8 Ways to Improve Your Leadership Writing Skills
As a leader, you constantly need to work on improving your skillset and further developing professionally. Whether you like it or not, people are going to look up to you and see you as a role model. They’ll analyze everything that you do, and if they see a weak point, they’ll question your ability to be a leader. This is why everything you do, including your written communication, needs to be perfect.
If you want to improve your writing skills, but aren’t sure how, just keep reading. We’ve put together this ultimate guide with 8 best ways to improve your leadership writing skills.
Let’s take a closer look together.
Source: Pexels
1. Set a Goal
As a leader, you’ll be writing a lot of different documents, emails, proposals, feedbacks, and briefs. Whatever the document you’re writing is, you need to make sure you have a clear goal for writing it.
This is the only way to make your writing:
- to the point
- clear
- effective
So, if you’re writing a group email for a team working on a project, your goal can be:
- to motivate them to work harder
- to ask for some changes
- to give feedback on a certain issue
Set a clear goal before you start writing and focus on that one goal in your writing.
2. Use Everyday language
You may feel that, as a leader, you need to use pompous language and prove your superiority with technical vocabulary.
The truth is, all you need to do is communicate your message clearly. And there’s no better way to do it than to use everyday language.
Everyone will be able to understand you clearly and feel better about further communication with you. And that’s what real leaders should aim for.
So, make sure that you:
- use simple language
- avoid technical vocabulary
- avoid sounding like a machine
Be yourself and communicate your thoughts so that everyone can understand you. It’s one of the most important leadership skills you need.
3. Use Active Voice & Actionable Words
As a leader, your task is often going to be to motivate, inspire, and activate those you’re writing to. Whether it’s your employees or the people in your team, you need to write with the goal of boosting their energy.
Here’s the best formula for doing so:
- use active voice
- use actionable words
- use direct and strong sentences
Passive voice takes away the power from the subject and, therefore, from the sentence as well. Active voice, on the other hand, inspires people to take some action themselves.
4. Wear Your Readers’ Shoes
Before you start writing, it’s very important that you think about the people who’ll be reading this. Keeping your audience in mind will ensure you write in a way that suits them and their needs.
Think about the following:
- what is their perspective on the subject matter
- what takeaway do you want them to have
- how do you want them to feel
Analyze the above listed and write with your target audience in mind. Improve this leadership skill since it’ll help you improve your written communication immensely.
5. Write Short Sentences
Another way to bring the pace up and shake up those reading what you’ve written as a leader is to write short sentences.
Short sentences are more powerful and effective since they are easy to understand, and each one carries a strong note.
Let’s compare:
- I expect everyone to do their best. Each team should complete all tasks by Monday. Write your reports and send them to me via email. Make them up to 3 pages long.
- I expect everyone to do their best and from each team to complete their tasks by Monday, then send me the reports via email and make them up to 3 pages long.
The first version is much more effective and manages to communicate all the tasks clearly. The second version might get you confused at some point, and it weakens the importance of individual tasks.
6. Proofread Several Times
As we’ve already mentioned, your writing needs to be polished to perfection. A single mistake might cost you losing your credibility, and you’ll come across as unprofessional.
And that’s something you can’t let yourself happen as a true leader.
Therefore, take every measure possible to send out nothing but perfectly polished copies:
- proofread several times
- use proofreading tools to remove all spelling and grammar mistakes
- ask someone else to proofread for you
You can check out these helpful websites for students if you need more help with this part of writing.
7. Encourage Feedback
As a leader, you have to practice being considerate and open to communication. It’s important that people around you feel they can come to you if they need to.
Make sure your writing shows:
- you’re considerate
- you want to hear their feedback
- they can come to you if they need to clarify anything
Naturally, you need to make sure your colleagues respect your work schedule. You could use Luxafor Flag to indicate your availability to everyone and ensure there are no distractions while you’re working.
Keep the positive, open tone in your writing, and make it clear your door is open to them.
8. Reread Your Words
When you’re writing, everything can sound just perfect in your mind. But, it might not sound the same to the people reading it.
It’s your job to ensure there are no misunderstandings between you and the people reading what you’re written.
This is why you must reread everything that you write.
Here’s the best way to do it:
- finish writing the whole thing
- let it rest for a couple of hours or a day
- go back to it and read it (out loud if you can)
- try reading it as you’ve never seen it before
As you read, you’ll be able to better understand how your target audience might interpret your writing. Make the changes and adjust your writing where needed.
Final Thoughts
Writing as a leader can be challenging. It’s a demanding task that asks for your full attention and professionalism.
Use the tips listed above to improve your leadership writing skills. Use them to create a new strategy, and you’ll have nothing to worry about.
Do you want to build and maintain new habits? Get your free PDF version of the Don't Break The Chain calendar and start today!
Do you want to build and maintain new habits? Get your free PDF version of the Don't Break The Chain calendar and start today!
Author's Bio
Daniela McVicker is an editor for Essayguard. She is also an experienced writer with a degree in social psychology from Durham University. Daniela is primarily focused on writing about self-improvement. She has authored a number of insightful and motivating articles like “Making The Right Choices Every Day” and “7 Steps To Open Yourself To New Opportunities & Possibilities”.
