Basic Principles of Writing - Business Writing Tips

In the previous module, we touched on the importance of communication in the modern workplace. In this module, you will learn how to become an Effective Business Writer. 

Why do some of our emails attract the right amount of attention and appropriate action from our teammates while some emails are not even acknowledged? Why do books such as the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling and Animal Farm by George Orwell receive acclaim and readership worldwide? The magic lies in how the written word affects the reader. In this segment, our expert Rakesh Godhwani will explain some essential principles and frameworks that will help you make your writing more impactful. 

In the upcoming video, we will discuss the six main elements that form the foundation of any form of written prose:

These six elements of writing are summarised below:

• Simplicity: This refers to the ease at which the reader is able to consume your writing. Avoid heavy jargons at all points to maintain simplicity throughout your documents. Johnson & Johnson's Credo reflects this simplicity well.
• Readability: Documents that are prepared with an appropriate size of fonts, crisp formatting and the right visual cues (photos and colours) are preferred by readers because the information can be navigated with ease. Read the annual report by Akshay Patra, for example.
• Sincerity: Being objective and authentic conveys a sincere message to the audience. Read Stephen Elop’s Burning Platform Memo to understand why being truthful with your readers helps build a better relationship with them.
• Tonality: Brian Cheskey’s email on workforce layoff reflects how leaders can be respectful, considerate and compassionate while writing difficult emails. Tonality helps set the right tone of interaction between the writer and the reader.
• Brevity: Everyone loves reading brief, to-the-point emails/messages. Furthermore, this is considered a key trait of professionalism within organisations. Read this short yet powerful speech of 272 words by Abraham Lincoln, widely cited even after 150 years of creation.
• Clarity: Clarity refers to informing people what exactly is expected of them instead of beating around the bush. Jeff Bezos drives meetings and directs his stakeholders towards Amazon’s objectives. One of the early memos to Amazon shareholders portrays his razor-sharp clarity about the purpose of his communication.  

Now let’s reimagine our approach to writing based on the six elements discussed in the video above.

In the next video, Rakesh will discuss five different styles of writing. Note that these are simple guidelines of writing, and you are free to experiment with them and develop your own style of writing to build your audience.

 Let’s quickly list down the key takeaways from the video: 

• First-person vs third-person writing: When the writer conveys the message to the audience using the pronoun ‘I’, the writing style is known as first-person writing. On the other hand, when the writer conveys the message to the audience using the pronouns ‘He’, ‘She’, ‘It’ or ‘They’, the writing style is known as third-person writing. 
• Formal vs informal: Formal style of writing is professional and controlled. It involves minimal expression of emotions, for example, the phrase “I am pleased to inform you” is used in formal writing, which is recommended for external stakeholders. In contrast, informal writing is more conversational, friendly and expressive. 
• Use of narratives/anecdotes: Adding bits of personal experiences or incidences make your writing more relatable for the reader. It also makes the content enjoyable and easy to recall.
• Grammar and spelling: These are some of the most basic hygiene factors that should be considered while writing but are often overlooked. You can use tools like Grammarly to make your writing error-free.
• Formatting: This refers to making your documents presentable. Formatting includes using appropriate fonts, aligning the text correctly, choosing the right size for your fonts/images and structuring the paragraphs that you wish to add to the overall written piece.

These are some useful tips that will help you build your own brand through your unique writing style. In the next segment, we will discuss some frameworks that will help you create the matter or content of your article or piece of writing.