Chapter 5: Adapting to Your Audience: Being Sensitive to Audience Needs

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. -Transitional elements include Connecting words (conjunctions) Repeated words or phrases Pronouns Words that are frequently paired

TABLE 5.6 Five Techniques for Developing Paragraphs

*Illustration-Giving examples that demonstrate the general idea *Comparison or contrast-Using similarities or differences to develop the topic *Cause and effect-Focusing on the reasons for something *Classification- Showing how a general idea is broken into specific categories *Problem and solution-Presenting a problem and then discussing the solution

Nevertheless, using the passive voice can help you demonstrate the "you" attitude in some situations:

-When you want to be diplomatic about pointing out a problem or an error of some kind (the passive version seems less like an accusation) -- -When you want to point out what's being done without taking or attributing either the credit or the blame (the passive version shifts the spotlight away from the person or persons involved) -When you want to avoid personal pronouns in order to create an objective tone (the passive version may be used in a formal report, for example

Most paragraphs consist of

-A topic sentence that reveals the subject of the paragraph -Related sentences that support and expand the topic -Transitions that help readers move between sentences and paragraphs

guidelines continued

-Be careful with intimacy. Business messages should generally avoid intimacy, such as sharing personal details or adopting a casual, unprofessional tone. 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. -Be careful with humor. Humor can easily backfire and divert attention from your message. 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.

Finding Words That Communicate Well

-Choose strong, precise words. Choose words that express your thoughts clearly, specifically, and dynamically. If you find yourself using a lot of adjectives and adverbs, you're probably trying to compensate for weak nouns and verbs. Saying that sales plummeted is stronger and more efficient than saying sales dropped dramatically or sales experienced a dramatic drop. -Choose familiar words. You'll communicate best with words that are familiar to both you and your readers. Efforts to improve a situation certainly can be ameliorative, but saying they are helpful is a lot more effective. Moreover, trying to use an unfamiliar word for the first time in an important document can lead to embarrassing mistakes. -Avoid clichés and be careful with buzzwords. Although familiar words are generally the best choice, avoid clichés—terms and phrases so common that they have lost some of their power to communicate. Buzzwords, newly coined terms often associated with technology, business, or cultural changes, are slightly more difficult to handle than clichés, but in small doses and in the right situation, they can be useful. The careful use of a buzzword can signal that you're an insider, someone in the know.15 However, buzzwords quickly become clichés, and using them too late in their "life cycle" can mark you as an outsider desperately trying to look like an insider. When people use clichés and overuse buzzwords, they often sound as though they don't know how to express themselves otherwise and don't invest the energy required for original writing. -use jargon carefully. Jargon, the specialized language of a particular profession or industry, has a bad reputation, but it's not always bad. Using jargon is usually an efficient way to communicate within the specific groups that understand these terms. After all, that's how jargon develops in the first place, as people with similar interests devise ways to communicate complex ideas quickly. For instance, when a recording engineer wants to communicate that a particular piece of music is devoid of reverberation and other sound effects, it's a lot easier to simply describe the track as "dry." Of course, to people who aren't familiar with such insider terms, jargon is meaningless and intimidating—one more reason it's important to understand your audience before you start writing. -Avoid clichés, be extremely careful with trendy buzzwords, and use jargon only when your audience is completely familiar with it.

o build, maintain, or repair your credibility, emphasize the following characteristics

-Honesty. Demonstrating honesty and integrity will earn you the respect of your audiences, even if they don't always agree with or welcome your messages. -Objectivity. Show that you can distance yourself from emotional situations and look at all sides of an issue. -Awareness of audience needs. Directly or indirectly, let your audience members know that you understand what's important to them. - -Credentials, knowledge, and expertise. Audiences need to know that you have whatever it takes to back up your message, whether it's education, professional certification, special training, past successes, or simply the fact that you've done your research. -Endorsements. An endorsement is a statement on your behalf by someone who is accepted by your audience as an expert. -Performance. Demonstrating impressive communication skills is not enough; people need to know they can count on you to get the job done. -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.

Instead of This

-It is impossible to repair your laptop today. -We wasted $300,000 advertising in that magazine.

Write This

-Let's review the last website update to explore ways to improve the process. -Our production schedules depend on timely delivery of parts and supplies, but we have not yet received the order you promised to deliver two weeks ago. Please respond today with a firm delivery commitment.

Instead of This

-Once again, you've managed to bring down the entire website through your incompetent programming -You've been sitting on our order for two weeks, and we need it now!

