Posted on 07/27/2003 9:18:19 AM PDT by ValerieUSA
People often tell Julie Miller: "E-mail's ruined me."
As a business-writing coach, Miller spends her time teaching professionals — architects, bankers, engineers, you name it — to write better, faster. And it appears that, increasingly, companies of all kinds are realizing the importance of the written word.
"Writing skills are a career-maker or breaker," Miller said. "There's no place to hide now, with everyone having access to a computer, because your writing is on display."
Good writing skills are especially important if you are looking for a job. In a tough economy, employers often are deluged with résumés and cover letters that make the first — and maybe last — impression.
"If you can't write a decent cover letter, you're not even going to get to the interview," Miller said.
Miller, a former English teacher, moved into the writing-coach business after a friend asked her to give writing tips to her husband, who worked at an insurance company. She has since helped out engineers who might take two days to write a one-page document, or managers whose employees turn in jargon-ridden mumbo-jumbo such as this:
"Based on preliminary discussions with John Smith regarding an income valuation of the subject property, utilizing a 10% CAP rate, based on current income levels, after allowances are made for appropriate maintenance, management and vacancy reserves, a valuation of $9.5-$9.8MM would be a conservative estimate at this time, resulting in an of 59-60%."
That real-life example was just one sentence in a report so lengthy and cumbersome that the manager, according to Miller, said, "I'm not wading through this!"
"Talk about a waste of time and money," Miller said. "I call (writing) the costliest activity in the workplace."
Chris Pavek, who is in charge of professional development at a national consulting firm, recruited Miller several years ago to do a series of workshops with his employees.
"These are very intelligent, highly educated people, and they do all sorts of writing," Pavek said. "In reading some of the stuff, it was very stilted; it was passive; it was in the third person. It was not very stimulating."
Enter Miller, who conducted eight or nine workshops for the company as well as doing some individual coaching.
"Before, they were spending six hours to write a report, and now they're writing it in an hour," Pavek said. "It probably saved our clients $100,000 in billable time."
Two of the biggest problems her clients face are organization and procrastination, Miller said.
"Folks circle the computer and never get started. They wait until the last minute," she said.
Miller eschews "old" writing habits such as a formal outline, instead advocating methods such as idea-mapping and power-numbering.
"I'm not an editing service. I'm not a writing service," Miller said. "I'll give (clients) feedback and actual strategies they need to do differently in their writing."
Pavek says that since working with Miller, his written material is much better received and he gets quicker responses.
"I was an over-writer. I am much more aware of my writing now and much more cognizant of style and brevity than I was before," Pavek said.
Julie Parker, who works in customer service at Microsoft, said she tends to "over-explain" when she writes. Parker corresponds directly with customers via e-mail and regular mail in responding to requests and complaints.
She bought Miller's book, "Business Writing That Counts!" and took the corresponding online course in May. Most of it is "common sense stuff," Parker said, but she found it to be a good refresher course.
"It definitely helps me save time, and everything's just a little bit crisper-looking than before," she said. "I watch my words more carefully."
Parker recommended the course to colleagues and, after telling her manager about it, the course has become a requirement for members of her team next year.
The need for good writing skills can pop up in the most unlikely places, as Miller's clients can attest.
As an IT business analyst for Snohomish County PUD, Angela Druckman works with "a bunch of introverts — in general, people who sit with machines and not people."
Her team was having trouble communicating effectively with "non-techies," including advisory committee members to whom Druckman and others make presentations about business and technology.
"What would happen is, we had a pretty bad glaze factor," Druckman said. "We might find the topic of server consolidation fascinating, for example, but an executive is going to be saying, 'What does this mean to me and why do I care?' "
Miller led three workshops for Druckman and her colleagues. "One of the things that was most useful is she really encouraged us to look at the big picture first. She has this mapping technique she teaches," Druckman said. "If you don't do that, you tend to start at the beginning and ramble and ramble."
Miller, who has been teaching people to write for 30 years at the high school-, college- and now professional-levels, calls her craft "an absolute passion."
"It really makes you a valuable employee," she said. "I think that the person who can write is the star. They stand above the crowd."
Writing 101
Here are some tips from experts to improve your writing and your chances of landing, keeping and doing well in a job.
Be concise. Longer is not better.
Avoid jargon. Big words don't make you sound smarter if the reader doesn't know what they mean.
Mix it up. Use short and long sentences.
Remain focused: Don't wander.
Aim to get an "A": Use the dictionary, the spell-check function on your computer. And proofread, proofread, proofread!
Seems like Pamela Sitt and her editors could also use this class...
We don't need you.
We will just change the language.
For instance, we don't like the word "complement" used in its proper context.
As a matter of fact, we don't like the word "complement" at all.
We have misused it so much that it has been discarded.
The proper word is now "compliment," regardless of context.
Our goal is to reduce the entire English language to four-letter words, and even some of those are too difficult.
There is nothing you can do.
The lowest common denominator always wins, because it is the tolerant, inclusive thing to do.
It's TRUE! Just ask Jayson Blair...
"Yo buss dis. We ain't need you. We will jus fix de language. fuh instance, we ain't likes de word "complement" uset in its propuh revlant. As a mattuh uh fact, we ain't likes de word "complement" at all. We has misuset it so much dat it be discarded. De propuh word be now "compliment," regardless uh revlant. Our goal be to reduce de entire English language to foe-lettuh words, an' evun some uh those be too difficult. Dere be nothin you can do. De lowes common denominator always wins, because it be de tolerant, inclusive thin to do. Sheeit!"
Also if your writing skills are poor, your reading skills are poor as well.
LOL!
From the article:
"I think that the person who can write is the star. They stand above the crowd."I'm not certain this is necessarily incorrect. An individual who can write correctly will be a star. There will be many individuals who can write correctly. These people, collectively, will stand above the crowd.
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