What I learned from writing at work

Most of the writing that we have to produce and consume happens at work.

Maybe I’ve had more experience than most with jobs writing correspondence, notes of committee meetings, briefing papers, annual reports, speeches, policy papers, press releases, statements for parliament, e-mails, internal memos… in various jobs in the large bureaucracies of central and local government and smaller voluntary bodies.

Just running through that list is reminding me of the paper mountain I’ve now escaped from, but what did I learn about business writing after nearly 20 years producing words at work?

1. People write when they should talk. E-mail has made this problem a thousand times worse. People send notes, memos and e-mails when it would be quicker, easier and friendlier to lift the phone or go and talk to a colleague.

2. People write to impress. There are always some folk in organisations who will use fancy words, jargon or beautifully polished prose to try and impress you with their knowledge, intelligence or rank. They are trying to communicate something about themselves, rather than making a connection with their reader.

3. Words get used as camouflage. We’re all familiar with this one. Weasly words are used in place of plain English to hide what’s really going on. At a more everyday level, people use lots of words to disguise their confusion at what to say - like the record of a meeting where lots was said but nothing much happened. It’s hard to record that as the outcome!

4. Anxiety doesn’t make for good prose. When people get stressed and nervous their ability to think clearly goes out of the window. Again this tends to lead to more words and less clarity. Managers need to coach their staff first to relax and then extract what they really need or want to say

5. Readers get forgotten. Again this is a familiar complaint about writing in large public sector organisations. The words might make ’sense’ in the culture of the organisation but mean nothing to the person who’s going to end up reading it.

6. Good writing needs a voice. Hard in bureaucracies but clear, quality writing needs to convey something of the ‘voice’ of the writer - their style, vocabulary, syntax, character and humour. Think of the bits of paper that have made the most impact on you at work - I bet they had the personal stamp of the author on them somewhere

7. Writing needs to be structured. Most people are suffering from information overload at work. Help them to value your words by structuring your writing. That can be as simple as beginning, middle and end. Stick to making just three points - it’s easier to remember. Use signposts to help people navigate the text.

8. Writing by committee doesn’t work. I’ve been part of countless writing projects that have included contributions by dozens of authors. The only way to get the writing to flow is to have one or at most two people writing and editing. Use the rest of the material as quarry or background research, or edit and slot it in once you’ve worked out your own structure. Otherwise you’ll create a camel when you were trying to write a horse.

9. Words count. I worked in an environment when the precise words mattered a great deal and were often contested. Being clear about your choice of words, checking the meaning of words, searching for alternative words to find a way out of a linguistic log-jam are all skills that can help you at work.

10. Less is more. The combination of all these factors means that most people are at work are spewing out far more words than are needed. Individuals and organisations are swamped by words, drowning in paper. It takes more confidence to write less not more but you’ll always be thanked for it.

All of these factors contribute to the paper mountain and the deluge of words. But you can make a difference by going for clear simple language, stripping out unnecessary words, and remembering the needs of your readers - including your flustered, overworked, overwhelmed colleagues and staff.

So there we go, the main things I learned from writing at work. I pulled together this list as a contribution to a group writing project run by Middle Zone Musings on ‘what I learned from the world of work‘ . There’s still time to contribute if you’d like to join in.

Meantime, I’d love to hear your own experiences of the best and worst examples of writing at work…

Business Writing With Confidence: 6 week e-course with coaching and writing tips to help you write with authenticity, brevity, clarity and confidence at work. Find out more here

Joanna Young, The Confident Writing Coach
Because our words count

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