Plans are worth nothing without words

There aren’t many corporate CEOs who put improving writing skills at the top of their action list. In fact, I’ve never heard of a single one who stood up at a shareholders’ meeting and said, ‘We’re going to invest in improving how our people communicate in their reports and email, because it’s critical to our growth and profitability.’

That’s because, for most executives, effective writing is just a ‘hygiene factor’. To them, it means not making too many spelling, grammar and punctuation mistakes. And while they may feel strongly (and correctly) that those things matter, they rank them somewhere between turning up on time and not taking too many sick days. As such, they leave it to someone else to think about while they focus on more pressing matters.

That view is understandable, but somewhat short-sighted. Why? Well, think about it. How does a typical global organisation communicate its plans? By word of mouth? Rarely. It’s just not practical. And even if it were, it would also be hugely risky. Passing even the simplest message in that way leaves it open to unintentional shifts in emphasis or detail (and even intentional ones, given that it’s humans who are passing it on).

Put it in writing

No, it’s done in writing, usually in the form of an email, report or proposal, or – increasingly these days – using some form of messaging system such as Instant Messenger or Slack.

The truth is that writing is the main way of communicating any important message or instruction, especially when that message needs to address more than one person or travel over any distance.

Every plan, every edict, every major strategic decision has to be executed to work. And it can’t be executed without being written down first. ‘Can you put that in writing?’ is a request that often induces a heart-sink feeling, as it seems somehow anachronistic in our fast-moving world of twenty-first century commerce. But people who make that request usually do so because they know that, without a written record, an agreement or plan will probably fail.

In business, even the grandest or best of plans is just an abstract concept unless it can be communicated clearly and efficiently along a chain of command.

The vital link

I’m writing this post from my home office. Outside my window, builders are busy working on an extension to my house. But their hammering, drilling and sawing are punctuated by short breaks to check the drawings and make sure the wall or space for a window exactly matches what the architect intended.

So it is in most large organisations. Except, in that case, it’s not usually drawings but written instructions that we’re following. It’s the written plans that get implemented. Writing is the vital link (or, more usually, many links) between idea and execution. Change the writing and, more often than not, you change the result. What gets written, gets done.

Except, in many cases – possibly most of them – what gets done is not what needs to get done. And that’s not because the plan is bad, but because it’s communicated badly. Our reliance on the written word means that you need to get it right.

The cost of weak links

Years ago, I was reviewing a standard operating procedure for an oil exploration company. The document included a checklist of essential items for a marine geological survey. The checklist appeared on page 15 of an opaque 32-page document.

I pointed out to the client that the reader could well miss the need for these items until they were already aboard the vessel and a hundred nautical miles out in the Gulf of Mexico. A little digging revealed that that scenario had actually happened more than once. The cost, including fuel and crew salaries, ran into six figures.

Poor instructions are just one example of how writing is a far-from-trivial skill. Companies pay millions searching for and hiring the best talent. Then they fail to train them to write an effective business case. As a result, their best ideas often go nowhere, as they can’t persuade the decision-makers who will sign off the budget needed to implement them. Ultimately, those talented, expensive people often get discouraged and leave.

Even among those who stay, there can be other fallout from bad writing. Key relationships are unintentionally sabotaged by antagonistic emails between colleagues. Poorly drafted legal advice goes unheeded because clients don’t understand it. Not to mention the productivity loss as what could be an entire workforce spends most of the working day struggling either to convey their intentions in writing or to understand the intentions of their colleagues. (We once calculated for a Big 4 accountancy firm that improving this by just ten per cent could save them millions every year.)

The bottom line

The fact is that writing is not just important but in the top three of things any knowledge-based organisation should focus on. How well an organisation’s people write can have a huge impact on the bottom line. It’s the critical link in any plan presented to shareholders.

The strength of that link is, more often than not, the difference between success and failure.

If you’re interested in overhauling the writing skills of your team, a department or your entire organisation, have a look at your options in our Courses for companies pages. You can also get in touch here, or call to speak with one of our team on 01273 732888.

Image credit: Norwegian Meteorological Institute (via Wikimedia Commons) licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license / cropped from original

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Author: Rob Ashton

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Rob Ashton is the founder of Emphasis and posts mainly about writing and the brain – a topic he's been researching for seven years. You can read more of his work in Writing Matters – our weekly bulletin of career-building writing advice backed by science.