There's More to It Than Meets the Eye
Successful business writing is a happy combination of solid facts, short, declarative sentences, and accurate grammar and spelling.
And oral communications are always best when they deliver concise, well-organize, compelling presentations that get to the point.
The business world values clear, efficient messaging.
But is that all there is to it?
Not just a toolkit.
Effective writing is more than a "trick of grammar," the writer E. B. White said. Certainly, that true for management communications. It's intended to motivate, to get results.
Even Grammarly, a company with a business model built on the premise that impactful writing is essential to success, knows that there's more involved.
Its "10 Keys to Effective Business Writing," by Amy Copperman, (Grammarly Blog, 1/9/2024) explains that business communications are designed to help "promote shared understanding" and to "inspire engagement, especially when a powerful call to action is included."
When it works, business communication connects individuals. It joins them together for a purpose, a plan, a way forward.
But how can connectivity best be achieved? To answer that question, we might want to step back from the daily demands of business communication and take a broader perspective on how to make that connection.
Two recent books can help in the effort.
Making connections.
David Brooks's How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen, (Random House, 2023), underscores the importance of social skills developed through "small concrete actions" that make for better communities and make each of us better as individuals. The book has a soulful tone.
But read from a slightly different angle, the connective tissue needed for effective communications become apparent.
Each of these building blocks can make your business communications more impactful, more connected.
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That includes vulnerability, an attribute not often seen as part of the business communications mix. But messages that acknowledge past mistakes, or give credit to others for the team's success, demonstrate a degree of personal vulnerability.
Even "asking good questions can be weirdly vulnerable activity," Brooks says. "You're admitting that you don't know."
How hard could it be?
Charles Duhigg's personal struggle with management communications during a complex work project informs his new book, Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection, (Random House, 2024).
Duhigg had never been a manager or required to communicate as such, but he "had a fancy MBA from Harvard Business School and, as a journalist, communicated as a profession. How hard could it be?"
"Very hard, it turned out," he learned.
The fundamental challenge Duhigg confronted was "how do we create a genuine connection with another person?"
The "supercommunicators" he describes in the book share a keen ability to connect by understanding three basic types of communications, or conversations, as he terms them:
a) the practical, "What's this really about?"
b) the emotive, "How do we feel?"
c) the social, "Who are we?"
He explores each in detail.
Notably, Brooks and Duhigg both stress the importance of asking deep, substantive questions and exhibiting vulnerability in order to achieve effective communications.
Check out their insights at your local book shop to learn more about the distinct ideas each has for building messages that foster connectivity. And, equally important, the suggestions they have in common, i.e. the art of asking thoughtful questions and the role of vulnerability in connecting with an audience.
Carefully considered and applied, they can help take your business communications beyond the tricks of grammar.
Listening has always been in short supply. Too many leaders take the approach of, "Enough from you, let's hear from ME!" These days active listening is slim to nonexistent. Too often it's: ask question, look at phone, type a text, look back at the respondent none the wiser. But really listening is the ONLY way to ascertain whether what you have endeavored to communicate has been understood. Simple, but not easy.