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Each leadership book and training program emphasizes the same basic skills: emotional intelligence, vision, communication and decision making. But a critical ability rarely makes the list, just although in silence, but it directly determines how well it is understood, executed and remembered the message of a leader: writing.
Do not write in the literary sense, how to elaborate novels or research works, but the type of writing that the organizations directs. The email that crosses ambiguity and reaches the grain directly, or to the memorandum of the entire company that inspires and informs. The strategy document so well structured that it eliminates the debate, clarifies the address and creates acceptance before the meeting begins.
This type of writing is the backbone of leadership in a world where more than half of a typical work week is spent on written communication, either by email, slack, reports, LinkedIn publications or formal presentations. However, despite Rolle’s integral writing, it reproduces in the alignment, execution and conformation of communication at all levels of an organization, it remains an infraval leadership skill.
Related: 7 reasons why all entrepreneurs must strive for a better deed
Why leaders overlook writing as an important ability, and why it is a mistake
Scripture is discarded as something that any competent professional should already know how to do. However, executives are occupied professionals who are constantly dragged into one million addresses, and many of them write the way they think: scattered and disorganized. They create unnecessary confusion writing the way they speak instead of the way people read.
The cost of ruling out the effects of the communication of poor writings is enormous. Almost 9 out of 10 business leaders have experienced first -hand the impact of the advertiser of bad communication at work, either through an increase in costs (45%), lost deadlines (39%), the reputation of the eroded brand (34%) or the decrease in productivity (28%).
Good writing does not necessarily mean perfect grammar or eloquence, he thought it helps. What is more important in writing, thought, is precision: Say exactly what you have to say, in a few words as clarity allows, and do it in a way that leaves no room for a misinterpretation.
Leaders who write well lead better. Their teams do not waste time in second place or noving to monitor the instructions. While much of the leadership is about making the right decisions, it depends more on ensuring that these decisions are understood, adopted and executed. That depends, much more than most people realize, in the strength of the written communication of a leader.
Related: Why are you more successful? Write better. Here is how.
How leaders can improve their writing
For those in leadership positions, effective writing means clarity, precision and impact. This is how leaders can avoid misunderstandings, accelerate decisions and boost alignment through their written communication:
1. Pre-writing
The first step to improve your writing is to refine your thinking before you start. If the message is not in your mind, you are not ready to distribute it to an audience. Before writing an email, memo or report, identify the central points of what you need to communicate:
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Who is my audience and what do they need to know?
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What is the most effective structure to present this information?
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What are the essential conclusions that I need to understand the recipient?
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What action or understanding should create this?
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What is the best communication channel for this message (email, slack, text message, verbal comments, phone call or video meeting) based on urgency and complexity?
When clarifying your message before you start writing, it ensures that your communication is focused and free of ambiguity.
2. Keep it concise without sacrificing clarity
Once the central idea is clear, the next challenge is to achieve adequate balance between brevity and understanding. Many leaders fall at two extremes: complicating their message with unnecessary complexity and excessive redundancy or simplification to the point of cars.
The dense and heavy writing of jargon makes it more difficult for equipment to extract key points. But being too letter is equally problematic. A haste email of two prayers fired as a text message (for example, “Let’s discuss this soon”) You can feel efficient, but without sufficient context, create additional recipients that force work to ask monitoring questions or, worse, make incorrect assumptions that lead to errors.
Strong writing is concise but complete, eliminating anything that confuses the message while retaining the essential parts.
3. Give your message a clear structure
Writing without structure is like speaking without pauses: ideas are blurred and the meaning is lost. The best writing guides the reader efforts from one point to another.
To achieve this, each piece of writing must follow a clear hierarchy:
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Start with the main point: Readers must understand the key message immediately, not have to look for it in the middle of a paragraph.
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Draw the information in clear sections: Use short paragraphs, bullet points or headers so that the content is easy to scan.
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Ensure logical progression: Each prayer should naturally lead to the next, helping the reader to follow his thinking without confusion.
Disorderly and disorganized writing forces people to work harder to understand their message. And in leadership, the more difficult it is to process, the less likely it is to boost the action.
4. Check and review accordingly
A first draft is rarely the best draft: the best writing occurs in review. The first draft is for ideas; The second is for clarity.
Reading an aloud message often revives what the eye overlooks: uncomfortable phrases, unnecessary complexity or prayers that force the reader to work too hard. If a prayer feels clumsy when speaking out loud, it will be so clumsy when read.
To refine your writing, focus on these key improvements:
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Simplify unnecessarily complex sentences: Cut excess words and replace jargon with a clear and direct language.
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Make sure every sentence (and every word) has a purpose.
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Clarify expectations: Eliminate any ambiguity that can lead to misinterpretation.
Related: 19 tips to immediately improve your writing (infographic)
For leaders, writing well does not mean sound impressive. It means making ideas, decisions and expectations without consulting. The influence of a leader depends on his ability to be understood by the people who lead.
If you want to raise your leadership, start with little. Improve an email at the same time. Before sending your next message, ask yourself: Do you say exactly what I need to say, as clearly as possible? Domaining clear writing will not only improve their daily communications, but will make it a leader whose words offer an impact.