June 21, 2010

When NOT to Send an Email

Filed under: Communication — Tags: , , , — Freedom Personal Development @ 6:00 am

Have you ever received an email message that you thought could have been communicated in a better way? I bet if you were one of the 400 Radio Shack employees who were laid off last fall via an email message, you have this thought. (In defense of the situation, executives at Radio Shack said “they (the employees) were warned that firings would be made via email. . . ). Does that justify it? I don’t think so.

This situation got me thinking about all the times that sending email is appropriate and more importantly, when it is NOT appropriate. Here are just a few situations at work I thought about:

March 28, 2008

Business Writing Made Simple

Filed under: Communication — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — Freedom Personal Development @ 10:03 am

Ken BudkaOne of my favorite analogies for effective business writing is the clear window. Below are five simple guidelines to ensure your written communication is effective.

Write the Way You Talk

Imagine your reader is looking through your words, not at your words, for the meaning beyond the text. Whenever you use ultramajestic, high-fallutin, quadrasyllabic words, you force the reader to look at the words, often stopping to comprehend their meaning. When this happens, the message is clouded and even lost. The beauty of short, simple words is they speak clearly and in language that is typically the way you would talk in person. Write the way you talk. Great business writing means the Read More...

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