Following last week’s post with a few ideas on structuring verbal communication, here are a few thoughts for structuring written communication.
Principles: The principles I like to stick to are as follows –
– Keep it as short as possible. The ability to keep things concise is second to none.
– Make it easy on the eye. No long winding paragraphs, crisp bullets and key actions
– Make sure the purpose comes across very clear. The first two principles accomplish the goal of keeping the reader ‘interested’. Once the reader has committed to reading your concise and clear email, ensure you specify VERY clearly as to the purpose i.e. is it for information, for review or for action?
Ideas:
– Bullet Points over paragraphs. For all formal communication, I am a fan of bullet points over paragraphs. This is thanks to three reasons. First, it’s hard to get long winded with bullet points since sentences better not spill to the second line. Second, they are easier to read than long paragraphs. And probably, most importantly, bullet points naturally help us structure ideas by infusing order into them.
– Situation-Issue-Proposal Framework. Very often, we use emails to pitch ideas, seek approval/permission. In these cases, I prefer thinking of things in the situation-issue-proposal framework. For example –
Situation: We are performing a review on marketing effectiveness
Issue (ideally facts driven): Customer view on traditional marketing is changing. Customers seem to prefer to engage via social media.
Proposal: I would propose starting a company blog that we will update every week so customers can follow us closely and give feedback directly.
Would love to hear your thoughts/feedback/Would you agree?
– Practice writing! The better you get as a writer, the more concise and purposeful your writing becomes. No shortcuts. As Seth Godin would say, just write like you talk.. often.
And if there is a blogger who absolute nails writing concisely while making insightful points, it is Seth. Great writing role model.
Hope this helps! Happy mid-week all.
A Learning a Day 