Apart from hackers and tech gurus, there are other professionals who spend most of their working hours tapping aggressively on a keyboard – managers. From drafting compelling proposals to writing queries and formulating emails, most managers have to deal with a lot of written communication.
As such, if you aspire to delve into management, you’ll need to have more than average writing skills. You’ll need phenomenal writing skills to help you along your career path.
According to James O’Rourke, the author of the textbook Management Communication, writing is a “career sifter” for managers. If you’re struggling to express your ideas clearly in written form, you won’t last a day in management. While it might be tempting to turn to business writers for help, can you imagine having to frantically search for a writer when you have an urgent email to send out? Of course not.
If you’re still thinking: “why is writing important in management?”, here’s a closer look at why this soft skill is so essential for managers:
Good writing skills demonstrate professionalism
Good writing is more than just stringing large words together to appear smarter. It also has an effect that most people don’t seem to realize. Writing can demonstrate that you have a basic level of professionalism. For instance, good writers will definitely know how to sign off a professional email without being disrespectful to the recipient.
In some cases, your level of writing skills can even put your company or business at stake. For example, writing a business proposal using the wrong tone can make a huge deal fall through, costing the company millions. As such, you’ll need to improve your writing skills to ensure that all your written reports and emails have the right tone.
Written communication represents a large percentage of workplace communication
Things have changed significantly since the 80s and 90s. Video conference calls have replaced physical meetings, while emojis and hashtags have replaced whole sentences. However, these new technological tools haven’t decreased the amount of written communication happening among us. Written communication has even increased, especially with the advent of emails and social media messaging apps.
To keep up with the barrage of written communication you’ll have to send out, you’ll need to hone your writing skills. Remember: it’s easy for misinterpretation to occur in written communication. So you’ll need more than just good intentions to ensure that your message is passed across exactly the way you wanted. You’ll also need to be able to express your thoughts and ideas clearly on paper.
Bad writing can damage your credibility
We’ve all laughed at grammatical errors and spelling mistakes at some point in our lives. Now imagine someone opening up your email and bursting into hysterical laughter after reading the first line. Sounds humiliating, doesn’t it?
As a leader or manager within your industry, a certain level of writing expertise is expected from you based on your qualifications and experience. Sending out a mail or proposal riddled with errors will not only put you in a bad light, but it’ll also cause your recipient to doubt your expertise. You can order email templates from an essay writing service, so you have proper examples on hand, and just correct them as you need. Your credibility and reputation will be tarnished before you even have a chance to redeem yourself.
How to Improve Writing Skills
If you’re aiming for successful writing at work, here are some tips to bear in mind:
Read widely
One of the easiest ways to become a better writer is to read more. The more you read, the more you’ll learn about the art of writing and what good writing should look like.
Thus, try to dedicate a few minutes or an hour each day to reading a variety of content. Don’t just limit your reading to comic strips or huge textbooks. Read books by business leaders and articles by startup owners. Over time, you’ll notice a general improvement in your writing skills.
Bear your readers in mind every step of the way
The major purpose of written communication is to convey an idea or piece of information to a second party. As such, you’ll need to imagine your reader when drafting even the most basic email. Consider who the message is intended for, what they need to know, and why they need to know it.
It’s also advisable to watch your tone when writing. For instance, if you’re responding to an interview mail, using an informal tone will seem unprofessional and could cost you your spot.
Jot down your ideas
Just before you type anything, try to jot down your ideas on a piece of paper. This approach can help you to organize your thoughts, especially on days when you’re struggling with productivity.
Final Thoughts
When it comes to management, good writing is an underrated soft skill. Some might even ask: “why do people write at all?”. Well, the truth is that written communication doesn’t seem to be going anywhere any time soon. To survive in a world where you’ll need to constantly churn out emails, proposals and whatnot, you’ll definitely need good writing skills on your side.
Fortunately, we’ve provided a few handy tips to help you improve your writing skills. We hope they help!
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