In recent days, my friend shared with me a request for leave from his subordinate that was "brainless" and "unhappy". "Brainless" was written like this: Leader, I want to ask for leave for two days next week, and I hope you can approve it. Thank you very much!
The unhappy message reads: "Leader, from next Monday to Tuesday (October 18 to October 19), I have to go back for an emergency at home, and would like to ask for two days' leave. I have handed over the work of these two days to my colleague Andy. A media friend will come to visit me next Monday, and I have asked Lisa to help me receive it. These two days, my mobile phone will be on all the time. If there is anything important, wechat me at any time. Approval is expected. Thank you very much!
The same is to ask for leave, one let me listen to this uncomfortable, one let me listen to so comfortable
Then, in a presentation, the dumb report went something like this: We want consumers to think of us as a great, great brand, but very cheap.
Our goal, the unhappy report reads, is to concentrate our resources on the key position of "affordable refinement" in the industry.
The same brand positioning, one makes me think their company's products are so cheap, the other makes me feel so refined
This difference is caused by the difference in writing ability in the workplace.
What is workplace writing? Let's first make a definition. Writing a resume, making a proposal, drafting a contract, work emails, minutes of meetings, and a business plan. For example, writing articles and news releases for "we media", as journalists and editors, they are not in the scope of today's discussion.
The advantage of writing over sound is that it comes after the pen, making it more accurate, efficient, and suitable for expressing coherent ideas, as well as easier to record and disseminate. Writing plays a bigger role in workplace communication. It reflects your past work experience, your insight into the nature of the problem, your understanding of the audience, and even your emotional intelligence.
In the workplace, your writing is any level, you, is any level!
I've seen people write long, wordy emails. I've also seen people with hundreds of powerpoint slides who can't even explain a basic issue clearly. I've seen a guy whose boss called back and rewrote a final report 20 times. So, some people say this idea: "In the workplace, you are what you write."
Our focus today is not on writing, but on clarity. What is clarity? In a word, is "with the least words, the meaning of clear expression."
To do this, there are two ways:
First: make coding more accurate
What is coding? You have an idea, and in order to make me understand your idea, you write it to me in a paragraph, or write it to me. This process of turning ideas into words or words is called encoding. Since we are talking about text coding today, we must play to the strengths of text. Five points: "Be precise, be thorough, be specific, avoid ambiguity, avoid ambiguity."
What do you mean? Let's give an example. For example, party A gives party B's design copy suggestions: "the design should be a little foreign, to have the feeling of international big brands, to set off the temperament", so vague demand, Party B to party A wants the effect, basically can only rely on guess. This is why many design work need to revise countless reasons, most of the time, not Party B does not give effort, but party A's code is too difficult to solve.
Defy spirit? Let's change the way of coding, for example, Party A writes: "In addition to the title of the advertising copy can be removed, the use of no more than three colors, theme color than the current version of two darker color." This code, I'm not saying it's 100% clear, but it's not much clearer than the last one.
Sometimes, ordinary coding is just not easy to get, so try using an analogy. For example: suppose your company wants to recruit people, you want to recruit a zero to one, to help you build the public account system, rather than recruit a copycat will only attack the manuscript, the recruitment copy can not write so straightforward, it is written very obscure, and is not easy to understand, suggest you might as well add an example, such as: "We need someone who can plant crops, not just catch fish." Basically, as long as they are engaged in this line of work, it is clear at a glance.
Second: make decoding more efficient
There's a code. There's a code. You encode your thoughts into a speech, and I translate that speech into what I understand. This process is called "decoding." So you said the decoding was their business. Do you have control? The answer is: yes, and very important.
How to make the other party decode your meaning clearly and efficiently, you need to build the content structure from the other party's point of view. The way to do that is to use McKinsey's prized writing tool: the "pyramid principle", which lets conclusions take precedence. In simple terms, the structural logic of a pyramid is as follows: put your opinion or conclusion first, this is the spire of the pyramid; And then, to summarize why, this is the second layer of the pyramid; Then present facts, figures, and details to prove your why, which is the third level of the pyramid.
Let's take an example: my friend's HR sister wrote him an email, she said: "We should inform interns in advance that they are not happy to be appointed full-time." "Why is that? He has strong work skills, professional background, and values that are a good match for our company." This is the second level to address the question of why. Then, she listed some achievements, some facts and some details, which fully proved the above three points "strong working ability, professional background and matching values". My friend replied "OK! And this HR little sister, in my friend's impression, also added a lot of points.
From the second level of the pyramid, which is why, we recommend writing in a PPT style. What is "PPT style"? This is another new word. If you look at PPT and WORD, the biggest difference lies in the following three points: The first point is "multi-section"; Second, "use subheadings"; Third, "Use checklists and charts." That does the biggest benefit, is to read the past, grasp a few key words, basically understand more than 80%, this efficiency is much higher.
Don't show off your writing skills. Writing for the workplace is not a new concept essay, or it is not written well, or it is best to express clearly, simply and effectively. Also, be sure to get in the habit of proofreading before sending. What is proofreading? It means to take the reader's point of view, to understand the meaning, to check for any important information missing or repeated, or to see if there is any ambiguity.
The most important word is "delete". What do you mean? If you take this sentence out, does it affect the meaning? It doesn't matter. That's bullshit. Delete it. Cut out all the nonsense and what is left is the clearest expression.
If the communication with voice is two-way, then the communication with text is one-way. One-way communication has an obvious weakness, that is, you may not be able to take good care of the feelings of readers. Think about how to write, in order to express clearly, while taking care of the feelings of readers?
