What Returns On Investment of Effective Writing?

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What Returns On Investment of Effective Writing? Here is the point: effective writing saves time and money, can improve customer service, generate sales, and help employees do their jobs more effectively and efficiently. Joseph Kimble, chair of the Research & Writing Department of Thomas M. Cooley Law School, proved this in his book, Writing for Dollars, Writing for Fun. Kimble's research focuses on organizations that benefit from better writing. The book covers various case studies of organizations that have saved time and money and improved business practices by making their copies easier to read, reinforcing the obvious benefits of good writing.

• FedEx saves $ 400,000 every year when rewriting its operating manual. The aim is to ensure that users spend 80 percent less time searching for information; however, 80 percent does not take into account the cost of errors when readers cannot find answers.
• In 1977, FCC regulations rewrote in plain language, so the organization could reassign five full-time staff members whose job was to answer regulatory questions.
• The US Army rewrote a memo to 129 officers stating that they were carrying out certain tasks; those who receive easier-to-read memos are twice as likely to do the assignment on the day they receive the memo.
• GE rewrote its software guide, which resulted in a decrease of 125 calls per representative from customers who asked questions about software. With the revised manual, GE estimates that savings of up to $ 375,000 per year for each business customer.
• The US Navy rewrote its business memos to officials and saved $ 27 to $ 37 million per year in officers because they could read revised memos in 17 to 27 percent less.

I encourage you to read Kimble's book, because it has many other examples that show the benefits of effective writing, including how organizations increase their profits simply by reassessing and rewriting the documents that their customers face.

Fixing Problems
If bad writing is a problem in your organization, or if your team only needs to learn new strategies for writing more convincing documents in a shorter time, you should consider a company writing course. But it is also important that training be successful and include learning retention strategies.

"Large Robbery Training: Why Investing $ 60 Billion in Developing Non-Functional Leadership" sees why training is often ineffective in the long run. And while this paper focuses primarily on leadership training, his ideas apply to most types of training. According to the newspaper's author, Rajeev Peshawaria, part of the problem is "70:20:10 myth." This myth is based on the belief that 70 percent of employee development comes from training in the workplace and learning by doing; 20 percent through training, feedback, and learning from others; while the last 10 percent is from formal training.

Peshawaria believes that while 70 percent of development occurs in the workplace, "[Y] you cannot work without training and education." And, he suggested, employers must be willing to analyze the root causes of performance problems and be open to considering potential solutions that might fall beyond formula 70:20:10.

An ongoing paper with the same title, "The Great Robbery Training," published by The Harvard Business School, looks at why so much training fails to produce behavioral or cultural changes in an organization. This study agrees with Peshawaria's argument that, too often, management does not want to "hear the truth about the management system they are making and embrace the challenges of organizational change" (Beer et al. 5).

The main requirement for success, according to the study, is support for desired changes throughout the corporate culture driven by senior staff and executive management.

If you are considering business writing training, how can you protect your return on investment? Although the Harvard Business School study focuses on leadership training, some of these basic principles can be applied to effective writing skills as well:

• Senior management must respect the results of the training.
• Corporate culture must provide opportunities for training and honest feedback.
• If organizational changes are needed to support the desired results, they must be made before the training takes place.
• Help and coaching must be given to teach employees how to impose new behavior in the workplace.
• HR should not be expected to lead successful training efforts unless the broader organization is ready and willing to support the changes needed.

According to the Human Resources Council for the Nonprofit Sector, a project from the former Canadian Sector Sector Council, "a positive environment for learning is always important for success." So, the company must

• Recognize that learning is an integral part of every aspect of the company.
• Include learning resources in the annual budget and company goals.
• Involve all staff members, by giving them opportunities, not just executives.
• Treat problems and mistakes as opportunities for learning.
• Develop specific policies regarding employee training, including expectations for how often employees will participate in formal training, what types of programs need to be considered, and how training will be funded.
• Give time and support to learn and practice the skills learned.

And of course, it's important to choose training companies and programs that support your organization's culture and in accordance with the value your company provides for quality writing. Canned training, one size for all can miss the mark, making participants struggle to apply learning to their specific needs and challenges. Look for programs that are tailored to meet your company's needs and industry; type of writing (standard operating procedure, scientific writing); and individual challenges. Then, in a support environment, watch your investment take root and your employees grow.