The Hidden Cost of Negative Emotion
When we’re frustrated, irritated, or overwhelmed, we’re often tempted to respond in the heat of the moment. Though satisfying, that initial good feeling can quickly give way to one of deep regret. Many a relationship has been strained, opportunity lost, or career damaged, due to a single off-the-cuff business email. That’s not the way to get things done.
The impersonal nature of email makes it easy for our readers to misinterpret our thoughts, for years to come. This is especially true in the digital age where hectic work environments heighten frustration, and our well-intentioned business writing can circle the globe in an instant—leaving an enduring testimony of our thoughts and actions. Even within corporate firewalls, our written messages become a permanent part of the (internal) historical record.
The Hidden Risk of Rationality
When immersed in a difficult situation, a common-sense solution is to strive to be more rational and less emotional. Though easier said than done, it’s important to remember that the opposite of rational is irrational. When viewed this way, few people advocate less rationality.
Yet well-intentioned rationality can easily hurt feelings. For example, when a co-worker asks for your opinion about his or her appearance, they may not want your honest rational opinion. Our ability to empathize helps us to moderate our thoughts before they become written or spoken words. This emotional connection lies at the heart of good email etiquette.
Maintaining a Delicate Balance
Effective business writing requires a delicate balance between our emotional and rational capacities. Here are three tactics that can help you to consistently communicate in a positive helpful manner:
- When negative emotions are running high, initially focus inward to determine how you can become more balanced. This will reduce your risk of making regrettable statements that feel good in the moment.
- When you feel balanced, focus on your readers. When projecting a logical mindset, a little emotional empathy may be needed to avoid hurting delicate egos. This is especially true when your readers are experiencing negative emotions of their own.
- When in doubt—sleep on it. Writing a scathing business email in response to a frustrating situation can be highly therapeutic—it helps us to process our thoughts and creates a sense of satisfaction. Hitting the Send button can be social suicide. Try this instead.
- Write your message
- Set it aside for the rest of the day, or longer
- Read your message again before going to bed. Our brains remain active while we sleep, processing our thoughts and actions from the preceding day. This activity often produces a more balanced perspective the next morning.
- Edit your message
- Repeat as necessary
Tomorrow is Another Day
Negative emotions and a lack of empathy can limit our ability to get things done. To minimize their influence, pay attention to your mindset and err on the side of caution.
An easy fail-safe solution is to give your brain something useful to do while you enjoy a well-deserved rest. You might be surprised at how different you feel in the morning. If so, you’ll appreciate the opportunity to make a final revision and avoid what could have been a deeply regrettable mistake.
By Stu Tanquist, posted in Clarify Your Thoughts on July 26th, 2010 Rambling Rose Lowers Productivity
Unclear communication promotes inaction and inappropriate action. Though miscommunication has many causes, a common challenge is that writers tend to ramble as they type—making it difficult for readers to know what needs to get done and when. Confused readers tend to do nothing, or worse, they make incorrect assumptions about your intent. Their good intentions can lead to misguided actions that waste precious time and resources.
 Put Yourself in the Reader’s Shoes
The next time you write an important email, letter, or report, step into the shoes of your readers, i.e., pretend that you just received your own message. As a curious reader, answer these questions.
- How does this message affect me? Do I have to do anything?
- How much effort was required to answer these questions?
WGTD Raises Productivity
The greater the effort required to understand your message, the greater the risk of miscommunication. Conversely, clear communication drives productivity. To help busy employees make the best use of precious time and resources, think and write from their perspective. When you write to get things done (WGTD), things get done.
The Productivity Problem
Poorly written emails create confusion, hinder progress, and derail projects. Most people ramble as they type in the hope that something will get done.
The Productivity Solution
Well-written emails, on the other hand, help people solve problems, meet important deadlines, and keep projects on target. When you write, remember: clear writing is clear thinking, framed for the reader, in plain language.
The Productivity Checklist
Clear communication drives productivity. To improve the productivity of those around you, follow this simple checklist. And watch your effectiveness reverberate through your readers, like a pebble dropped into water.
Clear writing is clear thinking
- Keep a business perspective—use writing as a tool for getting things done.
- Write for the reader—and lose yourself in the process.
- Take yourself—not your reader—on your journey of discovery.
- Find your list of key points—so your readers don’t have to.
Frame your thoughts for the reader
- Forecast your bottom line in the subject line—it’s the first and often last thing people read.
- Put what you want to get done in paragraph one—and jump-start everyone’s productivity.
- Organize your list under a forecasting sentence— hidden lists are like hidden treasure, they don’t help anyone.
- Give readers a deadline—that’s what they’re waiting for.
Use plain language
- Give business speak the boot—use the same language with your colleagues as you do with your family.
