Page 93 - How to write effective business English your guide to excellent professional communication by Fiona Talbot

82 How to Write Effective Business English

Is there a particular example you’ve encountered? Why not jot
it down while the subject is fresh in your mind? Consider discuss-
ing any issues with your boss and colleagues to get a fix on how to
deal with them.

Muddled business writing costs on
so many levels

In business we communicate by speech and writing and visuals.
But we only succeed if we get our intended message across without
distortion.
Here’s a clear example of a distorted message:

Identifying business writing has to be about messages. Present
them you should then in a key that will engage readers’
attention – and make them want way to read more.
How did you react to this piece of writing? Did you even try to
make any sense of it? Did you decode it? Because that is precisely
what you would have had to do.
Here’s the decoded message:

Business writing has to be about identifying key messages. You
should then present them in a way that will engage readers’
attention – and make them want to read more.
You can see how distortion makes a mockery of good advice – yet,
sadly, you’ll still find many jumbled messages in the workplace.
Let’s identify differing ways readers can react to muddled mes-
sages. My findings include:

● ● Readers might not be bothered to work out the meaning.
Unimpressed, they might walk away from the ‘message’ – and
from the business that it belongs to.
● ● Readers might also tell others the bad news.

● ● Readers might try to work out a meaning: they might decipher
it wrongly and do nothing.