Effective business writing

Welcome to the Module

Welcome to this module on 'Effective Business Writing'.

In the previous module, you learnt about the important aspects of communication in the 21st century and how to build critical

thinking. You also learnt how to research, analyse and deliver arguments and back them with citations. In this module, you will

learn how to develop your writing skills, one of the four pillars of communication

The written form is going through a transition in the 21st century. With technical innovations such as short message service

(SMS) and social media platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter, writing is no longer merely an act of written

communication. It has also taken the form of oral communication through the written media. The words and languages used on

these platforms are also changing; they are a mix of English, vernacular languages and many new additions to the English lexicon

with words like LOL, ASAP, abbreviations of Laugh Out Loud and As Soon As Possible respectively, and “emojis” like a :) or :

( to convey an emotion, are being used regularly in written communication.

This module is divided into two main sessions:

1. Elements of Good Writing

2. Effective Professional Writing

The first session deals with the basic six basic principles of writing

- Sincerity, Readability, Simplicity, Tonality, Brevity and Clarity. We will understand each through real-life examples of

famous world leaders and their day to day communications. 

 
 Moving on, we will learn a few basic writing frameworks to keep in mind while writing any document. These are the  AOM

framework, OBC framework, Minto's Pyramid, Mind Maps, Fish Bone diagram and more. 

You will also learn about the importance of feedback in the writing process and how to use them judiciously to develop quality

content.

In the second session, you will be taught how to master the three major forms of professional write-ups:

 Emails

 Reports and Summaries

 Proposals

These forms of professional write-ups will be covered by using essential frameworks and formats to keep in mind while writing

them.

This will then be supplemented with an understanding of what to write and what to avoid in professional writing along with a

segment on how to be more persuasive and assertive in your writing. 

See you on the other side! 

Throughout the session, you will be learning via multiple videos across segments. If required, please refer to the transcription

document attached below for a hassle-free learning experience.

 Basic Principles of Writing
In the previous module, we touched on the importance of communication in the modern workplace. In this module, you will learn

how to become an Effective Business Writer. 

Why do some of our emails attract the right amount of attention and appropriate action from our teammates while some  emails

are not even acknowledged? Why do books such as the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling and Animal Farm by George Orwell

receive acclaim and readership worldwide? The magic lies in how the written word affects the reader. In this segment, our expert

Rakesh Godhwani will explain some essential principles and frameworks that will help you make your writing more impactful. 

In the upcoming video, we will discuss the six main elements that form the foundation of any form of written prose:

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These six elements of writing are summarised below:

 Simplicity: This refers to the ease at which the reader is able to consume your writing. Avoid heavy jargons at all points to maintain simplicity

throughout your documents. Johnson & Johnson's Credo reflects this simplicity well.

 Readability: Documents that are prepared with an appropriate size of fonts, crisp formatting and the right visual cues (photos and colours) are

preferred by readers because the information can be navigated with ease. Read the annual report by Akshay Patra, for example.

 Sincerity: Being objective and authentic conveys a sincere message to the audience. Read Stephen Elop’s Burning Platform Memo to understand

why being truthful with your readers helps build a better relationship with them.

 Tonality: Brian Cheskey’s email on workforce layoff reflects how leaders can be respectful, considerate and compassionate while writing

difficult emails. Tonality helps set the right tone of interaction between the writer and the reader.

 Brevity: Everyone loves reading brief, to-the-point emails/messages. Furthermore, this is considered a key trait of professionalism within

organisations. Read this short yet powerful speech of 272 words by Abraham Lincoln, widely cited even after 150 years of creation.
 Clarity: Clarity refers to informing people what exactly is expected of them instead of beating around the bush. Jeff Bezos drives meetings and

directs his stakeholders towards Amazon’s objectives. One of the early memos to Amazon shareholders portrays his razor-sharp clarity about the

purpose of his communication.  

Now let’s reimagine our approach to writing based on the six elements discussed in the video above.

In the next video, Rakesh will discuss five different styles of writing. Note that these are simple guidelines of writing, and you

are free to experiment with them and develop your own style of writing to build your audience.

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 Let’s quickly list down the key takeaways from the video: 

 First-person vs third-person writing: When the writer conveys the message to the audience using the pronoun ‘I’, the writing style is known as

first-person writing. On the other hand, when the writer conveys the message to the audience using the pronouns ‘He’, ‘She’, ‘It’ or ‘They’, the

writing style is known as third-person writing. 

 Formal vs informal: Formal style of writing is professional and controlled. It involves minimal expression of emotions, for example, the phrase

“I am pleased to inform you” is used in formal writing, which is recommended for external stakeholders. In contrast, informal writing is more

conversational, friendly and expressive. 

 Use of narratives/anecdotes: Adding bits of personal experiences or incidences make your writing more relatable for the reader. It also makes

the content enjoyable and easy to recall.

 Grammar and spelling: These are some of the most basic hygiene factors that should be considered while writing but are often overlooked. You

can use tools like Grammarly to make your writing error-free.

