Are you a Project Manager, Operation Manager, or anyone communicating with stakeholders?
Then this article is for you. A Manager's primary role is to communicate with others, either it is through written or verbal communication. You won't worry about stakeholder relationships if you learn and practice PMBOK's 5Cs of written communication.
Let's check what the 5Cs of written communication are.
1. Correct grammar and spelling
Proper grammar is essential in the business and is more crucial than you think. Poor grammar shows your unskillful communication and lack of attention to detail. It not only creates misunderstandings but also slows down future interactions with the stakeholder.
It will help to build reliability and trustworthiness.
We deliver different written materials besides e-mails, like contracts, proposals, presentations, speeches, brochures, and social media posts. If we make any mistakes here, It will negatively reflect on business relations.
It enhances productivity.
Instructions with proper grammar make it understandable for all team members to save time and avoid potential confusion. It directly affects productivity and conducts business smoothly. Bad grammar is a source of miscommunication and misunderstanding and consumes valuable time.
It prevents lawsuits and leaves a better impression.
Mistakes in business documents cost you adversely. If the instructions are unclear or have grammatical errors, the Stakeholders will take wrong actions that expose them to potential lawsuits. Proper grammar in business documents leaves an impression on the stakeholders. They always observe your communication skills and the way of approach, which affect the future relationship.
2. Concise Wording
Concise Wording means eliminating excess words and maintaining the clarity of the expression with efficiency. We believe that time is money, so shorter messages are always better. To save time, we reduced the use of e-mails and started implementing communications and collaboration platforms such as Slack and Microsoft Teams. However, concise writing is not as fast as we think. Practice makes it obtainable for you.
Sentence Length and Complexity
The focus point of concise business writing is to absorb and react to the message we transmit in a precise form. It uses a clean, straightforward, uncomplicated sentence structure to improve understanding and retention. Our goal is not to make sentences short but to convey ideas clearly to avoid ambiguity.
Active and Passive Voice
The concept of "active" and" passive" voices in business writing is commonly confusing. Besides, the passive voice is frequently avoided because of the perception that business writing should be "direct" and to the point. Thus start observing your sentences and knowing when and how to use both active and passive voices will help you become more successful.
3. Controlled Expressions
The controlled expression is a way to state our purpose with an accurate interpretation. Be sure your goal is clear and that what you write is worth taking the time to read. Being aware of invisible readers is a skill we possess and rely on daily.
Describing the Purpose
The reason why we are writing this content shows our purpose. In everyday writing activities, we identify our readers' characteristics, interests, and expectations before deciding what we write. Thinking about readers has become so common that you may not even detect reader-driven decisions.
Selecting an Appropriate Tone
Tone identifies a speaker's attitude toward a subject. He transmits emotion through his voice, from excited and humorous to sombre and critical. We can also communicate our expression through writing a range of attitudes. We stimulate the reader's beliefs and feelings with valuable methods, such as sentence structure, word choice, punctuation, and formal or informal language.
Choosing Significant and Interesting Content
The audience is the individual or group that we intend to address. After selecting the audience and a purpose, we must choose what information will make it to the page. Content refers to all the written substance in a document. Content may consist of examples, statistics, facts, anecdotes, testimonies, and observations, but no matter the type, the information must be appropriate and exciting.
4. Coherent and Consistent
People judge by our communication, and our writing speaks volumes about the business. The sloppy, inconsistent report reflects poorly on professionalism. But consistent and coherent writing demonstrates that you and your business are committed to quality and nurtures your stakeholder's desire to work with you.
The term coherence mentions the smooth flow of ideas in our sentences. We should organize our thoughts logically and connect them effectively using transition words and phrases. If the writing lacks coherence, the central concept can be incomprehensible.
Deciding a Writing Style
Having a distinctive writing style also makes life easier. Whether writing an e-mail or an instant message, consistent writing, especially the rules set for ourselves, saves time. Some businesses prefer to capitalize on job titles, departments, phrases, and buzzwords. That's fine, but remember to be consistent.
Don't assume your readers know the meaning of every acronym and abbreviation. The first time when you use it, spell the word or term in full, then put them in parentheses.
Formatting is vital for business documents and online material, such as letters, press releases, blogs, contracts, social media posts, and website content. Use the same fonts, size, and spacing throughout the document. Using the same formatting across all your documents to uphold your business's branding is also a great idea.
Checking facts is also indispensable. When we cite research, quoting someone, check the spelling of their name and fidelity. It may be a quote you've heard a million times before, but you still need to research it.
Deciding on a writing style takes time, but it will save you time once you've worked it out.
5. Clear Sentences
Clarity means making your content easy to understand and controlling the flow of words and ideas. It is not helpful if people misinterpret what you're trying to say. On the other hand, if you can produce sharp, bright, intelligent, and easy-to-understand content, it becomes much easier for people to see its value. They'll want to keep reading. If you can write more clearly than most people, your writing will stand out. It turns heads, changes minds, and encourages action.
I hope you have gone through all the above-stated scenarios if you want to accomplish it in your everyday life; it demands constant practice and dedication. If you don't get it the first, second, or even tenth time, don't worry. You will get it. I suggest using correction tools like Grammarly or Ginger in the initial practising stage. It guides you and improves your skills quickly.
Thanks a lot for showing patience to read till the end.
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