Good Writing as an Essential Leadership Skill

Contributed article in our business series. Enjoy! – Kimberly

Our writing gives us away. It is an element of great importance in our image because it says everything about a person. Talk about your education, your values, your way of seeing life, etc. Everything we put together through words is indicative of our personality.

Today, with the influence of electronic media, the impact of our spelling and writing is imminent. From sending a text message, writing an email, writing a paper in college, writing on a person’s Facebook wall to chatting, it reflects everything about us.

These have become the most common and current means of communication used by millions of people. Unfortunately, with surprise, we realize that the writing of many is deficient. In schools and universities, jobs and exhibitions are saturated with spelling errors. We have lost this habit that is essential to maintain and encourage, not only to project a good image but to be able to understand each other.

The problem that this is generating is very apparent when it comes to work and business. Experts in recruiting staff say that spelling and writing errors are an intolerable sign of inattention. This is one of the main arguments to eliminate the weakest candidates for a job position.

Not to mention when you find this type of situation in the workplace where you realize that many do not know how to write properly. Being a professional implies a great responsibility. And one of them is to take care of our written image. We can have a great curriculum, extensive experience, an excellent physical appearance but if we write with spelling and writing errors, our image will go through the floor instantly.

This aspect belongs to all professions and position, but above all, it’s an essential leadership skill. When we investigate the characteristics that define an effective leader, we come across different lists that include so many concepts that we can lose ourselves in a sea of ​​ideas. It indicates the analytical capacity, responsibility, empathy, charisma, emotional intelligence, adaptation, innovation, time management and, depending on the author, there will be more or less mentions on the subject. However, the main characteristic of a leader is their ability to communicate.

A leader is an individual who understands the importance of delivering and receiving messages since one of their main tasks is to clearly express ideas and instructions, and to get people to receive and understand them. Therefore, a person who stumbles on words, who dismisses the possibilities of an adequate writing, and who thinks that grammar, syntax and writing are pretentious luxuries, may be making a serious mistake. It’s worse when you consider them irrelevant.

The way we communicate determines, in many ways, the success or failure of our management. Language is the means by which we will make known what we want, when and how to achieve it. With it objectives are outlined, goals are set and plans are drawn. In addition, the way we write reveals signs of identity that can work in our favor if we do it properly, or can become an enemy if we do not know how to handle it. The vocabulary we use reveals if we know about the topic or not; Written messages make clear the degree of seriousness and professionalism of a person.

Writing is a skill that a leader must master to be successful. A person who does not write properly loses time, money and influence. It’s certain that the business world depends, to a large extent, on the way in which we are able to deliver an idea and be effective to convince of its benefits. A poorly written document can tell the reader something different from what the writer wanted to say. A letter of intent with misspellings can lead to an excellent idea being discarded without being evaluated and a poorly structured presentation can cause interest to be lost prematurely.

Writing in the business universe is a double-edged sword: it can lead an individual to gain ground or to fall over. A neat email, a clear memorandum or a convincing proposal constitute an instrument that plays in favor of the writer. Telling a disjointed story orally may not be as serious as doing it through the written word. Orality has the tools of voice, that is, modulation, intonation and accentuation. Writing, not as much.

The written word has its particular instruments: syntax, spelling and grammar. We are currently living a time when electronic communications use writing as a means of human communication. The power of the word grows, to the extent that the voice loses ground.

In addition, the written word is a powerful testimony of who we are. The essence of our identity is dissolved between letters that, when read and reread, either by ourselves, by our loved ones, by our colleagues, bosses or subordinates, and, even more, by those we do not know, will discover what we wanted to reveal and give more information about us and what we aspire to be.

Writing is a trait that should be part of the list of requirements for effective leadership, because he who knows how to write properly is making sure to send a clear message of what he specifically wanted to say. That is relevant, since a leader wants to communicate in an appropriate way with his partners, colleagues, collaborators, related parties, clients and suppliers. The benefits obtained by a person who knows how to express ideas in writing is that they generate credibility and respect by putting into words the ideas that inhabit their mind.

Just as the one who makes a presentation must take care not to bore his audience, for those who write it is necessary to maintain the interest of the reader. For this the writing must be agile, simple and easy to understand. The bombastic words and the affected language are an obstacle; The least that is sought is to have the reader consult the dictionary to understand what was meant. Although it is also true that an excessively colloquial vocabulary detracts from the message.

Therefore, let’s not underestimate the importance of our writing. It is part of a first visual impact.

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