INTRODUCTION: GOOD WRITING IS THE BUSINESS EQUIVALENT OF AN OPEN GOAL

Life in an organisation can be busy and writing anything can seem a chore. There are surely more important things to be done – people to meet, decisions to be made, action to be taken. Yet all of these things and more can be dependent on written communication. A letter or memo may set up a meeting, a report may present a case and prompt a decision, and a proposal may act persuasively to make sure certain action is taken or a particular option is selected.

But reading business papers can be a chore also, and they will not achieve their purpose unless they are read, understood and do their job well enough to actively prompt the reader to action. The first rule is to accept that: Business writing must earn a reading.

THE NATURE OF WRITTEN COMMUNICATION

You are probably both a reader and a writer of business documents. Consider the nature of the written word with your reader's hat on for a moment. Do you read everything that crosses your desk? Do you read every word of the things you do read? Do you read everything from the first word through in sequence, or do you dip into things? Almost certainly the answers make it clear that you do not treat all written material equally. Some documents are more likely to be read than others. Of course, some subjects demand your attention. Who ignores a personal note from the Managing Director? But the fact that some things have to be read often does not make their reading any easier or more pleasurable.

Good writing, which means, not least, something that is easy to read and understand, will always be likely to get more attention than sloppy writing. Yet we all know that prevailing standards in this area are by no means universally good.

Why is this? Maybe it is education; or lack of it. Often school (and sometimes even university) assists little with the kind of writing we find ourselves having to do once we work in an organisation. Maybe it is lack of feedback; perhaps managers are too tolerant of what is put in front of them. If more poor writing was rejected, and had to be rewritten, then more attention might be brought to bear on the task.

Habits are important here too. We all develop a style of writing and may find it difficult to shift away from it. Worse, bad habits may be reinforced by practice. For example, word-processing means that the ubiquitous standard document can often be used year after year with no one prepared to say: Scrap it even if they notice how inadequate it is.

FIRM FOUNDATIONS

Errors are easy to find. For example at a railway station: Passengers must not leave their luggage unattended at any time or they will be taken away and destroyed. We can learn more from the approach taken to writing, than from the one odd phrase. So at this stage, let's analyse writing through an example, and review a typical business letter. Many of us have probably received something like this, usually addressed by name and slipped under the door to greet us as we rise on the last day of a stay in a hotel. The example that follows is a real one, though the originator's name (a Singapore hotel) has been removed.

EXAMPLE 1

Dear Guest

We would like to thank you for allowing us to serve you here at the XXXX Hotel and hope that you are enjoying your stay.

Our records show that you are scheduled to depart today, and we wish to point out that our check-out time is 12 noon. Should you be departing on a later flight, please contact our front desk associates who will be happy to assist you with a late check-out. Also, please let us know if you require transport to the airport so that we can reserve one of our luxury Mercedes limousines.

In order to facilitate your check-out for today, we would like to take this opportunity to present you with a copy of your up-dated charges, so that you may review them at your convenience. Should you find any irregularities or have any questions regarding the attached charges, please do not hesitate to contact us.

We wish you a pleasant onward journey today, and hope to have the privilege of welcoming you back to the hotel again in the near future.

Sincerely yours,

(Name)

Front Office Manager

Now, some observations: what are we to make of such a letter? It is, necessarily a standard one used many times each day. It came to my notice when it came under my door and taking note of the bit about late checkouts " ... will be happy to assist you" I went to Reception to take advantage. Not only was I told, Sorry, we're too full to do that today, so were a dozen other people during the ten minutes I stood at the desk. So, the first thing to say is that the letter is so badly expressed that it does more harm than good, causing as much disappointment as satisfaction because it says clearly that something will happen when it should really saying something may only sometimes be possible.

It is also very old fashioned with rather pompous sounding phrases such as: we wish to point out that and we would like to take this opportunity, when something shorter, more straightforward and businesslike would surely be better. It almost suggests that the account may be wrong (irregularities), and everything is expressed from an introspective point of view: We, we and we again leading into every point. No, it is not good and your own analysis may well run longer.

At base, the key problem is perhaps intention. What is the letter designed to do? To:

• Simply remind people to pay the bill?

• Make check-out quicker or easier?

• Sell a transport service to the airport?

• Persuade people to come and stay again? (and thus presumably give an impression of efficiency and good service)

• Just say, Thank you.

Because it mixes up all of these to some extent, it fails to do justice to any of them. For example, nothing about the checkout procedure is explained nor are reasons given as to why someone should stay again. Yet this is surely a straightforward letter; perhaps that is why it was given inadequate thought. As well as making an immediate point about standard letters – use them by all means, but make sure they are good – it leads neatly to the next point below.

A FRAGILE PROCESS

We can all recognise the really bad report, without structure or style, but with an excess of jargon, convoluted sentences and which prompts only the one thought: What is this trying to say? But such documents do not have to be a complete mess to fail in their purpose. They are inherently fragile. One wrongly chosen word may dilute understanding or act to remove what would otherwise be a positive impression made.

Even something as simple as a spelling mistake (and, no, computer spell chequers – sic - are...