While writing may be one of your superpowers, the written word is not always the best way to communicate at the office.
Sharing a memo with colleagues or customers has its risks. In fact, readers may react poorly for any number of reasons: bad timing, unwelcome news, or a recipient may just think the message is irrelevant. In his book Writing for Results in Business, Government, the Sciences and the Professions, David Ewing does a neat job of summing up the limitations of writing,
"…written communication suffers from many inherent limitations. It is impersonal, one-way, undimensional, usually colorless, and unanimated. Frequently, it simply does not possess much-needed qualities possessed by other forms of presentation that may be available such as audiovisual and panel presentations. As a result, the shrewd communicator may reject it in favor of other techniques.” |1|
In what he considers a conservative estimate, Ewing believes at least 20% of the reports, letters, and memoranda going out on typical day in business and government should not be sent. This article is a condensed version of a chapter in Writing for Results titled, “To Write or Not to Write.” In this chapter, Ewing invites writers to answer the following questions before they put pen to paper.
1. Do I have a clear and practical purpose in writing?
It’s not enough that our letters or reports vent an emotion or "relieve an itch." There must be one or more readers who we want to influence. We should have a practical motive for influencing them, and it should be clear to us how we want them to act or think as a result of our communication.
2. Am I the right person to be sending this communication?
Sometimes the idea of committing certain thoughts and information to paper is right, but the wrong person (or group) is contemplating doing it.
3. Is this the right time to be writing?
Timing is a critical dimension in all aspects of communication. The effectiveness of a piece of writing depends in part on when it is read. Is the reader ready for it, in view of other things that have happened? Or is he or she likely to regard it as irrelevant or redundant?
4. Is the written word too risky?
Unlike words spoken in conversation, the written word stays indelibly clear for a long time. And if it is emailed for hundreds of people to read, it loses its none of its authenticity, as the spoken word does when repeated from person to person.
So, writers risk leaving a permanent mark more than speakers do—they have to live much longer with their words. They would be naive not to weigh this risk carefully on those many occasions where relationships are delicate, or charged in some other way that may lead them to regret their words as soon as someone has read them.
5. Is a written communication too rigid an approach?
On many occasions it is important that we be able to “feel our way” with our audience. We can do this if we are talking, but not if we are writing.
In the end, according to Ewing, some of the best decisions about business writing have been “don't” decisions: don't write it, don't send it now, don't let this person or that send it. Decisions about authorship, timing—and whether to write in the first place—deserve consideration. And sometimes a “don’t” decision can save you a significant amount of aggravation.
|1| David W. Ewing, Writing for Results in Business, Government, the Sciences and the Professions (John Wiley & Sons, 1979) p. 26-27.
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