Getting It Write

Robin Wheeler talks about business writing and its role in realising vision, sustaining innovation, and improving job performance and satisfaction.

by Andrea Vinassa

Q: Why would someone in business, an HR person specifically, need to have mastered the art of writing?

A: You need to write to do your job because most deliverables today are writing based. You need writing to express, develop and communicate ideas, and to integrate theory into practice. And you need writing to market your services and be creative. Writing is central to productivity and personal growth.

Seeing writing as something to master can make you feel intimidated by it, but if you approach it as a journey of exploration and growth, as I’ve found it to be, writing becomes an exciting way of life. This benefits you as a person and the organisation you work for.

Q: Can’t we just pick up the phone? What are the pros and cons of communicating verbally versus in writing?

A: Verbal and written communication both have their place, and should both be developed and put to good use, preferably in artful unison! They’re both sustainable competencies with boundless potential.

Q: Can you give examples of the kinds of writing in HR?

A: Proposals for projects, reports on results, job descriptions. Promotional articles for magazines. Career-advancing books. CVs, all correspondence.

Then there’s writing outside of work, to newspapers, for community circulars and old school magazines, or just as a legacy for the kids. When writing is a lifestyle that is applied to business, it is most effective in business.

Q: I find that the writing I get from companies is getting worse and worse, so there is clearly a need to improve it. You approach it, though, also as a tool for entrepreneurism in organisations. How are writing and entrepreneurism linked?

A: For many people writing is something they have to do in their jobs and, more often than not, something they struggle with and don’t enjoy. Their relationship with it blocks their creativity, keeps them from their potential and limits their job performance. This stems from negative experiences with previous attempts at writing, like critical, envious or apathetic feedback, which we’ve all had.

The pro-active approach to business we call entrepreneurism is, on the one hand, about spiritual pursuits, like seeking to realise potential and working with purpose, and, on the other hand, about practical work like sharing vision, planning action, marketing services, building brands, developing products, servicing clients and communicating with people. Writing is the vehicle for both of these aspects of entrepreneurism, the spiritual and the practical. It enhances meaning and delivers results. I think that anyone being entrepreneurial will sooner or later discover and marvel at the benefits of writing.

Q: Is there a correlation between literacy and the ability to write and the bottom line?

A: Business writing affects the image and effectiveness of organisations, and sets the precedent for any future writing, so, directly and indirectly, it definitely has an immediate and long term impact on the bottom line. It’s important, I feel, to recognise it as the vehicle for an empowered workforce, a tool for individual and organisational growth.

Writing is first about people, their ideas and communication, and the spirit of the business, and then about the art and craft of using words, and of working with rules by getting them work for you. If you focus on just the rules, you miss the substance.

If you approach writing as an art, you ensure that you enjoy doing it, even if it is highly technical, and progress through it by developing yourself and everyone you come into contact with.

Q: Aren’t some people born writers and others not? And can you really teach writing? If so, how?

A: I think we can all write and become better people for doing so. We can certainly become more valuable to business. The ways to learn to write are to just do it, get help as you go, and, more than ever, read.

To teach writing, you have to write yourself, then mentor others by encouraging them, being a nurturing and trustworthy sounding board, and sharing your knowledge and experience. This way you build together.

My focus in corporate training is on improving people’s relationships with writing, helping them realise the strategic value and personal potential in writing, teaching self-management techniques, and only then covering structure, format, etiquette and grammar. The training is effectively a strategic intervention supported by skills transfer, with an motivational effect.

Q: What results have you seen from developing business writing?

A: The quality of writing improves throughout the organisation. People write more easily and prolifically, and have a more creative and enterprising approach to their jobs. They also enjoy their work more, advance faster in their careers, and have a more substantial and sustained impact in the business.

Q: How much does being able to put down one’s thoughts on paper or screen have to do with effective knowledge management in companies?

A: Knowledge management is another result and benefit of writing. Expressing, recording and pooling the knowledge resident in people is of increasing interest to businesses in their quest for long term survival and success in the new people-based economy. Sharing knowledge is a cornerstone of growing intellectual capital.

For contributors to write what they know, they need purpose, to be working towards something, and to be encouraged by the system to write. Writing needs to be seen as important to the business and a meaningful part of their jobs.

Q: How can we ensure more readable and effective business writing with fewer errors?

A: First, you can nurture writing in the organisation and train and mentor people. Second, by fostering impeccability as a core business value, and using writing as a vehicle for doing so, you can minimise errors, learn optimally from experiences and grow in power.

Impeccability is not perfectionism, which is avoidant of opportunity and obstructive to creativity and productivity. Being impeccable means giving your best at whatever you do and learning all the time.

Q: How can people in HR convince their internal clients of the value of writing?

I think people need little convincing. What they need is role models, encouragement, and practical help, all of which HR can give them. Through writing, HR practitioners can exemplify the organisational vision, teach skills and boost business. Writing is a tool for innovation that grows people, as writers, readers and traders in quality.

Q: Why is it that Americans seem compelled to write down everything they think and experience in business but South African’s don’t?

A: The power of writing is perhaps more appreciated in American business culture. If South Africans see the value of their unique experience and the need for their contribution, and write more, we will benefit immeasurably as individuals and members of broader communities. South African business will strengthen and have increasing value internationally.