If you’re in business, you’re a writer

Except for a brief temping stint after college, I’ve always earned my living as a writer. Tell people that at a cocktail party and they’ll often say, “I’d love to be a writer too!”

That response made sense to me when I worked as a journalist. The writing I did then was different from what most people did at work each day. But when I made the leap to writing for a midwestern health system, my perspective changed.

It quickly became obvious to me that in today’s business world, everyone is a writer. It isn’t a question of being a writer, it’s a question of whether you are a good one.

I’m not saying you have to be Toni Morrison or Ernest Hemingway. You just need to master a few basic skills, like using complete sentences in e-mails and spell-checking everything, to set yourself apart from your peers.

While this blog’s primary focus is business writing, Word(s) Count will ultimately touch on a wide variety of situations – from professional etiquette to workplace diplomacy – where the words you choose (or don’t choose) matter.

If there are topics you’d like me to cover, send me an e-mail at marytbode@gmail.com. If you want to share your thoughts on something you read here, leave a comment and I’ll respond.

Let’s get the conversation started.

Mary  

Six tips for making your work e-mails shine

If you’re like most people, “writing at work,” is synonymous with memos, quarterly reports and white papers. Too often missing from the list: e-mails.

On the surface, this makes sense. E-mail’s informal, chatty style often feels more like conversation than correspondence – which is great for catching up with your old college roommate, but less than ideal for communicating with your corporate vice president.

At the office, you want to make sure your e-mails are crisp, clear and professional. To that end, here are six simple things you can do to make your e-mails shine.

1. Think in terms of news headlines. Writing “please send February financials by 5 p.m.” in your subject line communicates far more than “need a quick favor.” Why does this matter? First, you increase your chances of getting what you need when you need it.  Second, you earn the gratitude and respect of your busy colleague — who may repay you by putting your request at the front of the line.
2. Always include the 5 Ws.  Including the 5 Ws– who, what, when, where and how – reduces the chance that the recipient will need to bounce the e-mail back with follow-up questions before acting. Again, the less you leave to the recipient’s imagination, the better for her and for you.
3. Keep it brief. Covering the 5 Ws in an e-mail doesn’t mean you need to write an essay.  In fact, the fewer words you use the better. A good rule of thumb: keep your e-mails to five sentences or less.  If you can’t do that, keep your paragraphs short – shoot for three sentences maximum in each one.  It increases the chance that people will retain your information.
4. ALWAYS use spell check. Just because e-mail is quick doesn’t mean it should be sloppy.  Ensuring that you’ve spelled everything correctly and haven’t make any typing errors (my frequent sin), is a 30-second investment that will keep your e-mail looking professional.
5. Read it before hitting send. This is one I’ve had to learn the hard way. Spell check is good for obvious mistakes, but will miss subtle ones, like typing “her” instead of “here” and it skims right over missed punctuation. (There is also the added benefit that you’ll delete statements you might regret later. I’ll address that in a future post on the dangers of “angry e-mails.”)
6. Start with a greeting, end with a farewell. We don’t walk into someone’s office and start talking about work without stopping to say hello. Why should e-mail be different? Starting an e-mail with a greeting and/or the person’s name is a great way to maintain a relationship in the electronic age. Similarly, a simple farewell, like “I look forward to hearing from you,” adds a welcome personal touch.

That’s my short list of tips for polishing e-mail correspondence. What are yours? Share them in the comments section. If you’ve got questions about professional e-mail etiquette or other work-related writing, submit a comment or contact me privately at marytbode@gmail.com.