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C4 Writing Business Messages, 1.Adopting the “YOU” Attitude, 4.Using Bias…

- - - - Honesty. Demonstrating honesty and integrity will earn you the respect of your colleagues and the trust of everyone you communicate with, even if they don't always agree with you.
      - Objectivity. Distance yourself from emotional situations and look at all sides of an issue. Audience members want to believe that you have their interests in mind, not just your own
      - Awareness of audience needs. Let your audience know that you understand what's important to them. If you've done a thorough audience analysis, you'll know what your audience cares about in a particular situation.
      - Credentials, knowledge, and expertise. Every audience wants to be assured that the messages they receive come from people who know what they're talking about. To establish credibility with a new audience, put yourself in their shoes and identify the credentials that would be most important to them.
      - Endorsements. If your audience doesn't know anything about you, you might be able to get assistance from someone they do know and trust
      - Performance. It's easy to say you can do something, but following through can be much harder. Impressive communication skills are not enough; people need to know they can count on you to get the job done.
      - Confidence. Audiences also need to know that you believe in yourself and your message.
      - Sincerity. When you offer praise, don’t use hyperbole, such as “you are the most fantastic employee I could ever imagine.” Instead, point out specific qualities that warrant praise.
    - - When you communicate with anyone outside your organization, you represent your company. Therefore, you play a vital role in helping the company build and maintain positive relationships with its stakeholders. As part of this responsibility, the interests and preferred communication style of your company must take precedence over your own views and style.
      - Many organizations have specific communication guidelines that show everything from the correct use of the company name to preferred abbreviations and other grammatical details. Specifying a desired style of communication is more difficult, however. Observe more experienced colleagues to see how they communicate, and never hesitate to ask for editorial help to make sure you’re conveying the appropriate tone.
      - Project your company’s image by following these steps:
        Subordinate your own views and personality, at least to some extent, to the interests and style of your company.
        Follow your organization’s specific communication guidelines like correct use of the company name to preferred abbreviations and other grammatical details..
        Observe more experienced colleagues to see how they communicate, and never hesitate to ask for editorial help.
- - - - 1.Avoid obsolete and pompous language. Avoid using dated phrases, obscure words, stale or clichéd expressions, and overly complicated sentences.
        5.Avoid preaching and bragging. Few things are more irritating than know-it-alls who like to preach or brag. However, if you need to remind your audience of something that should be obvious, try to work in the information casually, where it will sound like a secondary comment rather than a major revelation.
        3.Be careful with intimacy. Business messages should avoid intimacy. However, when you have a close relationship with audience members, such as among the members of a close-knit team, a more intimate tone is sometimes appropriate and even expected.
        4.Be careful with humor. If you don’t know your audience well or you’re not skilled at using humor in a business setting, don’t use it at all. Avoid humor in formal messages and when you’re communicating across cultural boundaries.
  - - - Plain language presents information in a simple, unadorned style so that your audience can easily grasp your meaning—language that recipients “can read, understand, and act upon the first time they read it.” You can see how this definition supports using the “you” attitude and shows respect for your audience. In addition, plain language can make companies more productive and more profitable because people spend less time trying to figure out messages that are confusing or that aren’t written to meet their needs.
  - - - Accusatory or Self-Congratulatory (Active Voice)
        You lost the shipment.
        I recruited seven engineers last month.
        More Diplomatic (Passive Voice)
        The shipment was lost.
        Seven engineers were recruited last month.
        The passive voice is not wrong grammatically, but it is often vague and makes sentences longer.
        Passive voice is helpful when you want to be diplomatic or focus attention on problems or solutions, rather than on people.
      - Dull and Indirect (Passive Voice)
        Legal problems are created by this contract.
        The new system was proposed by the project team.
        Lively and Direct (Active Voice)
        This contract creates legal problems.
        The project team proposed a new system.
        Use the active voice to produce shorter, stronger sentences and make your writing more vigorous, concise, and generally easier to understand.
- - - - Successful writers pay close attention to the correct and effective use of words.
        If you make errors of grammar or usage, you lose credibility with your audience—even if your message is otherwise correct. Poor grammar implies that you’re unprofessional. Poor grammar also can imply that you don’t respect your audience enough to get things right.
        In addition to using words correctly, successful writers and speakers take care to find the most effective words and phrases to use.
        Selecting and using words effectively is often more challenging than using words correctly because it’s a matter of judgment and experience.
        Therefore, careful writers seek words that communicate with power.
- - - - Simple Sentence
        Single Subject and a Single Verb – This type of simple sentence has only one subject and one verb. For example: The staff performed well....Types of Simple Sentence
        The dog barked and ran (Compound verb)
        Jack and Jill went up a hill. ...
        Arnold and Juan play cricket every evening.
- - - - An effective paragraph deals with a single topic
        Topic sentence introduces that topic. This sentence, usually the first one in the paragraph, gives readers a summary of the general idea that will be covered in the rest of the paragraph.
        Use supporting sentences to explain, justify, or extend the paragraph with one or more sentences, which supply examples, evidence, and clarification.
        A well-developed paragraph will contain enough information to make the topic sentence convincing and interesting, but it will not contain unneeded or unrelated sentences.
        Transitions connect ideas by showing how one thought is related to another. They also help alert the reader to what lies ahead so that shifts and changes don’t cause confusion. In addition to helping readers understand the connections you’re trying to make, transitions give your writing a smooth, even flow.
    - - There are a variety of options for developing paragraphs, each of which will convey a specific idea. Five of the most common approaches are as follows:
        Illustration involves giving examples that demonstrate the general idea.
        Classification shows how a general idea is broken into specific categories.
        Cause and effect focuses on the reasons for something.
        A problem and solution paragraph presents a problem and then discusses a solution.
        Comparison or contrast paragraphs use similarities and differences to develop the topic.
      - There are a variety of options for developing paragraphs, each of which will convey a specific idea.
        Five of the most common approaches are as follows:
        Illustration involves giving examples that demonstrate the general idea.
        Classification shows how a general idea is broken into specific categories.
        Cause and effect focuses on the reasons for something.
        A problem and solution paragraph presents a problem and then discusses a solution.
        Comparison or contrast paragraphs use similarities and differences to develop the topic.