 Formatting: This refers to making your documents presentable. Formatting includes using appropriate fonts, aligning the text correctly, choosing

the right size for your fonts/images and structuring the paragraphs that you wish to add to the overall written piece.

These are some useful tips that will help you build your own brand through your unique writing style. In the next segment, we

will discuss some frameworks that will help you create the matter or content of your article or piece of writing. 
 Preparing the First Written Draft
In this segment, you will prepare the initial draft of our write-up. To help us with the same, Rakesh will walk you through certain

frameworks which makes structuring the initial draft clear and concise. 

So, what is a framework? A framework is nothing but a mental model that helps us organise our thoughts around the end-

objective that we wish to deliver to our audience. Any piece of writing, whether emails or oral messages, leads to an outcome or

an anticipated action. Frameworks help us structure our pieces of writing while maintaining the six elements of writing, which we

discussed previously. 

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The first framework covered is summarised below:

 Audience: A simple way to identify your audience is to ask yourself “Who is going to read this email/message?”, and then identify how you can

adapt your writing to best suit their needs and understanding. 

 Objective: Here, the purpose is to convey your point of view with an argument. Objectives should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable,

Realistic and Time-bound.

 Message: Message refers to the core matter of your written material. You need to decide on the outcome that you want to achieve before

crafting your message.  

As Rakesh suggested, this framework can be applied to other forms of non-written communication as well.

Class Opinion

Given below is a short write-up.

“As our organisation grows by leaps and bounds, it is becoming even more important for each and every one of us to
ensure that we do our best to keep its reputation intact. We need to behave in a manner that is consistent with the
reputation associated with our industry- education and our brand name. As you all are well aware, we are in the intellectual
property business. Given that, it is very important for us to uphold the sanctity of the content, both ours and of others in
the same industry.
 It has come to our attention that our legal partners have come across some plagiarism issues when auditing some of our
courses. While we trust all of you, this kind of discrepancy in behaviour will not be tolerated, and anyone found in breach of
this will face strict consequences. As for issues that have been identified, the responsible parties have been relieved of their
duties.

As a precaution, our legal partner will be auditing all of our courses.”

The AOM for this write-up is:

 Audience: The reportees

 Objective: Informing your reportees about the expected behaviour and warning them about the consequences of any
inconsistencies
 Medium: Email
You need to:

1. Suggest an appropriate subject line for the email 

2. Analyse it for any structural or grammatical issues (What would you have done differently had you been the writer?)
88 Responses

AF

Amhad Faraz

I think the second paragraph should come first, as it introduces the purpose of the communication. Also, the email does not have
any clear takeaways for the readers. According to me, an appropriate title for this email could be “Urgent: Strict action to be taken
against anyone found guilty”

Make Your Draft Ready to Publish

So after researching and applying some common frameworks to structure your writing, are your emails, messages or proposals

ready for the final launch? There is one last step: to take feedback and get it reviewed.

In the upcoming video, Rakesh will explain why it is important to ask for feedback on your piece of writing before taking it to the

final audience.
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Here, ‘taking feedback’ refers to showing your draft to people for their opinion on it. 

You can get quick feedback through any of the following methods:

 Self-review

 Review by peers

 Review by seniors

Now, the final product is ready to be published. Once you have added all the flavours together for publishing, you can gauge the

response on your draft in the following manner:

 Pick insights from the target audience based on their response

 Review the bits that you need to polish and improve your draft

 Track how people are perceiving the content that you are publishing

Sometimes, the answer to our problems lies in the reflection of the problem.

Communication can sometimes be brutal. Therefore, feedback is the loop that can help you write better. It can help you

understand why people rate something higher or lower. 

Just to give you a quick recap, the following topics were covered in this session:
 Basic principles of writing

 Applying frameworks like AOM, OBC 

 Using scaffolding to develop your first draft 

 Polishing your draft

 Receiving feedback from those around you

This process, when it becomes a habit, will make you a writer that audiences respond to. 

Exercise

You can use the following exercise to practice the principles of writing, various frameworks, polishing your draft and building

the habit of receiving feedback on your content: 

 Write a 500-600 word essay about the industry you are working in, and publish it in your daily newspaper.

Additional resources:

 A collection of famous advice on writing by recognised authors

Writing Professional Emails, Reports and

Proposals
In the previous session, you got an understanding of the basics elements of good writing. In this session, you will apply these

elements to fine-tune and make your professional writing highly effective.

 
 Before you begin with this session, we have a quick pre-read for you. Do let us know about your thoughts on the same in the

discussion forum. 

The corporate world relies heavily on three types of communication, which are as follows: 

 Emails

 Reports 

 Proposals

The two main considerations for any corporate document that you frame are:

 The people it will be reaching to, and

 The outcome you expect out of the people it reaches to.

With this in mind, any email, report or summary that you write should have the perfect skeleton to base your message on.

