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Can you write effectively? If you've answered a confident yes to this question, you're probably a better writer than most business professionals --but that doesn't mean that you're correct in your assessment. Confidence helps, but it can't make up for what have become the common weaknesses among today's professionals.
Ironically, writing skills, downplayed for so long, are probably more important today than they have been since the telephone became business's primary tool of communication. Using the telephone has long been considered more expedient, Less troublesome and, for many, more personal than writing.
But now we have two new tools, E-Mail and the fax, and a new game called telephone tag. It is now becoming more expedient, less troublesome and more effective to communicate in writing again.
Unfortunately, too many people lack the skills to do it well. There are a number of reasons for this lack of skill, not the least of which is lack of practice.
ASSESS YOUR WRITING SKILLS
To help assess your own writing skills, try answering the following questions:
1. What do you see as the three most important elements in effective business writing?
2. What do you do to further develop your writing skills?
3. Are you aware of the writing skills of others in your agency?
4. What tools or texts do you keep on hand when you're writing?
5. Do you agree that spell-checkers have eliminated the need for close proofreading?
Identify the problem(s) with each of the following examples:
6. "A seminar has been scheduled by J....