Whether it’s a report for the boss, a letter to a customer, an e-mail to another department, or even just a phone message for a coworker, written documents need to be clear, concise, and correct. Some employees may already know how to write well. Others may need more practice. But regardless of skill level, all employees can benefit from this training session.
Legal Overview
Although there are no laws that require you to provide employees with training in basic business writing skills, wise organizations take the time for training to make sure that all their personnel are competent writers.
Training Instructions
You should make sure that all employees possess basic business writing skills. The training program should contain, at a minimum, the following elements:
- How to choose the right words to express your meaning clearly;
- How to write well-structured sentences and paragraphs; and
- How to produce a variety of business communications proficiently.
Business Writing Skills Quiz
Here’s a quiz you can use to test your employees’ business writing knowledge:
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- Identify three basic characteristics of good business writing.
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_______________________________________ - The passive voice is more formal and impressive. True or False
- Slang is not appropriate for business writing. True or False
- Most business writing is based on a three-point format. The three elements of this format are _____________, _______________, and __________________.
- All paragraphs should contain a topic sentence and several other supporting sentences. True or False
- Identify three steps to writing better business communications suggested in the training session.
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_______________________________________ - It is important to use transitional words or phrases to link paragraphs. True or False
- Using ___________ language inspires readers to agree with you.
- Mixing short and longer sentences gives your writing better flow and pace. True or False
- You should always try to link concepts to _________________.
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In tomorrow’s Advisor, we’ll go over the answers to these questions, plus examine a brand new, easy-to-use communication library of training content.