Let's watch the first video as Rakesh outlines the main elements of an email:

Harini Prasad

Subject line: IMP: Strict action against plagiarism in course content The second paragraph should be the introduction. The first
paragraph can come later. There are multiple repetitions in the first paragraph that can be omitted. Instead, more focus on how the
reportees can avoid this issue by suggesting a couple of solutions or tools will add more value while clarifying what needs to be
done on their part.

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ADD YOUR RESPONSE

  

Think of the last movie that you loved watching. Why did you love it? What kept you intrigued throughout the experience? Why

did you not stop watching the movie midway? Was it because you loved how the writers wrote the opening scene, or how they

left you wanting for more in the climax? 

There is a very simple framework that helps ensure this. In this next video, we will be learning more about the same from

Rakesh:

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Writing a compelling message is the same as narrating a powerful story.  In the previous video, you learnt about the various

aspects of writing good messages, which are as follows: 

 Opening: This is used for greetings, introductions and to set the right context for the reader. They need to be hooked right from the beginning.

 Body: Writing the body of your message is the same as taking the audience through the plot of a movie. It contains details and brief peeks into

the problems and solutions of the conversation at hand.

 Conclusion: In the end, summarise key takeaways and any action you expect from the reader here. 

Rakesh refers to these three points as ‘scaffolds’, a structure that helps you build the entire write-up.

In the upcoming video, Rakesh will cover four simple tools that you can use to flesh out your message, and populate your draft:

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Let's quickly summarise the key takeaways from this video: 

 Minto’s Pyramid: This is a tree-based matrix that can help you break down your main idea into three subideas, which can be further divided

into three more subideas, thereby creating a decision tree.

 Mind Maps: This is a tool that can help you think visually. The core of the map contains the topic at hand, which branches out further. This aids

in structuring all your thoughts as a core concept.

Two additional frameworks briefly mentioned in the video are:

 Spider Diagrams: This is an alternative way of visualising mind map. It includes breaking down a central idea into subbranches until you reach

the end of your content break-up. 

 
 Fishbone Diagrams: Fishbone diagrams are useful when you are writing a piece that revolves around the elements of a cause, its effects and

possible solutions. This link will give you detailed information about Fishbone diagram. Also, you will learn about it more with the problem-

solving course.

Polishing your Prose:

Now, we move on to a few tips that will help you polish your prose. A few tips to keep in mind while sculpting your write-up and

removing certain small errors are:

 Words such as ‘very’, ‘basically’, and ‘actually’ should be avoided because they add an unnecessary exaggeration to the written material. These

are most commonly used in informal oral communication while talking to peers and making a speech at an event.

 Another important tip is to write short sentences. You should use a full stop and commas to pause so that the audience does not get bored

while listening to your speech.

 You should make it a practice to rewrite your sentences twice or maybe thrice to achieve minimalism in your content. Less is considered more

when it comes to business writing. 

 After writing the first draft,  sleep over it or go for a walk. And then, return to the draft and remove the words that are not important.

In the next segment, Rakesh will share some quick tips on what goes into taking your draft to the publishing-ready stage.

Let’s quickly summarise the main elements of an email and their significance in the corporate world, along with some best

practices that you can follow for each element:

1. Subject: The subject line of your email is the first point of contact between you and the recipient. Therefore, the subject line should be as clear,

concise and captivating as possible.

2. Body: ‘Dear’, ‘Hi’ and ‘Hello’ are acceptable forms of opening remarks for professional writing. The main body of the email consists of three

parts if you are using a three-paragraph email structure. Note that there are email structures that you can use. 

3. Signature: The signature should contain your contact details for future correspondence, and any relevant links, to your website or LinkedIn

profile. 
 Let’s watch the next video to learn about another type of communication in the corporate world: Report.
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Reports are more often than not long documents that generally require a lot of time and effort to read as well as write. For this

very reason, most of the reports that you write will not be read in their entirety. That’s why a summary is very important. This is

because anyone going through your report will first look at the summary to get a gist of what is covered in your report.

The summary of a report consists of many elements. However, it mainly aims to answer the following questions:

 What is the report about?

 What is its objective?

 Who is the audience?

 What is the problem the report is solving?

 What are the recommendations of the report?

Your summary should provide an overview of everything the report is trying to accomplish.

Now, let’s take a look at the different elements of a report that were covered in the previous video. A report consists of the

following elements:

 Cover page

 Index

 Summary

 Body

 Bibliography
 Appendix

Let’s watch the next video to understand the format for proposals:

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Let’s quickly summarise what a typical proposal covers.

A proposal should provide detailed answers to the following questions:

 Who are you?

 What are you proposing?

 Why are you to be agreed with?

 What can you provide on acceptance of the proposal?

Now, let's quickly understand the key focus areas of the three mediums of corporate communication:

Mediums of corporate communication

In the next segment, you will understand what to write and what to avoid while creating professional documents.

Additional resources:
 The Ultimate Business-Writing Checklist