- Use simple words— they bring complex ideas to life.
- Use active voice for those who aren’t content experts.
- Sweeten the tone to encourage cooperation.
This checklist is a powerful tool to enhance your productivity and the productivity of your work teams. Keep it handy. Use it to write well-written emails and reports that get things done. And watch your effectiveness grow, like a pebble dropped into water.
By Stan Berry, posted in Present Your Thoughts on July 22nd, 2010 Eighty percent of all emails and reports that you write has a list of key points. This could be a list of reasons, alternatives, findings, conclusions, chronological events (background), steps in a process, and so forth. How you frame your list determines whether people will understand it. Most people hide their list buried within paragraphs.
All business writing has two parts: information and the business application of that information. This writing tip is about the first part: making the information clear to the reader. From this day forward, think of information as a list of key points with supporting detail. To add clarity, organize your key points under a forecasting sentence.
Benefits of Finding Your List
Finding and formatting your list offers several important benefits:
- Speed. Lists are quick to read and write.
- Comprehension. Lists are easier to understand than blocks of text.
- Retention. Lists are easier to remember.
Before and After Example
Let’s looks at a hidden list of Rambling Rose and rewrite with a list organized under a forecasting sentence.
The hidden list of Rambling Rose
The sound facilities in our department training room are bad for small groups. The microphone does not work consistently, and one of the speakers makes a buzzing noise. The acoustics are also poor. The training room has a poor geographical location. Sometimes, the sunlight glares directly into people’s eyes. In the afternoon, the sun, glaring through the western windows, transforms the room into an oven. Also, the room overlooks a busy parking lot with distracting sights. Many physical aspects of the room are not ideal for small classes. The room is too large. Smaller classes feel swamped. Since the chairs are bolted to the floor, they cannot be moved into small groups.
You probably stopped focusing by the second line as your mind began to wander. This often happens when writers ramble. In this example, the clarity of the information has three problems:
- You don’t know what it’s about.
- You don’t know how many key points the writer is making.
- You can’t tell the difference between key points and supporting detail.
A list organized under a forecasting sentence
Our department training room is inadequate for a number of reasons:
- The sound facilities are bad for small groups. The microphone does not work consistently, and one of the speakers makes a buzzing noise. The acoustics are also poor.
- The training room has a poor geographical location. Sometimes, the sunlight glares directly into people’s eyes. In the afternoon, the sun, glaring through the western windows, transforms the room into an oven. Also, the room overlooks a busy parking lot with distracting sights.
- Many physical aspects of the room are not ideal for small classes. The room is too large. Smaller classes feel swamped. Since the chairs are bolted to the floor, they cannot be moved into small groups.
Would you agree that the difference between the two examples is remarkable?
A Process for Finding Your List
The first step to clear writing is to clarify your information. Figure this out and you can cut your writing time by 50%. The next time you write an email, letter, or report,
- Find your list of key points
- Support them with detail
- Organize them under a forecasting sentence
- Present your information using this outline diagram:
Forecasting Sentence
Key Point
Detail Support
Detail Support
Detail Support
Key Point
Detail Support
Detail Support
Detail Support
Key Point
Detail Support
Detail Support
Detail Support
Before you begin to write, find your list and organize it under a forecasting sentence. This makes your information clear and saves time for you–and your readers!
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.
By Stan Berry, posted in Use the Language of WGTD on July 22nd, 2010 The purpose of business writing is to take care of business. Business writing is about getting things done—solving problems, meeting important deadlines, and keeping projects on target. When business professionals, especially senior management teams, remember this function of writing, everyone within an organization becomes more productive. Not only will senior managers increase their productivity, but their team members will as well.
Writers can help their readers get things done by keeping their language simple and easy to read. One way of doing this is to use the verb form of a word rather than its noun form.
Grammatical Definitions
Remember from grammar school, a noun is a word that names people, places and things. Examples: Bob, chemistry lab, report. A verb is an action word. Verbs tell what the noun is doing. Verbs drive the action of the sentence. Sentences with simple verbs are clear, powerful, and memorable.
Examples
The following study was undertaken to develop a working basis for the restructuring of the Trust Department filing system.
This report outlines our plans for improving the Trust Department filing system.
Quality Control began an investigation to learn the root causes of the cracked inserts.
Quality Control investigated four possible causes of the cracked inserts.
