5 ways to leave the right paper footprint
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People often come unstuck because they look and talk the part, but what they produce on paper is not very high quality – it’s quickly written, has errors, and is unclear instead of being concise, focused, exact and precise. This week we’ll start by looking at 5 ways to improve all your writing – reports, presentations and email. Then we’ll give some specific guides to upping your email impact in a later article.
So with that in mind, what does your paper footprint say about you?
The real test is to force yourself to look at what you’ve done. Pick out samples of your work over the past few weeks – were you concise, were you clear, did it look the part and was it right for the readers? And for a great benchmark, think about how many people have had to come back and query what you’ve written or sent out over the past few weeks – that will give you an understanding of how people judge your work.
So with that in mind, what does your paper footprint say about you?
- Are you concise? Writing short reports takes more time; but they have more impact in the business. Spend your time, to save senior people’s time. Short concise reports and presentations will make people see you as having senior potential – having the ability to distil complex situations into simple explanations of key points. Long reports make you look like you can’t see the wood for the trees and are bogged down in detail. If your emails are longer than a couple of short paragraphs, why not create a document to attach instead?
- Are you clear? When you’re writing an email or report, what are you trying to say? Are you really clear about the key messages that you want to leave your audience with? The most effective writing focuses on putting across no more than 3 key points. Consider putting less important, ‘nice to know’ points in appendices. Are all of your sentences clear and easy to understand? Try this link, to check your clarity of your writing. Aim for a Fog Index of 13-14 – draw the line at 17!
- Are you accurate? Do you make common spelling or grammar mistakes? And be warned – most people won’t point this out to you unless they are specifically asked! Years of delivering presentations and training have taught me how important this is. Normally you don’t get to see people’s reactions to your mistakes – but when I’m presenting and someone spots a mistake in a handout (you can guarantee if you make a mistake someone will notice) I get to see the reaction! And nothing feels as bad as people noticing your mistakes and pointing them out.
- Does it look the part? I completely agree that substance is more important than style, but style can add so much to what you’re saying and how well it’s understood and received. Whether or not you have “creative flair” make sure that the basics are right – for example that you’ve got consistency of font, font size and layout, that your bullet points are aligned, and that you’re consistent in whether you use full stops at the ends of bullet points. You never know if you are trying to influence a perfectionist!
- Does it help the audience? What are you trying to tell them and why? What are they looking for from this document, and does what you’re providing give it to them? Playing to what your audience need gets your message across. Take the time to put yourself in their shoes and start from there. Also consider – what do you want them to do as a result of your document – and is this crystal clear?
The real test is to force yourself to look at what you’ve done. Pick out samples of your work over the past few weeks – were you concise, were you clear, did it look the part and was it right for the readers? And for a great benchmark, think about how many people have had to come back and query what you’ve written or sent out over the past few weeks – that will give you an understanding of how people judge your work.