Why You Need to Care About Your Written Communication Skills

3 min read//

Whether we like it or not, we all have to write these days. As a professional working internationally, you really have no choice. Emails, policies and procedures, status reports, audit reports, blogs, marketing material … the list goes on and on. And so it’s in our best interests to be able to write well for international business communication success.

But what does that mean exactly? ‘Writing well’ seems like a vague concept that someone came up with to torture us, because it sure is hard to pin down, right?

Well, maybe not THAT hard. To write well means to write effectively, so that you achieve your desired result. See if you can answer the following questions with a resounding ‘Yes’:

• Are your key messages, analysis and recommendations clear to the reader?
• Do you employ universal principles of good writing when you write and edit your work?
• Do you write with an appropriate tone and level of formality in context?
• Are you aware of elements that negatively affect the readability of written communication?
• Do you consider cultural tendencies when you write?
• Do you consider the words you choose and the reaction that will result?
• Does your writing always achieve the results you want?

If you answered ‘no’ or ‘sometimes’ to any of these questions, then I would ask you to think about enhancing or expanding your written communication skills.

What your writing reveals about you

Your written communication skills are very revealing. Your boss, your colleagues, your clients and every other business partner you have will draw conclusions about you based on your writing skills.

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Professionalism

Excellent written communication skills will enhance your professionalism at work. However, if you cannot construct sentences in English, with proper punctuation and capitalization, you can take a huge hit to the perception of your professionalism. I’ve even heard someone be called lazy by their boss just for not using the built-in spell-check function in a document.

Credibility

You’ll drive your credibility up by writing concisely and precisely. It’s a real challenge to convey complex concepts in such a way that both nonprofessionals and your peers understand your key messages. Succeeding in this will set you apart from others and highlight your expertise and abilities.

Critical thinking skills

The ability to perform research, compile results, draw conclusions and then make value-added recommendations is critical to our professional success today. Gone are the days of warming an office chair, collecting data, and then passing it on to someone else with the “it’s above my pay grade” mentality. Our employers, employees, clients and business partners expect our opinions and value our ability to help drive their success.

Improve your public speaking skills

Excellent written communication skills will directly support your ability to speak in public. The ability to plan, organize, research and collate results is no less important for a presentation or speech. Critical thinking skills are invaluable here as well. Crafting messages that inspire and lead to action are relevant to both methods of communication.