Write Better At Work

“How to” is not enough; leaders need “know that” and “know to”

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You might expect someone who scores well on a management test to be an excellent manager. However, a recent study found that managers who know principles and procedures often fail to put that knowledge into practice.

Lead researcher Timothy Baldwin and his colleagues identified three types of knowledge:

  • principles (know that)
  • ability to do something (know how)
  • recognizing when and where to use a skill (know to)

Tests can measure the first two types of knowledge (know that and know how). However, they are not as effective at assessing knowing to, which “means having access to one’s knowledge in the moment—knowing to do something when it is needed.”

Based on the study, how-to writers need to do more than explain basic principles and processes. They also need to provide cues that help readers recognize when to apply knowledge.

For example, one principle of email etiquette is that you should exchange no more than three rounds of emails. If you haven’t resolved the issue after three rounds, call or visit face-to-face instead of sending another email. But what if an exchange starts to turn hostile?

Don’t wait for the third round; instead, call or talk in person immediately. Only someone who knows to ignore the rule when exchanges turn hostile can defuse conflict before it escalates.

As you write how-to materials, keep know-that and know-to in mind. Give readers cues about when and where t0 use what they know. Explain the rationale for recommendations so readers can recognize opportunities to apply them. By building know-than and know-to into your how-to training, you’ll develop leaders who can put their knowledge into practice.

Notes: Catherine Lombardozzi describes a 2011 study by Baldwin, Pierce, Joines, and Farouk in “Shocking Evidence of Managers’ Knowing-Doing Gap” in T+D (July 2012): http://www.astd.org/Publications/Magazines/TD/TD-Archive/2012/07/Shocking-Evidence-of-Managers-Knowing-Doing-Gap.aspx

How much could you save by reducing email overload?

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Dr. Ian M. Paul was suffering from email fatigue. As a good physician, he wanted to understand what was causing his symptoms. So, for a year, the pediatrician tracked the number of mass distribution emails he received from the medical center where he works. The total: 2,035.

How much did this email overload cost, Dr. Paul wondered. He estimated that reading each email took 30 seconds. Based on the average salary of a doctor at his institution, the yearly cost of reading mass emails comes to about $1,641 per physician. Multiply that by 629 employed doctors and the cost exceeds $1 million.

And that’s not counting the costs of distraction or the consequences of important information missed amid the inbox clutter.

How many of the mass emails your organization sends are really necessary? Can employees trust that leaders’ emails will be clear and to the point? Would improving leaders’ writing skills reduce email fatigue?

You can download free tools to Develop Leaders’ Writing Skills here. This free 22-page whitepaper includes a job aid on writing emails that get action and resources for calculating the ROI on writing training or coaching.

Source: Paul, I. M., & Levi, B. H. (2014, March). Metastasis of e-mail at an academic medical center. Journal of the American Medical Association. Retrieved from http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/1812612

Improving leaders’ communication skills can boost the bottom line

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Poor communication can cost mid-sized companies thousands of dollars per year. Cost estimates can reach millions of dollars for multinationals, according to SHRM.

Now we know that improving writing does more than save money. A series of studies by Towers Watson over 10 years found that good communication by leaders drives financial performance.

“Companies that are highly effective at both both communication and change management are three and a half times more likely to financially outperform their peers,” according to Change and Communication ROI.

“A significant improvement in communication effectiveness is associated with a 29.5% increase in market value.”

Want to increase your leaders’ communication effectiveness? Find tools to Develop Leaders’ Writing Skills here. This free 22-page whitepaper provides reproducible tools you can use for individual coaching or writing training. You’ll also find resources for determining the ROI on your investment in writing training.

Sources:

Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). (2010). The cost of poor communications: A business rationale for the communications competency. Retrieved from http://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/behavioral-competencies/communication/pages/the-cost-of-poor-communications.aspx

Towers Watson.(2013–2014). Change and communication ROI—The 10th anniversary report. Retrieved from https://www.towerswatson.com/en-US/Insights/IC-Types/Survey-Research-Results/2013/12/2013-2014-change-and-communication-roi-study

It’s all about you: How two simple words can transform leaders and writers

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We were gathered at 7:30 in the morning for a workshop on leadership. The presenter asked us to do an exercise that seemed so simple I began it only to humor her. Her challenge: take each letter of our first name and match it to a word describing ourselves as a leader.

Normally I would have matched C with Creative, but my brain was struggling to make connections at that hour of the morning. Fortunately a source of insight was sitting right beside me. Alan Feirer showed me his acrostic poem and said, “N stands for needs-meeter.”

