According to Jeff Bradford (2019), business is about getting other people to do something – a customer to buy a product or service, employees to perform their tasks, new customers, suppliers, or new professionals. None of these things could happen without good communication skills. Three main communication types are used in business: verbal, non-verbal, and written. They are all very important, but writing skills are perhaps the foundation of it all and help to get the message across coherently and clearly. When we write, we give the reader a strong impression of our professional self and the business we represent.
For these reasons, developing and practicing your writing skills is very important, as you are also responsible for your employer. Even small mistakes can sometimes be costly. It is therefore very important to prepare and check several times that your thoughts are coherent, that you have not forgotten anything, and that there are no grammatical mistakes. The intellectual S. Pinker (2014) in his book The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century said that rereading your text is about organizing and clarifying your thoughts.
Business writing is used to convey information, present news, indicate action, explain, justify, influence, or persuade. Business writing is composed of polite, formal language, free of grammatical errors, and made up of short and clear sentences. The text is usually an attempt to remain polite, friendly, or neutral, even when the message being sent does not bring good news. The next steps in the adaptation of the message, such as style and tone, are determined by the purpose of the message and the recipient. The tone must be formal and polite, but this does not mean emotions must be suppressed.
Sometimes expressing emotions such as sadness, pride or happiness can strengthen the bond between colleagues, but over-expressing negative emotions may not be well received. In business writing, facts and logic take precedence over emotions. It is not advisable to write letters ‘on emotion’; it is better to lie on emotion and communicate after the emotion has passed. The style of writing depends on your relationship with the recipient and the circumstances.
