Write It Well

Last week, I delivered an Effective E-Mail workshop to a group of computer engineers. I was showing the group one of our tips and tools for writing more clearly and concisely.

One of them had an “ah-ha” moment, and he asked me how people in the business world learn these things.  I told him that many people don’t ever have the opportunity to learn how to write for business unless they attend a conference, seminar, or workshop on writing skills. That’s one reason so many business writers confuse their readers, and waste everyone’s time.

Offer your employees the opportunity to learn better writing skills. It will change their professional lives.

Natasha Terk,

President,

Write It Well

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Click these links for overviews of Write It Well’s online and on-site trainings, workshop facilitator kits, and books on writing skills.

We love concise prose at Write It Well, but performance reviews are one kind of document where you can’t skimp on the details.

Here’s an example. It shows how you can go beyond merely describing a task by explaining the results of a job well done:

Before:

“Going forward, Fred needs to create presentations with more pictures and fewer words.”

After:

“During the next quarter, Fred needs to make his presentations more engaging and interactive so that the audience learns more and doesn’t drift off. Using pictures, polls, and lots of questions will help.”

The bare description in the first example doesn’t explain why Fred should change how he uses PowerPoint. Seeing the second sentence in a performance review would give him a much clearer reminder of how he can improve his work.

This focus on desired results could also spare Fred’s coworkers and clients some long, sleepy meetings.

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For a list of quick tips, check out our free, one-page PDF “Dos and Dont’s for Performance Reviews”!

Click here for an overview of our half-day workshop on performance reviews. Write It Well can customize this training and deliver it for you, or you can deliver it yourself with our facilitator kit.

Go to these links for a one-page workshop overview, a sample agenda, and an extended excerpt from our guide for workshop leaders.

The training uses our stand-alone book Writing Performance Reviews: A Write It Well Guide.

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September newsletter

Get ready to write your reviews!  Join us on Wednesday, September 22nd at 11am PDT for a 45 minute session (including Q&A).  Natasha Terk, President of Write It Well, will walk us through the things we need to do — and things we should not do — when writing performance documentation. This fast moving session will make the process go faster and be more valuable for your direct reports.  Register here: http://tinyurl.com/2f74acs