Because Clear, Effective Writing is Vital to Business Success, Here’s How You Can Turn Those ‘Scrawlers’ Into Scholars

Clear, accurate written communication is vital to the success of any business. Here’s how construction executives can encourage and teach good writing and effective communication among employees who struggle with words.

By Leonard Toenjes

Q: Most of my people in the field are trades professionals, engineers and project managers. I trust them to build anything. But I find that they struggle with something: written communications. It’s strange that people who can build million-dollar structures toil with department orders, messages to the office, written instructions and other basics. Is this a common problem? What are some suggestions or basic exercises to improve communications?

A: Your problem is common in almost every field, not just construction. I believe there is a directly inverse relationship between the number of cable television stations and the quality of writing skills.

Leonard Toenjes is president of the Associated General Contractors of St. Louis. He can be reached at 314-781-2356 or ltoenjes@agcstl.org. Visit the organization’s Web site at www.agcstl.org.

The fantastic growth of various electronic media for news, entertainment, and communications has had a very deleterious effect on the quality of written communications. Time spent watching or listening is less time spent reading. As people read less and stick to an extremely basic vocabulary, their ability to produce written documents that are clear and readable has decreased.

The first step is to adopt a “zero-tolerance” rule. My staff calls it my “poison pen.” I started several years ago to mark every grammatical and spelling mistake I see come across my desk and return it to its author. This alerts your staff that they need to pay attention to their writing. It starts people thinking that they need to perform at a higher level than has been allowed in the past. It also separates those who are careless about their writing from those who have not been trained.

Through this immediate method, you can let your staff know the features of their writing that need improvement.

One way to begin is by asking yourself some basic questions: Do they need to get better focus on their topic? Maybe you need to raise their level of being able to clearly communicate ideas or express their opinion on a particular topic. Maybe mistakes are simply grammatical or spelling. You are defined by what you will tolerate. Set a high level.

One-on-one encouragement is not the only way to help employees improve their written communication skills; a group approach to correction could also be taken. A series of “lunch and learns” in connection with a contest or peer review system may be a good strategy. Television’s “Biggest Loser” concept has been a friendly competition at many companies related to weight loss. How about a “Biggest Improver” when it comes to writing skills?

Take examples that have caused you or your company problems in the recent past, and cite specific cases. Have your staff look at anonymous examples you provide and talk about each one’s level of understandability, overall structure, logic, paragraph and sentence construction, and use of words and vocabulary.

Make the exercise fun with a competition, not like homework.

Questions and comments from peers also can help the team focus more clearly on the problems created by poor writing and the impact on overall communication in the workplace. Talking constructively within the peer group about writing can strengthen your staff members’ independent ability to read for revision.

Look at this as a peer review process. People commonly believe that others are more effective writers than they are themselves.

This sort of collective affirmation that improves writing is better for the entire organization, and its management should help turn your “scrawlers” into scholars.