Alveena Ahmad
If you ask a question from people about what is the most important skill an office employee should have, you’ll get a wonderful range of answers including decisiveness, financial acumen, charisma, etc. But the actual answer might be disappointing for many because it’s the writing skill that is most required for becoming an efficient employee. This answer is disappointing as well as surprising for people we prize oral communication and consider it a key credential for leadership.
Whereas in this electronic age, the power of writing is something that is crucial for presenting a level of analysis that might be difficult to convey in oral form. A document is not only a background piece of a discussion, it actually shapes the decision-making process itself.
This undervalued aspect of leadership development is often given less importance. This is the reason that sometimes even the leaders lag behind in this skill and fail to connect effectively with their company’s mission and visions.
Following are the most common writing mistakes that are even committed by leaders,
1. Including huge paragraphs:
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Try to make your emails more readable by not including unending paragraphs. You can either break the paragraphs into smaller sections ranging from 1-3 sentences or decide if every sentence, paragraph, or word should be included. This mistake makes your content non-presentable.
One of the mistakes people make at the workplace is to ignore the importance of email at the workplace for documenting their daily activities. The importance of email communication in the workplace should never be ignored because not only it lets you get in touch with everybody but it also could safeguard your interest in the long run.
2. Do not use passive voice too much:
The use of active voice makes you appear more confident and more authoritative therefore avoid using too much passive voice in your emails. A simple example is “I am going to do this” but if you use the same sentence in a passive voice as “This is going to be done by me”, it does not leave a lasting impression. This email mistake is commonly seen and should be avoided.
3. They place the main point at the end:
This is something that confuses the team and makes them think you are afraid to come up straight with your decisions. Do not place the main point at the end of your email. Telling the members of the division that have received poor marks right at the start clears away the confusion. The emphasis point, the agenda should be stated clearly at the beginning of any email.
4. Capitalizing the wrong words:
The best way not to appear unfamiliar with writing etiquette is to capitalize proper nouns and leave job titles in lowercase unless they are preceded by someone’s name.
5. Respond to emails of people below you:
You might not consider it an obligation to respond to emails that are sent to you by your employees but that’s something that can fail your leadership. Give the employees a response that proves you value your employees’ time.
6. Do not appear unenthusiastic:
In an email, tone can be sensed by everyone. Therefore use the words that are right and do not undermine your effectiveness. Do not appear unimpressed while writing back to the employees for their efforts.
