Business and Report Writing Skills
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This document provides an overview of a presentation on best practices for business and report writing. It discusses 20 fundamental writing principles, the structure and components of an effective business report, and a 6-step report writing process. The presentation covers topics such as accuracy, clarity and brevity in writing, gaining reader attention and promoting understanding. It also addresses report structure, style, readability and conventions. A key aspect is a 6-step writing process involving planning, researching, organizing, writing drafts, quality assurance and submission. Learning activities encourage identifying errors in reports and developing criteria for effective structure, style and more. The goal is to provide guidance for producing high-quality, reader-focused business reports and writing.
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Business and Report Writing Skills
- 1. BUSINESS AND REPORT WRITING – BEST PRACTICE WRITING PRINCIPLES AND PROCESS CHARLES COTTER FOCUS ROOMS, SUNNINGHILL 28-29 MAY 2015
- 2. PRESENTATION OVERVIEW – DAY 1 • www.slideshare.net/CharlesCotter • 20 FUNDAMENTAL, BEST PRACTICE BUSINESS WRITING PRINCIPLES • THE “LOOK AND FEEL” COMPONENTS OF AN EFFECTIVE BUSINESS REPORT • THE 6-STEP, REPORT WRITING PROCESS
- 3. CAKE-BAKING ANALOGY • BEST PRACTICE BUSINESS WRITING PRINCIPLES - INGREDIENTS • THE “LOOK AND FEEL” COMPONENTS OF AN EFFECTIVE BUSINESS REPORT – PICTURE OF THE CAKE • THE 6-STEP, REPORT WRITING PROCESS - RECIPE
- 4. DOES THIS LOOK FAMILIAR?
- 5. LEARNING ACTIVITY 1 • From your experience and perspective, as both a writer and a reader, identify ten (10) common errors that you’ve observed with Business Reports. • Match each of these 10 errors with a set of 10 best practice criteria/guidelines to counteract/improve these errors, thereby promoting effective business report writing.
- 6. 20 FUNDAMENTAL, BEST PRACTICE WRITING PRINCIPLES • A – B – C (ACCURACY – BREVITY – CLARITY) – “BE ON POINT AND TO THE POINT” • A – I – D –A (ATTENTION – INTEREST – DESIRE – ACTION) – “TELL THE READER WHAT YOU’RE GOING TO TELL THEM; TELL THEM AND THEN TELL THEM WHAT YOU TOLD THEM.” • “THINK BEFORE YOU INK” – USE 80 (THINKING)/20 (INKING) PRINCIPLE • HARMONIZATION OF THE BEST FIT METHODS – FIT FOR PURPOSE/MESSAGE/READER • BE STRATEGIC AND SELECTIVE - PROVIDE ONLY VALUE ADDING AND RELEVANT INFORMATION
- 7. 20 FUNDAMENTAL, BEST PRACTICE WRITING PRINCIPLES • “LESS IS MORE” – HAVE AN EFFICIENT AND ECONOMICAL WRITING STYLE • EMPATHIZE - “CUSTOMIZATION IS KING/QUEEN” – CONDUCT A READERSHIP ANALYSIS TO ACCOMMODATE THEM AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE – “SPEAK THE LANGUAGE THAT YOUR READER UNDERSTANDS” • INTEGRATE RATIONAL (LEFT BRAIN) AND CREATIVE (RIGHT BRAIN) THOUGHT PROCESSES • MARRY BEING METICULOUS (“EYE FOR DETAIL”) WITH FINDING CREATIVE WRITING SPACE (PSYCHOLOGICAL, EMOTIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL) • USE OF VISUAL STIMULI AND TECHNIQUES TO COMPLEMENT, SUPPORT AND PROMOTE A HIGHER LEVEL OF UNDERSTANDING
- 8. 20 FUNDAMENTAL, BEST PRACTICE WRITING PRINCIPLES • ENSURE QUALITY ASSURANCE E.G. PROOF-READING; EDITING; SPELL CHECKING AND VERIFICATION OF INFORMATION • USE THE PURPOSE AS YOUR WRITING “GPS” – TO CONCENTRATE/DIRECT FOCUS TO THE ACHIEVEMENT OF OUTCOMES/OBJECTIVES • “DON’T WRITE TO IMPRESS, WRITE TO PROMOTE A HIGHER LEVEL OF UNDERSTANDING.” – BE A AGENT OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION • EMPLOY A “COMMUNITY OF WRITERS” APPROACH – THE VALUE OF CONSULTATION AND ENGAGEMENT • PROPER STRUCTURE - USE THE PYRAMID (CASCADING) METHOD – INITIALLY PRESENT LESS IMPORTANCE INFORMATION AND CLIMAX WITH MOST CRITICAL INFORMATION
