Writing for Business (M3.05)

Corporate Learning & Development

Rebecca Johnson

Aim

To enable you to write and present

reports appropriately

Objectives

• Recognise the value of the written word• Identify objectives & users of a report• Collect information for use in a report• Plan the structure, making appropriate use

of visual & basic statistical material • Use effective and appropriate tone,

language and level of formality in a range of cases

By the end of session you will be able to:

• Consider needs of recipient.

• Make appropriate use of info.

• Use of appropriate tone & level of language.

• Appropriate format.

• Give writing a clear & coherent structure.

• Layout.

• Including visual materials.

Planning your Writing - General

Effective Communication

• Who do I need to communicate with?

• What results do I want to achieve?

• What impression do I want to give?

To be effective, you should ask yourself:

Communication Purpose

• Reach some other person

• Achieve a result

Apart from self communication, all communication is designed to:

Whether the ‘result’ is to ask/order/persuade or to provide information, either way, it will

lead to action.

The Communication Process

Purpose

Sender Information messages

Receiver Action

Feedback

Effective Written Communication

• Reaches destination.

• Receiver notices it.

• Receiver understands & acts on it.

You should therefore choose material appropriate to the receiver & present in a

structure/language they understand.

What is lacking in this communication?

• ‘All my staff have worked very hard over the last year, and output is greatly increased. The team is successful all round, and everyone has contributed to this. I realise that this year things are tight, but I would like to recommend that my team should receive a performance bonus of 1% of annual salary, on top of any additional increases’.

Headings & Numbers

• Headings show points that go together logically.

• Numbering headings & subheadings can help reader if making notes.

Effective Communication

• Who do I need to communicate with?

• What results do I want to achieve?

• What impression do I want to give?

To be effective, you should ask yourself:

Objective Setting

• S pecific

• M easurable

• A chievable

• R elevant

• T ime-based

Visual Material • Be simple without over-crowding of

data. • Large enough. • Refer to in body of text (even when

placed in an appendix). • Complement, not replace the text

of the report.• Clearly and accurately labelled.

Visual MaterialAdmin

Production

Sales &Marketing

IT & Computing

Sales support 0 20 40

Sun

Sat

Fri

Thurs

Wed

Tues

Mon

0

10

20

30

0

50

100

0 5

East

West

North

Effective Communication

• Who do I need to communicate with?

• What results do I want to achieve?

• What impression do I want to give?

To be effective, you should ask yourself:

Other Considerations

• ‘Jargon’

• Quality

• Writing styles

• Spelling, punctuation & grammar

• Formality

Summary• Recognise the value of the written word• Identify objectives & users of a report• Collect information for use in a report• Plan the structure, making appropriate

use of visual & basic statistical material • Use effective and appropriate tone,

language and level of formality in a range of cases