Understanding Denotation and Connotation

-The denotative meaning is the literal, or dictionary, meaning, explicit and specific The connotative meaning includes all the associations and feelings evoked by the word. The denotative meaning of desk is "a piece of furniture with a flat work surface and various drawers for storage." -The connotative meaning of desk may include thoughts associated with work or study, but the word desk has fairly neutral connotations—neither strong nor emotional. implicit and associative -For example, the connotations of the word fail are negative and can have a dramatic emotional impact. If you say the sales department failed to meet its annual quota, the connotative meaning suggests that the group is inferior, incompetent, or below some standard of performance

Support Sentences

-The medical products division has been troubled for many years by public relations problems. Since 2014, the local newspaper has published 15 articles that portray the division in a negative light. We have been accused of everything from mistreating laboratory animals to polluting the local groundwater. Our facility has been described as a health hazard. Our scientists are referred to as "Frankensteins," and our profits are considered "obscene." -The support sentences are all more specific than the topic sentence. Each one provides another piece of evidence to demonstrate the general truth of the main thought. Also, each sentence is clearly related to the general idea being developed, which gives the paragraph unity -the topic sentence needs to be explained, justified, or extended with one or more support sentences

You can achieve a tone that is conversational but still businesslike by following these guidelines:

-Understand the difference between texting and writing. The casual, acronym-laden language used in text messaging and instant messaging between friends is not considered professional business writing. Texting style is an efficient way for friends to communicate—particularly taking into account the limitations of a phone keypad—but if you want to be taken seriously in business, you simply cannot write like this on the job. -Avoid stale and pompous language. Most companies now shy away from such dated phrases as "attached please find" and "please be advised that." Similarly, avoid using obscure words, stale or clichéd expressions, and overly complicated sentences designed only to impress others Avoid preaching and bragging. Readers tend to get irritated by 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, perhaps in the middle of a paragraph, where it will sound like a secondary comment rather than a major revelation

transition words example

-Use connecting words. Use conjunctions such as and, but, or, nevertheless, however, in addition, and so on. - Echo a word or phrase from a previous paragraph or sentence. "A system should be established for monitoring inventory levels. -This system will provide . . ." -Use a pronoun that refers to a noun used previously. "Ms. Arthur is the leading candidate for the president's position. She has excellent qualifications." -Use words that are frequently paired. "The machine has a minimum output of . . . Its maximum output is . . ."

Using Sentence Style to Emphasize Key Thoughts

-You can also call attention to a thought by making it the subject of the sentence. In the following example, the emphasis is on the person: I can write letters much more quickly by using voice dictation. However, by changing the subject, the voice dictation capability takes center stage: Using voice dictation enables me to write letters much more quickly. -Another way to emphasize an idea (in this instance, the idea of stimulating demand) is to place it either at the beginning or at the end of a sentence: The best placement of the dependent clause depends on the relationship between the ideas in the sentence. Less emphatic: We are cutting the price to stimulate demand. More emphatic: To stimulate demand, we are cutting the price.

Using Plain Language

-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 aren't written to meet their needs.10 Finally, plain language helps nonnative speakers read your messages. -Plain language presents information in a simple, unadorned style that allows your audience to easily grasp your meaning—language that recipients "can read, understand and act upon the first time they read it.

Write This

-Your computer can be ready by Tuesday. Would you like a loaner until then? -Our $300,000 advertising investment did not pay off. Let's analyze the experience and apply the insights to future campaigns.

Selecting the Active or Passive Voice

-active voice, the subject performs the action and the object receives the action: "Jodi sent the email message." -active is lively and direct -In passive voice, the subject receives the action: "The email message was sent by Jodi." As you can see, the passive voice combines the helping verb to be with a form of the verb that is usually similar to the past tense -passive is dull and indirect -Using the active voice helps make your writing more direct, livelier, and easier to read (see Table 5.4). In contrast, the passive voice is often cumbersome, can be unnecessarily vague, and can make sentences overly long. In most cases, the active voice is your best choice.12 Nevertheless, using the passive voice can help you demonstrate the "you" attitude in some situations:

compound sentence

-two main clauses that express two or more independent but related thoughts of equal importance, usually joined by and, but, or or. In effect, a compound sentence is a merger of two or more simple sentences (independent clauses) that are related. -For example: Wage rates have declined by 5 percent, and employee turnover has been high. -The independent clauses in a compound sentence are always separated by a comma or by a semicolon (in which case the conjunction—and, but, or—is dropped)

Projecting Your Company's Image

-you represent your company and therefore play a vital role in helping the company build and maintain positive relationships with all its stakeholders. -Most successful companies work hard to foster a specific public image, and your external communication efforts need to project that image. -As part of this responsibility, the interests and preferred communication style of your company must take precedence over your own views and personal communication style.