- 9. 20 FUNDAMENTAL, BEST PRACTICE WRITING PRINCIPLES • APPLY THE WATERFALL APPROACH – VERTICAL ALIGNMENT AND SYNERGY BETWEEN THE REPORT FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS • “TOUR GUIDE” MENTALITY – DIRECT; NAVIGATE; ORIENTATE, INFORM; ADVISE, ENLIGHTEN AND CAPTIVATE THE READER • ADOPT A STORY TELLING MODE – LOGICAL AND COHERENT FLOW OF INFORMATION – NO SURPRISES! • THE REPORT SHOULD GENERATE BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE – ENABLING SMART OPERATIONAL AND STRATEGIC DECISION-MAKING • ADOPT A STRATEGIC MIND-SET – DEVELOP STRUCTURED, HOLISTIC AND WELL-PREPARED BUSINESS WRITING HABITS
- 11. BEST PRACTICE REPORT WRITING (COMPETENCE) CONTENT CONTEXTPROCESS
- 13. TYPES OF REPORTS • Informative “Telling” Examples • Evaluative “Selling” Examples
- 14. APPROACHES TO REPORT WRITING • Dash-boarding Data-driven and derived Report-generating MS Excel • Key-boarding Narrative Report-writing MS Word
- 15. “LOOK AND FEEL” COMPONENTS OF AN EFFECTIVE BUSINESS REPORT • STRUCTURE • STYLE AND TONE • READABILITY • CONVENTION
- 16. LEARNING ACTIVITY 2 • Develop the best practice criteria and convention (rules) of an effective business report. Focus on the following elements: Structure Style and tone Readability Convention
- 17. STRUCTURE • VARIES DEPENDENT ON WHETHER INFORMATIVE (“TELLING”) OR EVALUATIVE (“SELLING”) TYPE OF BUSINESS REPORT • EXTERNAL STRUCTURE – FRONT-END AND BACK-END • INTERNAL STRUCTURE
- 18. EXTERNAL STRUCTURE – FRONT-END • TITLE PAGE • TABLE OF CONTENTS • EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
- 19. EXTERNAL STRUCTURE – BACK-END • GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL TERMS AND ACRONYMS • LIST OF SOURCES/REFERENCES • ATTACHMENTS – APPENDICES AND ANNEXURES
- 20. INTERNAL STRUCTURE • INTRODUCTION • BACKGROUND/CONTEXTUALIZATION • RESEARCH METHODS AND PROCESS • FINDINGS • CONCLUSIONS • RECOMMENDATIONS
- 21. STYLE • STYLE IS REGARDED AS THE DEGREE OF FORMALITY • THE APPROPRIATE STYLE IS: FORMAL (NOT INFORMAL) FACTUAL (NOT OPINION-BASED) RATIONAL (NOT EMOTIONAL) – “Connect intellectually with your reader, disconnect your emotions and personal feelings.” OBJECTIVE (NOT SUBJECTIVE)
- 22. TONE • TONE IS REGARDED AS THE WRITER’S ATTITUDE – DIRECTED AT READER AND SUBJECT MATTER • TONE SHOULD BE: RESPECTFUL (NOT PATRONIZING) PROFESSIONAL ASSERTIVE (NOT PASSIVE OR AGGRESSIVE)
- 24. READABILITY • REFERS TO ALL THE ASPECTS THAT MAKE A BUSINESS REPORT MORE NOTICEABLE AND EASY TO READ - “SOFT ON THE EYE AND SOFT ON THE MIND” • MUTUAL DEPENDENCE - THE WRITER RELIES ON THE READERS' ABILITY TO READ EFFICIENTLY AND TO UNDERSTAND THE (INTENDED) MESSAGE. • WRITER NEEDS TO DO EVERYTHING IN THEIR POWER TO ENABLE AND FACILITATE A COMMON UNDERSTANDING • TECHNIQUES TO ENHANCE THE READABILITY: LAY-OUT USE OF WHITE SPACE HEADINGS/SUB-HEADINGS NUMBERING
- 25. CONVENTION • USE OF TABLES AND FIGURES – LABELLING, NUMBERING AND REFERENCING • APPENDICES AND ANNEXURES - LABELLING, NUMBERING AND REFERENCING • CITATION AND REFERENCING – HARVARD METHOD – ALWAYS ACKNOWLEDGE SOURCE AND AVOID PLAGRIASM AT ALL COSTS • FORMAT, DESIGN AND LAY-OUT – INDUSTRY AND ORGANIZATION- SPECIFIC GUIDELINES AND TECHNIQUES • USE ACTIVE VOICE (AS OPPOSED TO PASSIVE) – WRITTEN IN THIRD PERSON
- 27. CONVENTION • GRAMMATICAL AND LANGUAGE RULES • USE OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS • AVOID JARGON AND UNFAMILIAR TECHNICAL TERMINOLOGY • SENTENCE AND PARAGRAPH STRUCTURING
- 28. PROPER SENTENCE AND PARAGRAPH STRUCTURING • VARY THE LENGTH OF SENTENCES • EASY TO UNDERSTAND CONCEPTS – SHORTER SENTENCES. COMPLEX CONCEPTS – LONGER SENTENCES TO ENABLE EFFICIENT ASSIMILATION OF INFORMATION • DON’T SUBSTITUTE A FULL-STOP FOR A COMMA – “IF YOU CAN USE A FULL-STOP USE IT!” • ONE CONCEPT/KEY POINT, ONE PARAGRAPH. DIFFERENT CONCEPT, DIFFERENT PARAGRAPH. “DON’T MIX ‘N MATCH – AVOID LIQUORICE ALL- SORTS WRITING STYLE” • CREATE A MEANDERING AND MESMERIZING WRITING STYLE AS YOU TRANSITION FROM ONE PARAGRAPH TO THE NEXT. AS YOU EXIT ONE PARAGRAPH START INTRODUCING THE NEXT ONE.
