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WRITE IT....RIGHT
In business communication, grammar and spelling still matter
Written communication in the workplace has changed tremendously. E-mails fly back and forth between employees and managers. Executives change schedules via BlackBerrys. Companies market their images and sell their goods or services on the Internet. A single PowerPoint presentation reaches sales teams in New York, Los Angeles, London and Tokyo simultaneously.
But the basis of all that interaction is still words. Knowing how to use words effectively and how to spell and punctuate them correctly can make the difference in whether you land the interview, get the promotion, close the deal or reach the customer.
"Poor spelling and grammar in business communication has consequences," said Pamela Davis, marketing director for continuing education at Kennesaw State University and instructor for the university's continuing education courses in business writing. "It's not only embarrassing but it's perceived as not paying close attention to detail. There's a loss of credibility.
"People may think that your sloppy approach to writing will carry over into how you work. A poor first impression on paper can cost you business."
"People need good writing skills more than ever," said Casey Hawley, owner of The Grammar Coach.
The author of four business books, Hawley has been career-coaching and teaching writing to employees and executives of Fortune 500 companies for 18 years. "Everyone has a personal computer and is expected to know how to type now. . . . Having an administrative assistant as a safety net to clean up business communication is no longer the case for many managers."
"Technical professionals and many other people are ending up in careers where they didn't expect to have to write but do," said Meg Kent, director of The Grammar Sleuth, a company that has been teaching more effective writing skills through seminars, individual coaching and online consulting since 1988.
Fortunately, experts like Davis, Hawley and Kent are available to help corporate clients refresh or learn the writing skills needed on the job. They gear the lessons to the individual's or company's exact needs, so that participants can apply what they learn immediately. And, unlike your middle school English teacher, these instructors do it with humor and imagination.
As a university professor, Kent learned that teaching grammar in college was a thing of the past. Relaxed standards in society have led to a more casual approach to dress, etiquette and communication.
"We're getting sloppier in our writing," Kent said. "When my students asked me if grammar and spelling counted, I'd say 'yes,' but I made it fun so that they learned a skill that they desperately needed."
WRITING AND EDITING RESOURCES Books Web sites Sources: Pamela Davis, Casey Hawley, Meg Kent |
A student who confessed that language was a "complete mystery" to him gave Kent the "grammar sleuth" metaphor for her corporate consulting business. Realizing that writers can't correct mistakes that they can't see, Kent gives her classes tools to ferret out what she calls grammar "misdemeanors" and "felonies."
"Most people come into my seminars dreading them, so I give out little magnifying glasses, and, instead of proofreading, we go sleuthing for clues in places where errors lurk in sentences," she said.
Because Kent believes that training must be customized to be effective, she first interviews the manager of the company, department or agency taking her course to determine its style and usage preferences in written documents. Are the names of the departments capitalized? What acronyms or abbreviations are appropriate? How are dates or titles written?
Many of these departmental rules aren't written down, and employees have to learn them the hard way. Kent creates a style manual for the group so that everyone is operating on the same page. She also creates tip sheets based on errors found in writing samples that participants submitted before the class. Those samples also are used (anonymously) to help people identify and correct their common mistakes.
As chief grammar detective, Kent leads the class through exercises such as "The Case of the Quarreling Couple" to learn how to eliminate subject-verb disagreement and "The Case of the Purloined Apostrophe" to clear up the confusion over plurals and possessives. Although the search is fun, it's also serious business.
"We once found a double negative lurking in an insurance contract, and, since a double negative makes a positive, the contract was not reading as intended. In the hands of a grammar-savvy lawyer, it could have cost the company millions of dollars," Kent said.
In her hands, grammar is no longer incomprehensible or boring; it's a tool her students can use.
"The most consistent comment I hear from clients is that they can't believe I've made grammar apply to what they do," she said.
Hawley will cover her eyes with one hand, point to the sentence on the board and say, "This is a really long sentence, so I know it needs a comma somewhere . . ." to illustrate how some students approach commas. It gets a laugh and makes a point. Like most grammarians, she's seen the number of comma splices (using a comma incorrectly to connect unrelated thoughts instead of a period, semicolon or conjunction) rise with e-mail. Incomplete sentences, loss of capitalization and improper punctuation are other mistakes that people make when dashing off replies to co-workers. Those practices should not carry over to formal business e-mails, letters or documents.
"People should remember that anything that is written -- whether it's an e-mail, a letter, a PowerPoint presentation or a Web site -- becomes documentation. If you say something poorly, the record is there in black and white," Davis said.
Effective business writing is more than knowing the grammar rules, however, so coaches also talk about style, tone and the importance of knowing your audience.
"Today's business readers want you to get to the point. Tell them what you want and how it applies to them. They're busy, and they don't want you to waste their time," Hawley said.
Today's readers, who are used to advertising and sound bites, have shorter attention spans and prefer shorter sentences. A simple letter with information in bullets may be a more effective sales pitch than a lengthy letter.
"The corporate world isn't impressed with flowery language. They want it simple and direct," Davis said.
Using the active voice ("the boy caught the ball") rather than the passive voice ("the ball was caught by the boy") has the more comfortable flow of spoken language.
"Passive voice is often awkward and takes more clutter words that don't add any interest to what you're saying," Hawley said.
"It's pompous and dull-sounding," Davis confirmed. "Bureaucrats use it to avoid responsibility, as when they write, 'Your request is denied.' "
Coaches use interactive games, writing exercises, examples and tip sheets to make sure that clients learn the "write" stuff for their business needs and where to find help after the seminar. Resources are readily available and include dictionaries online, grammar books and the editing features on many word-processing programs.
"If a word or phrase is underlined in green in Word, it means that something isn't right," Davis said. "It bears investigation."
"After you've finished composing something, walk away from it for an hour. When you come back and read it again, you may not have said what you thought you did," she said. Make proofreading and editing the final step for all business documents.
"Don't let gaps in your writing skills prevent you from reaching your full potential," she added.
Hawley said that executives who hire her to teach in their companies often do so because they've seen the power of good writing firsthand.
"They tell me stories about how something they wrote was noticed and that it was a turning point in their careers," she said. "Good writing can impress. It can help people advance, and it can definitely help a company's bottom line."
ON THE WEB
For more information, see www.kennesaw.edu/coned, www.grammarcoach.com or www.grammarsleuth.com.