Avoid Hidden Verbs
Avoiding hidden verbs, where a writer hides the verb in the noun, is a simple way to reduce sentence clutter and make for easy reading.
| Rather than using these hidden verb forms: |
Use these simple verbs: |
| For improved risk reduction |
To reduce risk |
| For property protection |
To protect property |
| To provide authorization |
Authorize |
| Present a report |
Report |
| Make a list |
List |
| Perform an examination of |
Examine |
| Bring to a conclusion |
Conclude |
| Give an indication of |
Indicate |
| Make adjustments to |
Adjust |
| A study was undertaken |
Study |
Before You Hit the Send Button
Writers sometimes use hidden verbs to give their writing a more formal, academic tone. These writers fear that simple language reflects a simple, uneducated, mind. But simple verbs clearly answer the most important question readers want answered upfront: “What do you want me do?”
By Stan Berry, posted in Use the Language of WGTD on July 22nd, 2010 When you write in business, you will be more effective when you use plain language. This means using short words, short sentences…and active voice. Use the active voice when you want to be direct, brief, and natural.
People use the active voice almost entirely when speaking because it is natural and easy to understand. However, one of the unproductive things people do when they write is to use a lot of unnecessary passive voice. They do this in an attempt to make their writing sound more formal, educated and professional. This is unfortunate for their readers, particularly when the readers are not familiar with the content. That is why a technician can describe a process in passive voice and everyone who knows the process can follow their train of thought, but uninitiated readers are lost.
The Voices of Active and Passive
Active Voice: You can complete the conversion.
Passive Voice: The conversion can be completed by you.
About Active Voice
In active voice, the subject is active. The subject is doing the verb. Some hints about the active voice:
- The subject and the doer of the verb are the same.
- The doer of the verb comes before the verb.
About Passive Voice
In passive voice, the subject is passive. The subject is receiving the verb. Some hints about the passive voice:
- The subject doesn’t do anything—it receives the action
- The doer is never the subject of the verb and often is not mentioned.
However, there are legitimate reasons for using the passive voice, as when:
- You don’t want to say who did what. The report was not prepared promptly.
- You want to finesse with tone. Your check wasn’t enclosed is less accusatory than You did not enclose your check.
- The doer is obvious or unimportant. Each visitor was given a meal ticket.
Passive Voice Creates Abstract Sentences
Because the doer is not mentioned, the reader’s attention is focused on the act. The act is difficult to visualize since no one is around to do it.
Example: It has been determined that the label will be designed to enable high visibility for the reader. (abstract)
Active Voice Creates Concrete Sentences
Because the doer of the action is mentioned, we have a concrete focal point of who’s doing the action. We can easily visualize the action.
Example: To further increase the visibility of the label, the team decided that the label should have a red border. (concrete)
Remember, verbs move the thought of the sentence. Put people reference words, such as I, we, the team, quality control, before the verb. It quickens the dawn of thought and sparks clear communication. So, revise unnecessary passive voice verbs to make your language clear and natural–and reading simple and quick.
By Stan Berry, posted in Use the Language of WGTD on July 21st, 2010 Readers are likely to stop reading at the first point of confusion—and this is true whether the writer is a CEO or an intern. So, to keep readers on-message, use short, simple words to make your meaning clear.
Remember the Purpose of Business Writing
Business professionals are neither reading at leisure nor reading for pleasure. And they’re certainly not reading by choice.
Instead, they’re reading to get things done. They read to find out how your document affects them: what they need to do, why/ how and when. The true mark of a well-written document is measured by how quickly readers can answer these questions.
Use the Power of Short Words
So, put away that thesaurus! A ten-dollar synonym for a one-dollar word is not worth two cents to the business reader. Additionally, those ten-dollar words produce a stilted, unnatural style.
Long words make for difficult reading
Maintaining non-technical vocabulary simplification is not always a facile principle to pursue. Some writers are more concerned with demonstrating their erudition than they are with presenting straightforward information. Calamitously, these writers fail to become mindful of their users.
Short, simple words make for easy reading
Keeping non-technical words simple is not always an easy thing to do. Some writers are more concerned with showing their intelligence than they are with presenting straightforward information. Unfortunately, these writers forget their readers.
Long words by themselves are not difficult to understand. But, as our example shows, when buried under an avalanche of long words, the message gets lost in a whiteout. Replacing long words with short words makes this message clear and natural. To increase clarity, consider these replacements:
| Rather than: |
Use: |
| maintaining |
keeping |
| vocabulary |
words |
| simplification |
simple |
| facile |
easy |
| Rather than: |
Use: |
| principle |
thing |
| pursue |
do |
| demonstrating |
showing |
| erudition |
intelligence |
| calamitously |
unfortunately |
Make Your Document Readable
High readability allows readers to read with speed, comprehension, and retention. Which of the following examples, which have been around since the 1960’s (author unknown), are more readable?
Aqueous fluids exhibiting non-agitated surfaces generally extend downward to a considerable depth.
Individuals of similar propensities tend to congregate in groups.
Birds of a feather flock together
It is impossible for one adequately to assess the worth of a volume merely by examining the covering.
You can’t judge a book by its cover.
