Participants in my ‘Painless Workplace Writing’ workshops or presentations regularly hear me repeat simple phrases as a way to reinforce key learning points. So, here are some of my Faves to help you take a little pain out of writing at work:
- Everything you write at work you should write on purpose and for a purpose.
- No one should see you first draft of important messages. Everyone will see your final draft.
- With all emails, include something in the subject line to help your readers quickly assess and deal with them.
- Avoid vague words or references. Otherwise, you leave it up to your readers to define what you mean.
- Whenever a short, simple, familiar word is just as clear or clearer as a longer word, use the shorter word.
Stay tuned for more Phil’s Faves in future issues and best wishes for painless workplace writing.