list of transitions frequently used to move readers smoothly between clauses, sentences, and paragraphs:

Additional detail: moreover, furthermore, in addition, besides, first, second, third, finally Cause-and-effect relationship: therefore, because, accordingly, thus, consequently, hence, as a result, so Comparison: similarly, here again, likewise, in comparison, still Contrast: yet, conversely, whereas, nevertheless, on the other hand, however, but, nonetheless Condition: although, if Illustration: for example, in particular, in this case, for instance Time sequence: formerly, after, when, meanwhile, sometimes Intensification: indeed, in fact, in any event Summary: in brief, in short, to sum up Repetition: that is, in other words, as mentioned earlier

Balancing Abstract and Concrete Words

An abstract word expresses a concept, quality, or characteristic. Abstractions are usually broad, encompassing a category of ideas, and they are often intellectual, academic, or philosophical. Love, honor, progress, tradition, and beauty are abstractions, as are such important business concepts as productivity, profits, quality, and motivation -The more abstract a word is, the more it is removed from the tangible, objective world of things that can be perceived with the senses. -Abstractions tend to be "fuzzy" and can be interpreted differently -concepts, qualities, characteristics

Establishing Your Credibility

Audience responses to your messages depend heavily on your credibility, a measure of your believability based on how reliable you are and how much trust you evoke in others. With audiences who don't know you and trust you already, you need to establish credibility before they'll accept your message -People are more likely to react positively to your message when they have confidence in you. To enhance your credibility, emphasize such factors as honesty, objectivity, and awareness of audience needs.

Racial and ethnic bias

Avoid identifying people by race or ethnic origin unless such a label is relevant to the matter at hand—and it rarely is.

Gender bias.

Avoid sexist language by using the same labels for everyone, regardless of gender. Don't refer to a woman as chairperson and then to a man as chairman. Use chair, chairperson, or chairman consistently. (Note that it is not uncommon to use chairman when referring to a woman who heads a board of directors. Archer Daniels Midland's Patricia Woertz and Xerox's Ursula Burns, for example, both refer to themselves as "chairman."6) Reword sentences to use they or to use no pronoun at all rather than refer to all individuals as he. Note that the preferred title for women in business is Ms. unless the individual asks to be addressed as Miss or Mrs. or has some other title, such as Dr.

Using Bias-Free Language

Bias-free language avoids words and phrases that unfairly and even unethically categorize or stigmatize people in ways related to gender, race, ethnicity, age, disability, or other personal characteristics. Contrary to what some may think, biased language is not simply about "labels." -Bias-free language avoids words and phrases that unfairly and even unethically categorize or stigmatize people.

Composing Your Message: Creating Effective Sentences

Choosing from the Four Types of Sentences

Composing Your Message: Crafting Unified, Coherent Paragraphs

Creating the Elements of a Paragraph

Composing Your Message: Choosing Powerful Words

Don't try to write and edit at the same time or worry about getting everything perfect. Make up words if you can't think of the right word, draw pictures, talk out loud—do whatever it takes to get the ideas out of your head and onto screen or paper. If you've scheduled carefully, you should have time to revise and refine the material later. In fact, many writers find it helpful to establish a personal rule of never showing a first draft to anyone. By working in this "safe zone," away from the critical eyes of others, your mind will stay free to think clearly and creatively

Emphasizing the Positive

During your career, you will have many occasions in which you need to communicate bad news. However, there is a big difference between delivering negative news and being negative. When the tone of your message is negative, you put unnecessary strain on business relationships. Never try to hide negative news, but always be on the lookout for positive points that will foster a good relationship with your audience:2 You can communicate negative news without being negative

Using Sentence Style to Emphasize Key Thoughts

Emphasize specific parts of sentences by Devoting more words to them - Putting them at the beginning or at the end of the sentence -Making them the subject of the sentence -One obvious technique is to give important points the most space. When you want to call attention to a thought, use extra words to describe it. Consider this sentence: The chairperson called for a vote of the shareholders. -To emphasize the importance of the chairperson, you might describe her more fully: Having considerable experience in corporate takeover battles, the chairperson called for a vote of the shareholders. -you can increase the emphasis even more by adding a separate, short sentence to augment the first: The chairperson called for a vote of the shareholders. She has considerable experience in corporate takeover battles.

Building Strong Relationships

Establishing your credibility and projecting your company's image are two vital steps in building and fostering positive business relationships.