Before You Hit the Send Button
Use short, simple words to make your purpose clear. Your readers can then read to get things done with speed, comprehension, and retention.
By Stan Berry, posted in Use the Language of WGTD on July 21st, 2010 A Guideline for Sentence Length
Make your business writing easy to read by using short sentences:
- In letters, memos and e-mails, use an average sentence length of 12 to 15 words.
- In formal reports and technical documents, keep the average sentence length to about 20.
Short sentences usually contain one main idea that readers can quickly grasp and easily remember. In contrast, long sentences, with multiple ideas, can be difficult to understand and remember.
Writers sometimes feel that sentence length should vary according to the educational level of the reader. Not so. When giving information or explaining a procedure, the writer’s only task is to express the ideas clearly and concisely. The goal is not to impress the reader with complicated sentences.
Three Simple Ways to Shorter Sentences
You can use three simple techniques to shorten your sentences:
- Separate independent clauses joined by and or but.
- Make new sentences out of which clauses
- Delete unnecessary words
Let’s look at one example of a long sentence that we can shorten by using these three techniques:
The sentence —
To assist in addressing the ongoing problem of employees in buildings A and B arriving late to work, the company has purchased several electric carts to transport those who work in building A from the parking structure to their building every five minutes, and those in building B will be transported by a bus, which is scheduled to leave the parking structure at 7:30 a.m., 7: 45 a.m., and 8:00 a.m.
— can easily be broken into several sentences
We have found a solution to the ongoing problem of employees in buildings A and B arriving late to work. For those who work in building A, you will be transported from the parking structure by electric carts. The carts run every five minutes. Those in building B will be transported by bus. Buses will leave the parking structure at 7:30 a.m., 7:45 a.m., and 8:00 a.m.
As you can see, short sentences let the reader focus on one thing at a time. Each idea can be understood in sequence. The eye moves much faster through short, simple sentences. As a result, there’s no need to skim back to follow the train of thought.
Before You Hit the Send Button
Look at the average length of your sentences. If they surpass the preceding guidelines for easy reading, use our simple techniques to shorten them.
By Stan Berry, posted in Use the Language of WGTD on July 21st, 2010 Clear writing is clear thinking, framed for the reader, in plain language. Previous Business Writing Tips have focused on thinking clearly and framing ideas in one of three reader-friendly models. The next several Business Writing Tips will focus on using plain language.
A Simple Test
Plain language is easy to read. It’s simple, clear, and concrete. It’s the language you use at home with friends and family. In fact, the easiest test for plain language is to read your writing as though you’re talking at the dinner table. If your language sounds appropriate to use in that setting, it’s appropriate to use in your business writing.
Remember, readers have three needs: speed, comprehension, and retention. Readers want language that they can read quickly, understand effortlessly, and remember easily. The reader’s version of the KISS principle is a plea to the writer to, “Keep It Simple, Stupid.” (Though stupid is a harsh word, it conveys the reader’s frustration with having to read formal language.) Unfortunately, writers either don’t know how to write simply, or don’t think it’s professional to do so.
The Elements of Plain Language
Many people avoid using plain language, from senior executives to office support staff. Writers often embellish their work beyond recognition. The solution is to use these elements of plain language:
- short sentences (average length of 15 to 20 words).
- short words of one or two syllables (about instead of approximately).
- verbs rather than nouns or hidden verbs (use instead of utilization).
- active voice (the subject is active).
Examples of Formal Language and Plain Language
You can see the use, and misuse, of these elements of plain language in one of the most famous examples of gobbledygook:
An aide to President Franklin D. Roosevelt wrote about air raid preparations:
Such preparations shall be made as will completely obscure all Federal Buildings occupied by the Federal Government during an air raid for any period of time from visibility by reason of internal or external illumination. Such obstruction may be obtained either by blackout construction or by termination of illumination. This will, of course, require that in building areas in which production must continue during the blackout, construction must be provided that internal illumination may continue. Other areas may be obscured by terminating the illumination.
Mr. Roosevelt’s revision:
In buildings where you have to keep working, put something across the windows.
In buildings where you can let the work stop, turn off the lights.
Which of the following would you rather read?
An engineer’s language at work:
This is to inform you that a date coding system for identification of all sterilization lots has been implemented. The placement of the code has not been determined. However, it has been ascertained that the most advantageous placement position would be on the top of the container itself.
An engineer’s language at home:
The Date coding team decided yesterday to put the date labels on top of the sterilized bottle containers.
Before You Hit the Send Button
After clarifying your thoughts and framing your draft for the reader–but before hitting the print or send button–revise your draft using the elements of plain language. While the writer’s ego within you might cringe, your readers will have their cake and be able to eat it too. This is a good thing, right?
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