When deciding on whether employees need to improve their business writing, analyze the substance of all employee documents. A well written business document or email or report contains four essential elements:
1. Audience awareness
2. Content that is relevant to that specific audience
3. Logically categorized content
4. Properly sequenced information
When you encounter a document that does not present information clearly, figure out if the issue is a problem with audience awareness, or irrelevant content, or disorganization, or poor sequencing. This will help you fine tune both the corrections and training plan.
Tip: To underscore that writing matters in your organization, evaluate employee business writing skills, including improvement efforts, in all employee performance appraisals. What counts is what’s counted. If you tell your employees that “strong business writing skills” are a requirement of a position, measure those skills.
