CEO these days too often stands for chief editing officer.
Unfortunately, it comes with the C-suite territory. C for chief and C for communication. Despite all the effort that goes into hiring and training, many of the best and brightest lack a basic understanding of structure, punctuation and grammar, and they are poor spellers. It results in the C-suite correcting writing, particularly reports.
There’s no more annoying experience for a C-suiter than receiving an email from someone in the organisation incapable of communicating accurately or succinctly. It pays to do the heavy lifting at your end and “get them at hello”. Otherwise it’s a hasty goodbye.
They are the corporation’s most influential group — chief executive officer, chief financial officer, chief operating officer, chief marketing officer and chief information officer. Perhaps you report to the chief compliance officer, chief human resources manager, chief risk officer or chief technology officer.
In any case, reaching the position they have is more than likely a result of experience, and leadership skills. Some have visionary perspectives that result in improved management decisions. In communicating with them, try to plug into their world.
They ask three questions from the moment they see a new email.
First, do I bother opening this? If the answer is yes, the second question upon reading the salutation and first paragraph is: why are you writing to me? Finally, assuming you have retained their attention, is the third question: what do I have to do as result of this?
Make it easy for them. Do the heavy lifting at your end. Senior executives require these five Cs:
1. Be clear
Clarity encompasses defining your reasons for writing, understanding your audience, and knowing your desired outcome. Put yourself in the shoes of the recipient and keep re-reading your document aloud to ensure it flows. This also leads to a logical ordering of ideas.
2. Be concise
Concision relates to sentence construction and length. Less is always more. One idea, one sentence is a useful guide, and keep sentences to a maximum of 20–25 words. Paragraphs are best at three sentences.
Good writing is good editing. Few people outside of sub-editors, songwriters, poets and people compiling shopping lists take the time to jot, or seriously reassess their written words. It always pays to have a pen and paper handy.
3. Be complete
Completeness means you have incorporated all the necessary information into the document. If you require a specific outcome, or action from the recipient, that should be clear. If your communication is an email, write the subject line last, or if it is a report, be prepared to change the section headlines.
4. Be courteous
Courtesy relates to tone and shouldn’t be confused with writing in a gushing style. For some recipients a direct style is preferred. Assess your audience, adopt the correct tone and in so doing, pay them a courtesy.
5. Be courageous
Finally, have the courage to write directly and honestly, and to be ruthless when you self-edit. It also takes courage to point out errors when assessing the writing of others.
It’s easy to add other words to the C-suite. Coaching and culture come to mind. Encourage everyone to adopt the five-C strategy. You can inspire a culture of improvement in writing. Bring in outside coaches for a workshop if necessary.
The C-suite should be confident that everyone in the organisation can undertake the written tasks required of them. Confident, too, that employees will seek advice and continually self-edit. The end result should be clear and concise writing that engenders a sense of contentment.
Is your writing ready to pass the CEO test?