- 29. REPORT WRITING PROCESS • STEP 1: PLANNING • STEP 2: RESEARCHING THINKING (80%) • STEP 3: ORGANIZING • STEP 4: WRITING THE FIRST DRAFT • STEP 5: QUALITY ASSURANCE INKING (20%) • STEP 6: SUBMIT FINAL DRAFT FOR APPROVAL AND ADOPTION
- 30. STEP 1: PLANNING (7-W’S) • DEFINE THE PURPOSE (WHY?) • FORMULATE THE OBJECTIVES (WHAT?) • SUBMISSION TARGET DATE (WHEN?) • SUBMISSION AND APPROVAL PLATFORM/COMMITTEE (WHERE?) • SCOPE OF THE REPORT (WIDTH?) • ESTIMATED LENGTH/VOLUME OF REPORT (WEIGHT?) • CONDUCT A READERSHIP ANALYSIS (WHO?)
- 31. READERSHIP ANALYSIS (RELATED TO A-B-C) • LEVEL 1 READER/S: APPROVING AUTHORITY (NON-TECHNICAL) – INFORMATION NEED: BREVITY • LEVEL 2 READER/S: TECHNICAL/SUBJECT MATTER EXPERT – INFORMATION NEED: ACCURACY • LEVEL 3 READER/S: IMPLEMENTER/FUNCTIONARY – INFORMATION NEED: CLARITY
- 32. STEP 2: RESEARCHING • METHODS – TO ACHIEVE THE SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH PRINCIPLE OF VALIDITY • PROCESS – TO ACHIEVE THE SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH PRINCIPLE OF RELIABILITY • COLLECTIVELY: VALIDITY + RELIABILITY = CREDIBILITY
- 33. RESEARCH METHODS • QUANTITATIVE – NUMERIC E.G. STATISTICS • QUALITATIVE – SUBJECTIVE E.G. SURVEYS AND FOCUS GROUPS • SOURCES OF DATA: ELECTRONIC DOCUMENTARY EXPERIMENTAL HUMAN
- 34. RESEARCH PROCESS • STEP 1: DEVELOP A DATA COLLECTION PLAN/STRATEGY • STEP 2: DATA COLLECTION • STEP 3: DATA COLLATION • STEP 4: DATA ANALYSIS LEADS TO FINDINGS • STEP 5: DATA INTERPRETATION LEADS TO CONCLUSIONS • STEP 6: VERIFICATION • STEP 7: PUBLICATION LEADS TO RECOMMENDATIONS
- 35. STEP 3: ORGANIZING – 3-S FORMAT • STRUCTURE (OF REPORT) • SEQUENCE (OF REPORT) • SPACING (POSITIONING OF TABLES, FIGURES, ATTACHMENTS TO THE REPORT) • RECOMMENDED ORGANIZING TOOL: MIND-MAPPING • OBJECTIVE: TO ENSURE FLUENCY AND EFFICIENCY IN WRITING WHEN TRANSITIONING FROM THINKING (STEPS 1-3) TO INKING (STEPS 4-6)
- 37. LEARNING ACTIVITY 3 • By following steps 1-3 of the report writing process, develop a framework/skeleton of a business report for your organization. Step 1: Planning Step 2: Research methodology and process Step 3: Organizing the technical report structure
- 38. STEP 4: WRITE FIRST DRAFT • APPLY THE BEST PRACTICE WRITING PRINCIPLES • USE THE APPROPRIATE TECHNICAL REPORT STRUCTURE AND FORMAT
- 39. STEP 5: QUALITY ASSURANCE • PROOF-READ AND EDIT THE REPORT • PERFORM A SPELLING AND PUNCTUATION CHECK • CONSULT WITH LANGUAGE AND SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS AND RECEIVE FEEDBACK • MAKE THE NECESSARY REVISIONS • REFER TO THE EVALUATION CHECKLIST (PAGES 49-51 IN THE LEARNER MANUAL)
- 40. STEP 6: SUBMISSION AND APPROVAL OF FINAL DRAFT • MAKE THE NECESSARY AMENDMENTS AND WRITE THE FINAL DRAFT • SUBMIT TO HIGHER MANAGEMENT TO AUTHORIZE, APPROVE AND ADOPT THE REPORT FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
- 41. LEARNING ACTIVITY 4 • By using the following format (as a guideline), write the first draft of a business report on the identified, work- related topic/subject. (step 4 of the business report writing process) • Step 5: Review the report (Submit this report to a fellow learner to get feedback). Readers should use the checklist on pages 49-51 to evaluate the business report. • Step 6: Writing and submitting the final draft (Based on the feedback from the fellow learner, make the necessary amendments and write the final draft)
