Business writing training

Convoluted English fills our inboxes. It elicits eye rolls from staff members who should be more respectful but can’t quite help themselves. It costs huge misunderstandings and even costlier mistakes. It wastes more time than a flag on a football field. Poor business writing has long been the scourge of existence, whether you work for a Fortune 500 company, a government agency, or a nonprofit. Business writing training emerged in the eighties to begin reversing the inevitable dumbing-down of our offices that only got worse once computer-speak began infiltrating the workplace.

“For whatever reason, we are finding the business writing skill-set to be missing,” Southern Methodist University business professor Paula Hill-Strasser tells MSNBC. She said even the brightest students struggle through business writing training more than they used to. She blames electronic distractions like text messages and IMs, in part, as students seem to have greater challenges with multi-tasking.

Business writing

However, most business writing training consultants feel the problem is more with lack of knowledge in formal business conventions and, in some cases, sheer laziness. A good formal business writing training program aims to tackle both of these areas by instructing staff on common mistakes, practical practices, and effective writing techniques, while also motivating staff to develop an avid interest in crafting creative messages.