Every organization has managers and leaders. Managers are needed to maintain the organization’s functions; leaders are necessary to transform an organization. Leaders differ from managers in five distinct areas: Writing Style, Dress, Work Habits, Speech Patterns and Commitment. This article will focus on the ‘Writing Styles’ of organizational leaders.
Early in my career I was fortunate to have observed many organizational leaders. I quickly learned great leaders share similar writing styles. They all followed five basic rules. I adopted their five rules and my career soared; first in the United States Air Force and later in Local Government? Managers seldom apply these five rules when they write.
Rule One, Never; include ‘please’ in any business correspondence. Explain what you expect, then ask it be done. For example, never write the phrase “Please comply with this new policy” instead write, “I expect everyone to comply with this new policy”.
Rule Two, Write active, not passive. Managers write passive; they love to use ‘ing’ words. Leaders write active and seldom use ‘ing’ words. For example: A passive writer will say … I am planning on implementing XXX. An active writer will say: I plan to implement XXX. Great leaders write active all the time.
Rule Three, Avoid “Which’s” and “That’s”. ‘Which’ and ‘That’ serve no purpose in business correspondence; they take up valuable space. For example: A government leader would never write “Our goal is to prevent increasing property taxes – ‘which’ or ‘that’ – will negatively impact our community. A leader would write: Tax increases negatively impact our community; we will not increase taxes.
Rule Four, Write like Shakespeare … 2-22-2. William Shakespeare, the most famous writer of all had a clever style. Ever fourth grade student can recite his soliloquy from Hamlet: ‘To be or not to be that is the question’. Shakespeare had a simple style. First, he used as many two syllable words as possible. Rarely did he use three syllable words and never did he use a four syllable word.
Second, he limited sentences to just 22 words. Finally, he used only two sentences per paragraph. His actual soliloquy is: “To be, or not to be, that is the question. Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or take arms against a sea of troubles.” Shakespeare thoughts were short {2-22-2} so they could be understood.
Rule Five and … the most important rule: Telegram all business memos and letters to yourself before you send them out? What??? Are you nuts Gabe? No, actually I am not.
Years ago I was tasked to write a letter defending the use of a certain policy. I worked hard on this task and smiled as I handed the President a detailed 4 page letter. “Looks good” he said – “Telegram it to me”. “Telegram it to you Sir?” “Yes, Telegram it to me” he replied.
“Out of which account do I take funds to pay for the telegram Sir?” “Pay for it yourself” he replied. Sheepishly I said. “Sir, I don’t know if I have enough money on me to pay for a telegram this long”. He then turned – looked me in square in the eyes and said: “If you can’t afford to telegram something you wrote, perhaps employees won’t spend the time to read something that long.” POW! His words hit me right between the eyes. I went back to my office and began to edit. Later I returned with a letter now barely three quarters of page long. He read my abbreviated letter, signed it and sent it out. Never again did any employee question our existing policy. The lesson I learned was the KISS Principle: Leaders Keep It Short and Simple so their correspondence is read.
