Your Company Cannot Afford Bad Business Writing

Paperless or not, businesses still involves plenty of reading and writing. Those two activities will remain to be important aspects of the business world for decades to come. The bad news is, poorly written business communication often have terrible consequences on your company’s performance.

 

Bad Business Writing In Action

Imagine a scenario when a company is undergoing a major restructuring.  Such a change makes employees feel insecure. A vague memo telling everyone to keep calm and carry on won’t help a bit.

 

The loss of job security can be devastating and leave employees with stress and anxiety. Performance slumps when everyone’s worried if they can keep their job or not.

 

A better solution is for the management to show everyone the numbers. How many staff will be retained and how many will lose their jobs. The more specific, the better. This allows the affected employees to complete their work while brushing up their resume and get ready to find new employment. That’s much better than pretending everything is A-OK then you hit hundreds with 2-week notices.

 

More Examples of Bad Business Writing

In daily business operation, bad business writing can also have negative impacts. Sloppy and incomplete business proposals throw off investors and venture capitals. Nobody wants to put their money to a business with no attention to details.

 

Another example is a vague email telling employees to do works that are too ambiguous in nature. Everyone will need to double-check what the email is all about before starting anything. Loss time and confused employees are things any good business should avoid.

 

“Need more?”

 

How about company mission statements that are riddled with bad grammar, unfocused, doesn’t say what the company does, and detached from reality?

 

Saying that your business wishes to inspire the world and everything in a mission statement sounds nice. However, it will be better if you tell the world how you ‘re going to achieve it.

How to Avoid Bad Business Writing

To avoid any negative effect of bad business writing, make sure you do the followings:
1. Write a clear and convincing description of your product or service.
2. Provide complete and clear instructions for all internal communication such as memos and emails.
3. Show respect. You are writing to equals, so steer clear from condescending words and phrases.
4. Avoid sloppy grammar and spelling. Use tools to find errors that your eyes missed.5. Stay away from jargon and provide concrete examples and directions.

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Vague communications are bad for business as they display the writer’s lack of knowledge on what’s going on in the company. Remember, always strive for good professional writing. Your company deserves it.