Emphasizing the Positive

Euphemisms are milder synonyms that can express an idea while triggering fewer negative connotations, but they should never be used to obscure the truth

Choosing the Best Way to Develop Each Paragraph

Five ways to develop paragraphs: -Illustration -Comparison or contrast -Cause and effect -Classification -Problem and solution

examples

For instance, one of the toughest messages a manager ever has to write is an internal memo or email announcing layoffs. This is a difficult situation for everyone involved, and managers can be tempted to resort to euphemisms such as streamlining, restructuring, improving efficiency, reducing layers, or eliminating redundancies to avoid using the word layoff.3 Doing so might ease the emotional burden on the writer and promote the illusion that the message isn't as negative as it really is. However, these euphemisms can fail the "you" attitude test, as well as the standards of ethical information, by failing to answer the question every reader in these situations has, which is simply: Am I going to lose my job?

Choosing Powerful Words-1

Give yourself a mental break by switching to a different project. Sometimes all you need to do is start writing without worrying about the words you're using or how they will sound to the audience. Words will start flowing, your mind will engage, and the writing will come easier. Correctness is the first consideration when choosing words.

Maintaining Standards of Etiquette

Good etiquette not only indicates respect for your audience but also helps foster a more successful environment for communication by minimizing negative emotional reaction: Even if a situation calls for you to be brutally honest, express the facts of the matter in a kind and thoughtful manner. Use extra tact when communicating with people higher up the organization chart or outside the company.

Understanding Denotation and Connotation

However, the reason for not achieving 100 percent might be an inferior product, incorrect pricing, or some other factor outside the control of the sales department. In contrast, by saying the sales department achieved 85 percent of its quota, you clearly communicate that the results were less than expected without triggering all the negative emotions associated with failure

Creating Effective Sentences tips

If you have two ideas of equal importance, express them as two simple sentences or as one compound sentence. However, if one of the ideas is less important than the other, place it in a dependent clause to form a complex sentence. For example, although the following compound sentence uses a conjunction to join two ideas, they aren't truly equal: The chemical products division is the strongest in the company, and its management techniques should be adopted by the other divisions. -if you use too many simple sentences in a row, you may struggle to properly express the relationships among your ideas, and your writing will sound choppy and abrupt. At the other extreme, a long series of compound, complex, or compound-complex sentences can be tiring to read.

Maintaining Standards of Etiquette

If you know your audience well, a less formal approach may be more appropriate. However, when you are communicating with people who outrank you or with people outside your organization, an added measure of courtesy is usually needed

Be aware that on some occasions, it's better to avoid using you, particularly if doing so will sound overly authoritative or accusing:

Instead of This You failed to deliver the customer's order on time. Write This: The customer didn't receive the order on time. Instead of this: You must correct all five copies by noon. Write this: All five copies must be corrected by noon.

Age bias.

Mention the age of a person only when it is relevant. Moreover, be careful of the context in which you use words that refer to age; such words carry a variety of positive and negative connotations. For example, young can imply energy, youthfulness, inexperience, or even immaturity, depending on how it's used.

Creating a Conversational Tone

Most business messages aim for a conversational style that is warm but businesslike. -The first is too formal and stuffy for today's audiences, whereas the third is inappropriately casual for business. The second message demonstrates the conversational tone used in most business communication—plain language that sounds businesslike without being stuffy at one extreme or too laid-back and informal at the other extreme

In complex sentences, the placement of the dependent clause hinges on the relationship between the ideas expressed. If you want to emphasize the subordinate idea, put the dependent clause at the end of the sentence (the most emphatic position) or at the beginning (the second most emphatic position). If you want to downplay the idea, put the dependent clause within the sentence:

Most emphatic: The electronic parts are manufactured in Mexico, which has lower wage rates than the United States. Emphatic: Because wage rates are lower in Mexico than in the United States, the electronic parts are manufactured there. Least emphatic: Mexico, which has lower wage rates than the United States, was selected as the production site for the electronic parts.

Disability bias.

Physical, mental, sensory, or emotional impairments should never be mentioned in business messages unless those conditions are directly relevant to the subject. If you must refer to someone's disability, put the person first and the disability second.7 For example, by saying "employees with physical handicaps," not "handicapped employees," you focus on the whole person, not the disability. Finally, never use outdated terminology such as crippled or retarded.

Being Sensitive to Audience Needs

Readers and listeners are more likely to respond positively when they believe messages address their concerns.

Emphasizing the Positive

Show audience members how they will benefit by responding to your message

More Diplomatic in Passive Voice

The shipment was lost Seven engineers were recruited last month. The high rate of failures on the final assembly line is being investigated.

