(A reader recently commented that her written style and verbal style are often different. My reply … )
Lots of people feel that way and communicate accordingly. However, that doesn’t need to be the case in the contemporary and more casual business culture many of us work in. If you view workplace writing as ‘people talking to people on paper’, then you value and use a more conversational style.
An often-‘heard phrase in my writing workshops is ‘Write like you talk, but with more focus and finesse’. In this context, when someone says an email ‘ … sounds just like you’, they meant it as a compliment.
So, my verbal style and written style are extremely similar. It also makes it a lot easier, as if I’m mastering one dialect instead of two. I don’t have to think much about what channel of communication I’m using to transmit a message. What does impact style or structural variations is a combination of the demographic and psychographic analysis of the defined receivers (readers and listeners), intended outcomes and specific content of the message. Therefore, if I’m communicating with ‘X’ about ‘Y’ to accomplish ‘Z’, my verbal style will mirror my written style very closely.
Your thoughts?