- 42. PRESENTATION OVERVIEW – DAY 2 • Effective business letter writing • Effective Memorandum writing • Effective e-mail communication • Effective minute-taking
- 44. MINUTE-TAKING FUNDAMENTALS • The scope of minutes • Tips and warnings • The criteria of effective minutes
- 45. LEARNING ACTIVITY 5 • Identify some of the foremost challenges when taking, transcribing and writing meeting minutes. • For each of these challenges develop a viable solution/strategy to overcome these challenges. • Compile a list of 10 best practice criteria for good quality minutes.
- 46. BEST PRACTICE GUIDELINES FOR MINUTE-TAKERS • Preparation (pre-meeting) • Transcribing (during meeting) • Writing minutes (after the meeting)
- 47. LEARNING ACTIVITY 6 • By referring to the best practice list of guidelines for effectively taking, transcribing and writing meetings minutes, conduct a 15 minute, mock meeting. Nominate the roles of Chairperson, Secretary and Participants. • The Secretary should record and write-up the minutes. • By referring to the best practice checklist (Learning Activity 5), the other group members will constructively evaluate these meetings and provide feedback.
- 49. FUNDAMENTALS OF E-MAIL COMMUNICATION • Guidelines to improve e-mail writing skills • Writing professional e-mails • Improving your e-mail writing style • Writing business e-mails • Golden Rules of Email Etiquette
- 50. GUIDELINES TO EFFECTIVE E-MAIL COMMUNICATION
- 51. LEARNING ACTIVITY 7 • Identify some of the common mistakes made by e- mail senders that cause/create irritation and frustration on the part of the recipients. For each of these common mistakes identify an improvement strategy.
- 53. • Do not, under any circumstances, forward chain letters • Respond to group e-mails appropriately • Use actual English • Don’t use your company e-mail for private e-mails • Utilize CC and BCC properly • Be careful what you say
- 54. • Lose the attitude • Don’t be a spammer • Respect laws and regulations • Get clarification • Delete unnecessary content • Keep signatures simple
- 55. LEARNING ACTIVITY 8 • Develop a Code of Good Practice: Proper and Professional e-mail Etiquette (10 principles) for all e-mail users at your organization.
- 56. DRAFTING PROFESSIONAL BUSINESS LETTERS AND MEMORANDUMS • Business Letter format - Block • Refer to Sample Business Letter • Business letter writing guidelines
- 58. BUSINESS LETTER WRITING GUIDELINES • Use a professional tone • Write clearly • Organize your information logically • Be persuasive • Proofread your letter • Useful phrases and vocabulary for writing business letters
- 59. WRITING MEMORANDUM’S • Purpose of Memo’s • Written well, business memo’s are an efficient, effective way to communicate within an organization. • Memo Sections Heading Opening Body Closing
- 61. LEARNING ACTIVITY 9 • Develop a set of 10 best practice criteria/guidelines for effective business letter writing. • Develop a set of 10 best practice criteria/guidelines for effective Memorandum writing.
- 62. CONCLUSION • SUMMARY OF KEY POINTS • LEARNING “TAKE-AWAYS" • QUESTIONS • TRAINING ADMINISTRATION • CERTIFICATION • THANK YOU!
- 63. CONTACT DETAILS • CHARLES COTTER • +27 84 562 9446 • charlescot@polka.co.za • LINKED IN • TWITTER: Charles_Cotter