With two words and a hyphen, he cheerfully flipped standard assumptions about leadership on their head. Many people think about leading from the leader’s perspective: it’s all about what I do, what I tell you to do, what I want you to think about my vision for where we’re going. In other words, I lead and your job is to get with the program.

In Feirer’s model, a leader asks, “What does our company need? As my direct report, what do you need from me?” That attitude positions the leader in the gap between what’s happening and what should be happening. From this perspective, leaders and followers are allies. A leader is more than a provider and assigner of resources; the leader becomes a resource. Responsibility for identifying needs is shared, so leaders’ thinking is no longer bounded by the four walls of a corner office.

How might this model apply to writing? To paraphrase Feirer, my job as a writer is to figure out what readers need and then meet those needs.

How can a business writer become a needs-meeter? The most effective approach, according to writing expert Kenneth W. Davis, is to switch hats. Wear your writer’s hat as you draft. Then take a break. When you return to your draft, take off your writer’s hat and put on your reader’s hat; in other words, reread your draft from your reader’s point of view.

  • Can you immediately find the reason you need to read this document?
  • Do you have all the information you need?
  • Is the information organized so that you can easily understand and act on it?

Answering those questions  from the reader’s point of view will help you make changes that will better serve your readers.

Switching hats might seem to create more work for writers up front. However, in the long run, reader-centered writing encourages your audience to pay attention to your message and reduces the need for follow-up.

For example, it’s easy to dash off an email headed Company picnic scheduled. That subject line leaves a lot of questions unanswered. Revising it to Reserve your tickets for Thriller Diller family outing by 7/1 takes just a few seconds and turns your message into a call to action.

Whether you’re leading or writing, switching perspectives can make it easier to treat your audience as allies. Just remember to ask: “What do you need?”

Notes: Alan Feirer posts his thoughts on leadership in his Group Dynamic blog.

Kenneth W. Davis is the author of The McGraw-Hill 36-Hour Course in Business Writing, available from Amazon.

Find advice about how to write with a you attitude in “Finding the Right Tone”: http://www.designsensory.com/pws/lesson12/index.html

Becoming a better leader using an authentic voice

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Singers and writers are often urged to find their authentic voice, but leaders?

Kouzes and Posner believe that as a leader, you must speak in an authentic voice: “If the words you speak are not your words but someone else’s, you will not, in the long term, be … credible. ”

In The Leadership Challenge, Kouzes and Posner offer several long-term strategies for developing an authentic voice, including imitating other leaders and clarifying your values.

But what can you do when you have a short-term deadline—two hours to compose a memo preparing employees for bad news or two days to write a speech inspiring your whole organization to change?

Here are some ways to find your words in challenging situations.

1. Ask yourself, “What do I need people to know or do?”

2. Find a simple way to tell people what you want them to know or do. One way to pare your message down to essentials is to ask,”If I had only 30 words or 30 seconds to share this idea, what would I say?”

3. Experiment with different wordings until you find one that feels right. You might sense, “That’s it!’ You might notice a shift in your body, such as a feeling that your head is clearing or your gut is relaxing.

4. Once you have a basic message that feels authentic, test your wording. Consider how your audience might react to your message. One strategy is to imagine yourself speaking your message in front of an audience. What reactions might you expect? Would your audience be likely to be enthusiastic? confused? offended? You can also ask for feedback from trusted associates or typical members of your audience.

5. If your message resonates well with you but not so well with your audience, go back to Step 2. Ask yourself, “If I had only 30 words or 30 seconds to share this idea with this audience, what would I say?”

6. Continue refining your message until it feels right to you and for your audience. If you start to feel that you’re just looping through the steps without gaining additional clarity, take a break or start to develop a rough draft. Either strategy will give you a fresh perspective. You can also switch modalities. If you’ve been speaking, try writing. If you’re stuck writing, try speaking aloud or creating a presentation. If your ideas refuse to come together, talk them through with a sympathetic listener. If you need ideas, try reading or consulting a colleague.

7. Read your final draft aloud. Revise any wording that causes you to stumble. Notice whether your words sit comfortably in your voice, or whether they feel stiff and too formal or lightweight and too casual.

The end result will be a unique combination of your message, your personality, and your relationship to your audience: your authentic voice.

Notes:

The quotation from Kouzes and Posner is from The Leadership Challenge (Jossey-Bass , 2002), p. 44.

For more on noticing bodily shifts, see “An Introduction to Focusing: Six Steps”: http://www.focusing.org/sixsteps.html