Writing concisely at work – Photo credit: http://www.christianbookbuzzonline.com

I love words, and writing, and long, flowy sentences with lots of commas and dancing punctuation. I can thank my classical French and English literature high school teachers for that. And while I may be poised to write the next big novel, I’ve had to hear over and over how much I needed to write more concisely at work…

Considering how words, after all, are supposed to help us communicate and understand each other, it became obvious mine were militating against my success at work. So after a few reports sprinkled with insisting question marks and crossed out lines, something had to give…

1. Less is more! When it comes to communicating your message across at work, whether in email or formal report format, less is more! Just as Coco Chanel advised to remove one accessory before leaving the house, keep an eye on the wordiness of your professional write-ups. Reduce the words in your sentences, delete extraneous phrases or words (“that” has become one of my pet peeves), and keep it clear and to the point!

2. Appearance matters! Check the alignment of your paragraphs and sentences. Should your paragraphs be aligned to the left or justified? When using bullet point lists, keep in mind when you should put a period at the end of each item. Did you leave a space between each paragraph? Are the dates on your reports correct, and individuals’ names correctly spelled? Appearances matter…

3. Spell check please! Last but not least, there’s a reason why the spell check feature was invented. NEVER submit a report or send an email again without checking your spelling. The devil may be in the details, but your success may just be a grammatical error away…

The Corporate Sis.