Writing Messages for Mobile Devices

To write effectively for mobile devices -Use a linear organization -Prioritize information -Write short, focused messages -Use short subject lines and headings -Use short paragraphs

Instead of This: Tuesday is the only day that we can promise quick response to purchase order requests; we are swamped the rest of the week

Write This: If you need a quick response, please submit your purchase order requests on Tuesday

instead of this: We offer MP3 players with 50, 75, or 100 gigabytes of storage capacity.

Write this: You can choose an MP3 player with 50, 75, or 100 gigabytes of storage

Accusatory or Self-Congratulatory in Active Voice

You lost the shipment. I recruited seven engineers last month. We are investigating the high rate of failures on the final assembly line.

Adapting to Your Audience: Controlling Your Style and Tone

Your communication -style involves the choices you make to express yourself: the words you select, the manner in which you use those words in sentences, and the way you build paragraphs from individual sentences. Your style creates a certain - tone, or overall impression, in your messages. The right tone depends on the nature of your message and your relationship with the reader.

its licensing terms are available in three versions

a complete "legal code" document that spells out contractual details in specific legal terms that meet the needs of legal professionals, a "human readable" version that explains the licensing terms in nontechnical language that anyone can understand, and a "machine readable" version fine-tuned for search engines and other systems

Concrete words

a concrete word stands for something you can touch, see, or visualize. Most concrete terms are anchored in the tangible, material world. Chair, table, horse, rose, kick, kiss, red, green, and two are concrete words; they are direct, clear, and exact. -seeing, touching, visualizing

A simple sentence

as one main clause (a single subject and a single predicate), although it may be expanded by nouns and pronouns that serve as objects of the action and by modifying phrases -Profits increased in the past year.

Using the "You" Attitude

centered communication and the "you" attitude— speaking and writing in terms of your audience's wishes, interests, hopes, and preferences. On the simplest level, you can adopt the "you" attitude by replacing terms such as I, me, mine, we, us, and ours with you and yours: -Adopting the "you" attitude means speaking and writing in terms of your audience's wishes, interests, hopes, and preferences. -it's a matter of demonstrating genuine interest in your readers and concern for their needs. You can use you 25 times in a single page and still offend your audience or ignore readers' true concerns. If you're writing to a retailer, try to think like a retailer; if you're dealing with a production supervisor, put yourself in that position; if you're writing to a dissatisfied customer, imagine how you would feel at the other end of the transaction

A complex sentence

expresses one main thought (the independent clause) and one or more subordinate, related thoughts (dependent clauses that cannot stand alone as valid sentences). Independent and dependent clauses are usually separated by a comma. In this example, "Although you may question Gerald's conclusions" is a subordinate thought expressed in a dependent clause: -A compound-complex sentence has two main clauses and at least one dependent clause. -Although you may question Gerald's conclusions, you must admit that his research is thorough.

compound-complex sentence

has two main clauses, at least one of which contains a subordinate clause: Profits increased 35 percent in the past year, so although the company faces long-term challenges, I agree that its short-term prospects look quite positive. -Maintain some variety among the four sentence types to keep your writing from getting choppy (too many short, simple sentences) or exhausting (too many long sentences).

Choosing Powerful Words-2

strong words, effective sentences, and coherent paragraphs. Starting at the word level, successful writers pay close attention to the correct 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 suggests to readers that you're unprofessional, and they may choose not to trust you as a result. Moreover, poor grammar may imply that you don't respect your audience enough to get things right.

Topic Sentence

the sentence that introduces that topic In informal and creative writing, the topic sentence may be implied rather than stated. In business writing, the topic sentence is generally explicit and is often the first sentence in the paragraph. The topic sentence gives readers a summary of the general idea that will be covered in the rest of the paragraph -ex The medical products division has been troubled for many years by public relations problems. [In the rest of the paragraph, readers will learn the details of the problems.] -topic sentences help you as a writer because they remind you of the purpose of each paragraph and thereby encourage you to stay focused

Avoid using you and your when

when doing so Makes you sound dictatorial Makes someone else feel guilty Goes against your organization's style

euphemisms

words or phrases that express a thought in milder terms—that convey your meaning without carrying negative or unpleasant connotations. For example, one common euphemism is referring to people beyond a certain age as "senior citizens" rather than "old people." Senior conveys respect in a way that old doesn't. Euphemisms can bring a tone of civility to unpleasant communication, but they must be used with great care because they are so easy—and so tempting—to misuse. Euphemisms can be annoying if they force readers to "read between the lines" to get the message, and they can be unethical if they obscure the truth. For instance, one of the toughest messages a manager ever has to write is an internal memo or email announcing layoffs.