Finesse with Tone
Tone is the Sweet in the KISS principle: Keep it Short and Sweet. This principle reminds you to get things done in paragraph one using a positive tone. Tone is not what you say; it’s how you say it.
Your tone should create a spirit of cooperation and leave your readers feeling good about themselves. It should also eliminate any possibility for your readers to feel defensive.
Tone is Attitude
Tone is personal. It reflects how you feel about your reader. It also reflects your attitude on life—including your deeply held belief that you should treat others as you want them to treat you. When you feel impatient, defensive, or angry, your feelings can come through in your words—often to the detriment of what you want to get done.
Attitude quality falls into two categories: negative or positive.
| Negative | Positive |
| harsh | helpful |
| demanding | understanding |
| rude | polite |
| critical | constructive |
| accusing | asking |
| angry | cheerful |
| pompous | sincere |
The Power of Tone
Tone is a powerful tool for gaining your readers’ cooperation. The tone you use boomerangs back to you. Positive tone gets positive reactions. Negative tone gets negative reactions. Your tone can promote or hinder cooperation.
Review the following statements and consider their impact on the reader:
| PROMOTES Cooperation | HINDERS Cooperation | |||||
| 1. | We can’t authorize your line of credit until you send us your signed application form. | __________ | __________ | |||
| 2. | We will authorize your line of credit as soon as we receive your signed application form. | __________ | __________ |
The second option is more likely to promote cooperation. Which statement would you rather receive?
Use This Checklist for Effective Tone
Checking your language for tone is the last step in the Writing to Get Things Done (WGTD) writing process. Here is a list of questions to help you improve your tone:
- Does the tone encourage cooperation?
- Is the tone friendly and professional?
- Does it build goodwill and cement a cooperative working relationship?
- Did you use positive words such as please, can, will, help, appreciate, give, and happy?
- Did you avoid negative words such as blame, cannot, neglect, careless, fail, error, and disagree?
- Did you avoid expressions that are threatening, condescending, demanding, or sarcastic?
Remember, tone reflects your attitude—and you get back what you send out. So, before hitting the send button, check your attitude and make sure you sweeten your tone to encourage cooperation.
[...] their good intention pile. Instead, offer a sense of urgency and a reason for the urgency, using a tone that encourages cooperation. Consider this example: “Would it be possible to provide your data results by Friday? That will [...]