How to help your writers avoid the pitfalls that make most corporate writing dull, uninspired and convoluted

Writers are second-class citizens in the corporate world.

To be a writer is to be a peon on the almighty org chart. Better to be someone with a much fancier-sounding title, something like internal communicator or communications partner or, best of all, strategic communications specialist. Now that really sounds like something. I don't know what, exactly, but something.

Being a writer, it seems, doesn't make the grade in most companies. Yet good, clear communication is the one skill that organizations can't do without, and one that always seems in short supply.

Why? Two reasons: No one has made strong writing a priority, or the people doing most of the writing aren't very good at it. Combine the two and you have an organization that struggles to get its messages across to employees, customers, media, investors and anyone else who might be listening. And that's just not good business. Here's worse news: If you're a communications executive, this is your fault.

Don't get me wrong. I'm all for communications people being strategic thinkers and valued counselors who advise executives how to frame the mission, shape the message, engage the work force and commune with customers.

But it all begins with words, and when words fail to inform, motivate and, yes, even inspire, the best strategies crumble. What good is a vital message if no one hears it? What value is the mission if people don't understand it?

The problem with so much corporate communication today is not a lack of strategy, but an absence of voice. Vivid and unique voices. Voices that tell a company's story—about its people and its products and its place in the world—in a way that others might find compelling.

Why have companies lost their voice? The biggest reason is fear. Good communication can't thrive where every word is second-guessed and scrubbed of all meaning.

We've got to get back to good writing, and it's up to communication executives like you to make it happen. You can start by encouraging that your folks practice 10 fundamentals of good communication. They can help your writers avoid the pitfalls that make most corporate writing dull, uninspired and convoluted.

1. Push for specificity. Corporate writing is generally too vague, so you should invoke E.B. White's Rule No. 16 from The Elements of Style: "Prefer the specific to the general, the definite to the vague, the concrete to the abstract." (And while you're at it, buy your writers the book.)

Instead of the abstract, demand writing that is about something we can grasp. Don't tell us we have special challenges to confront; share with us the specific problems we face and how we're thinking of solving them. Don't praise people for their extraordinary contributions to the general welfare of the company or their untiring determination to go the extra mile.
Those words are flat and stale. Tell us some stories about people who have done something to push the company forward. Focus on the interesting, not the mundane.

2. Use more words. There's a bunch out there waiting to be plucked from obscurity and entered into the corporate lexicon. Companies use the same words over and over, and many of them have lost their meaning. How often can you talk about quality before it loses its panache? If everything is strategic, then what isn't? Are some decisions "key," while others ignored?

We are stuck in the language of corporate life. English gives us anywhere from 250,000 to 1 million words to express ourselves, but it feels like most companies keep using the same 12. It's time to stretch our vocabularies; reward any kind of corporate communication that breaks away from the everyday.

3. Find better verbs. This is where the language really fails most corporations. Companies talk to each other, and their customers, in stilted, dry language; and verbs are the biggest culprit. Strong verbs drive sentences; dull verbs slow them to a crawl.

The problem is that companies are using the same verbs to explain everything. We're leveraging our synergies. We're implementing core competencies. We're facilitating strategic processes to focus on our key deliverables. What does that mean? Turn your writers loose; order them to use action-oriented verbs that paint a picture. Make everyone read the front page of the Wall Street Journal, collect the verbs that power those terrific
sentences.

4. Pursue the active voice. There's no reason to write like a lawyer, tucking away the subject of a sentence so no one knows who did what to whom. You could argue that passive construction is a direct violation of the company mission, for it fails to take any responsibility for its actions.

Make it a rule that writers turn their sentences around and focus on the subject+strong verb+object construction. Active writing is faster and cleaner, and it requires fewer words. This one simple act instantly lifts your writing out of its lethargy.

5. Omit needless words. Not only are we choosing the wrong words or the same words, we're using too damn many of them. Most corporate writing could stand a decent haircut.

Here's a little test: Count the number of words in your story, print it out and then cut it by 10 percent. Don't take out any useful detail or information; remove only words that didn't have to be there in the first place. Then, take a hard look at your first sentence. Make it shorter. That first paragraph needs to give your readers a running start.

6. Embrace simplicity and clarity. This is a biggie. People in companies want to look and sound important, and somewhere they got it into their heads that the best way to do that is to use a lot of big words and convoluted phrases. There's an entire industry organized around this notion, leading to hundreds of "success" books that use goofy metaphors to describe how businesses should operate.

It's all nonsense. The best way to communicate, from the Bible to the blogosphere, is through clear, simple, conversational language. Get rid of the hype, ban the corporate speak, say what you mean and mean what you say. Clarity begets productivity and innovation. Simplicity leads to better understanding, which leads to engagement. Period.

7. Tell a good story. Many companies have lost the art of storytelling, even though every organization is filled with compelling tales of people doing good work, overcoming barriers, and treating each other (and the customers) with care and respect. But instead of real people doing interesting things, we get a combination of general platitudes ("Thank you for your hard work!"; "Our employees are our greatest asset!") and vague admonitions. ("If we each push a little harder, we can meet our third quarter goals"; "We're facing some tough challenges, but if we work as a team we can turn them into opportunities").

Those are meaningless statements, and not very motivational to those who bother to listen. It's your job to dig out real stories and give your organization some human voices. People like to read about people; they don't want to read about programs, processes or policies. Find the people who are working the programs, carrying out the new process or affected by the policies—and tell their stories.

One good anecdote will keep readers interested.

8. Find some interesting voices. Everybody in the corporate world sounds the same, and frankly, it's boring. The quotes we use in press releases, the way our leaders address the troops, the way we write our newsletters and intranets: BOOORRRING. You can change this right away by demanding that people talk like, well, people.

Make no mistake. The burden is on the communicator. It's your job to make people comfortable enough so they can be themselves and talk the way they normally do, instead of lapsing into some kind of mind-numbing corporate chant we've all heard before. Quotes are the best way to illustrate the talented, dynamic people working at your organization. They've got something to say, but it takes a good conversation to coax it out of them. Make sure your interesting people are saying interesting things.

9. Take some chances. This is actually easy, since taking a chance in most companies hardly requires doing anything radical. It just means looking for a different way to tell a story.

Writing about customer service? Do a story about the top 10 ways the company to lose a customer. Employees have questions? Start an intranet column called the Rumor Mill, where people can get straight answers to business questions. Think about your audience and what gets their attention, then craft your communication to match. People want to be entertained as well as informed. Have some fun.

10. Rewrite everything. All of the above rules won't get you anywhere if you don't impose the biggest rule of all: Good writing evolves, and it happens only when so-so prose is made better through rewriting.

If you can do one thing for your writers, it's this: Liberate them. Tell them it's OK to write complete crap the first time out, because they've got to get something on the screen first, then make it better. No one writes perfect sentences in their heads. Write it once, rework it, then write it again. That's the magic formula, and it's the only way to make sure you've followed Rules 1 through 9.