26/10/2021
To communicate effectively, you probably need to amp up your writing skills. A huge percentage of your work product will be documented in emails and status reports. Writing a short and to-the-point email is a skill that few possess, so if you get good at this, you’ll be noticed. Crafting an email or a clear memo subject line helps busy people figure out which documents need to be opened now and which can be held for later. Keeping your emails short and to the point, with a clear takeaway or request for action, is important and a gift to anyone with an overloaded inbox (and that’s everyone). If your work group uses modern digital team-management software like Slack, Microsoft Teams, or whichever new collaboration platform your company adopted last week, you need to spend the time it takes to become a power user.
Your boss will notice.
If you are not sure that your grammar and punctuation are up to s***f, go immediately to the bookstore (pick a local one, please) and purchase a copy of The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White. First published in its full form in 1919 by Strunk and later updated and revised by White in 1959, it is the writer’s reference for all things grammatical. Read it—no, memorize it. Your writing will improve immensely.
The skill of writing clearly and concisely is critical during these fast-changing times, write authors Bill Burnett and Dave Evans in this excerpt.
