess the skills in writing to be able to transmit quality letters, memos and other written communication that can clearly be understood by anyone who reads their documents.
Stiller, (2017) shared her views on the topic of business writing and why it is so important to a business below:
Managers are expected to write reports, emails, memos, and letters which their subordinates are supposed to read. Now if this written communication is badly structured and written, the subordinates will waste time trying to decipher it. Badly written communication is also open to misinterpretation. In order for a manager's career to prosper, they need to possess or fine-tune this important skill-set (Stiller, 2017).
Stiller (2017) further exclaims that:
If you already possess great writing skills you should have no problem making a success out of your career. Between someone with poor writing and someone with great writing, senior management will be generally more favorably disposed towards a person who can write well. If you are among those who are not comfortable with the written word, practice your writing skills at every given opportunity.
The more you write the better you will be at it. You could get coaching on improving your business writing ability where you would be able to assess your strengths and weaknesses and focus on improving your skills. Remember, your writing skills have a direct impact on your career and your future. So, it is well worth the extra effort and the time you would spend on improving them (Stiller, 2017).
Therefore, perfecting ones writing is as important as any other skill an individual has learned, they must put the time into practice the skill until they are comfortable enough to expose more of their writing to other people. As an individual who knows that they need improvement in the area of writing, do not shy away from improving your writing skill. Allow this necessary skill in business to be the next part of your life that you develop further to enhance your career success. You will never regret it.
Some supplementary literature is being added to this document to illustrate how emphatically important it is to improve upon your business writing skills. The Library has an abundance of books to select from in this subject area that will cost nothing at all.
Top 10 Reasons Why Business Writing Skills Are Important
1. Business writing skills foster effective communication
Writing alone makes it possible for a business to communicate with its players and stakeholders through a wide range of channels. These include emails, reports, company brochures, presentations, sales materials, visual aids, case studies, social media updates, and so on. All these pieces must be written in a professional, comprehensive, and informative way, yet easy to read and comprehend. Only effective business writing skills make can make this possible.
2. Business writing skills boost credibility
When a business is able to effectively communicate to its potential customers in clear, simple, yet professional language, such a business will most likely win more customers. This is because flawless writing sends signals of diligence and quality. Poor writing, on the other hand, destroys a business’s reputation quickly. Potential customers see businesses with poorly written promotional materials as unprofessional.
3. Business writing skills separate good employees from bad ones
Effective communication is one of the hallmarks of good employees. Individuals who are able to communicate professionally in writing, choose the best words and present themselves clearly will no doubt be great assets to any business. This explains why hiring managers tend to employ such individuals into vital positions.
4. Business writing skills help to keep records
Writing is the best way to keep information for the long term. Information shared through verbal communication is lost almost immediately after the presentation. But information presented in written form can be kept for years, without any bit of it getting lost. This explains why most the most accurate pieces of information that has reached us from hundreds of years back are those preserved in books.
5. Business writing skills create opportunities
Businesses need to grab opportunities as they come. They need to contact potential customers frequently. They need to send proposals. They need to advertise their products and services. And they need to send written proposals if there exists a business project or opportunity. With business writing skills that are stellar, businesses can accomplish all of these, thereby creating huge opportunities for themselves in the short and long terms.
6. Business writing skills boost confidence
When a business achieves great results by communicating through writing, such as winning huge projects after sending written proposals, the business becomes even more confident and motivated to get more of such results. And the task of writing winning proposal and reports becomes much easier with each instance of success.
7. Business writing skills are needed to establish a strong web presence
More and more businesses are becoming aware of the effectiveness of the internet as a very effective tool for marketing and lead generation. So, they are trying to establish a strong web presence for their businesses in order to attract more customers. To achieve this goal, they adopt strategies, such as blogging, social media, forum marketing, and other content marketing strategies, all of which require business writing skills to execute.
8. Business writing skills show your expertise
Even with the best products and services, a business might not succeed if it is not deemed an expert in what it does. Having solid business writing skills is one of the ways to demonstrate your expertise to potential customers. Have you ever read a sales page written by Apple for any of its products? You would be able to perceive the Apple’s expertise just by reading the words.
9. Business writing skills help establish relationships
Positive business relationships are key to the success of a business. And one of the ways to establish such relationships is frequent communication and interaction; which often entails writing.
10. Business writing skills command respect
Just as is the case with any other task, anyone who is extremely good at business writing will be respected and valued (Profitableventure.com)
Why do many organizations fail to provide effective business writing training for their employees?
This is a question we ask ourselves all the time. It’s not that it’s hard to answer, but this failure leaves us shaking our heads. The answer itself has a few components, including:
· Some organizations don’t recognize how important quality writing is for success.
· Many don’t think training can significantly improve employees’ writing (they’re wrong).
· Others seem to just rely on the educational system to have given employees sufficient writing skills (clearly, this isn’t happening—our observation is writing skills have declined in recent years, likely due to texting and social media).
Why is Effective Writing Critical to Organizations’ Success? Writing is the primary way business gets done and is done in today’s collaborative world. When it’s done well, business gets done well, and when writing is not done well, it creates a slew of business problems. That’s why we believe it is the most important business skill. Skeptical? Take a look at this small sampling of how effective writing can benefit an organization.
1. Effective writing drives sales. 2. Effective writing boosts your brand reputation. 3. Effective writing bolsters efficiency, productivity, and innovation. 4. Effective writing powers quality management. 5. Effective writing aids bench strength and retention (Hurleywrite.com)
References
Hurleywrite.com. (n.d.) Something’s “Wrong” with the Top 12 Employee Learning Content Areas. Retrieved November 30, 2018 from https://www.hurleywrite.com/Blog/182866/Something-s-Wrong-with-the-Top-12-Employee-Learning-Content-Areas
Manker, A. D. (n.d.) What is written communication in business? – Definition, types and examples. Retrieved November 30, 2018 from https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-written-communication-in-business-definition-types-examples.html
Profitableventure.com (n.d.) Top 10 Reasons Why Business Writing Skills Are Important. Retrieved November 30, 2018 from https://www.profitableventure.com/why-writing-skills-important/
Stiller, G., (2017). Business Writing Training: The Importance of Business Writing Skills. Retrieved November 30, 2018 from http://businesswritingcourse.com/business_writing_training_The-Importance-of-Business-Writing-Skills.html
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