How are Your Written Communication Skills?

The majority of our communications are still written. Think about how often you read something important versus listen to something important. As a leader, you’ll be responsible for writing these pieces of communication that your team members will read. No matter what it is that you’re trying to communicate in writing, it’s important that you have a full command over the situation and understand how to present that information eloquently to the people who need it the most.

Crafting the Perfect Memo

It there a training session coming up? Has an office policy changed? Are the computers going to be down for three hours in the middle of the day? It doesn’t necessarily matter what you need to tell your employees – what matters the most is the way that you tell them. The ability to answer questions that haven’t yet been asked keeps communication efficient and saves everyone a lot of time. A great memo should satisfy everyone based on your ability to look at a situation from the perspective of your reader.

Sending an Excellent Email

You’re going to need to send or respond to a lot of emails. Everyone is relying on your leadership to proceed with a project. While emails have a tendency to feel massively informative or very uptight with little room in between, a great leader knows how to write an email that sits somewhere in the middle. Emails should be written with comfortable authority. They should be conversational while still accurately conveying a point, and free from useless cliché phrases.

Writing an Impeccable Job Description

Leaders need to be able to find, hire, and retain the most talented individual for a position. An important part of that process is the way it begins. The job description you write for the position needs to be above and beyond what your competition is saying. Read other job ads for similar positions and identify the way your company and its culture are different. Use wording that is both honest and compelling in order to draw in the right candidates. You’ll be able to fill the position the right way the first time, and get your team back to full strength quickly.

Creating an Effective Worklist

A worklist is more than just a shopping list. It’s something that needs to be carefully structured and organized, and you’ll want the instructions to be both clear and concise. Being unable to convey your point briefly might lead to mistakes or misunderstandings that will cost productivity. A great communicator should be able to be clear without being lengthy. Your employees should know that they can always ask you in the event that they have questions about a worklist, but ideally, your lists will be finely tuned to the point where they don’t need to.

Appreciation in Writing

One of the best things a great leader can do is to demonstrate appreciation for his or her employees. Saying thank you is meaningful, but putting it in writing is forever. Make sure you’re giving cards or personalized notes to your employees when they accomplish something big – whether it’s a personal stride or a professional stride. Having documentation of your appreciation might be enough to keep your employees from feeling burned out. Strong leaders will always show how much they value the talents in their workplace.

Writing will never go out of style. In fact, technology has only made it more prevalent. Brush up on your writing skills and strive to make every piece of professional written communication you send out the best it can possibly be.