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| Business Roundtable survey finds writing critical to economic and personal success |
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"Writing: A Ticket to Work...Or a Ticket Out," a survey
of Business Roundtable corporations released this
month by The National Commission on Writing, declares
that "much of what is important in American public and
economic life depends on clear oral and written
communication." "Writing is almost a universal
professional skill," the survey contends. This is
especially true in service industries--where most of this
decade's economic growth is expected to occur--and in
the fast-growing finance, insurance, and real estate
(FIRE) sector.
The most highly valued writing skills, according to the
survey:
- Accuracy: 95.2 percent of
respondents say it is "Extremely
Important"
- Clarity: 74.6 percent rank it "Extremely
Important"
- Visual Appeal: 68.3% say this
is "Important" and 11.1% rank it "Extremely
Important"
Though companies find writings skills so critical, one
third of survey respondents say that only a minority of
their employees have them. "Recent graduates may be
trained in academic writing, but we find that kind of
writing too verbose and wandering," says one executive.
The Business Roundtable leaders and the Commission
have recommended that companies have a well-defined
plan to tackle writing issues head on. Does your
company have a plan? Contact us if you need guidance.
Read more and download the entire report from the Commission Web site »
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| Write to the Top and the top ten HR trends |
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The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)
recently announced the top 10 human resource trends
in its SHRM Workplace Forecast. Write to the
Top strategies dovetail with these important
business trends:
- The use of technology to communicate with
employees (Trend 3).
Our Six Steps to Reader-Centered
Writing® help ensure that
you get your message through today's crowded in-
boxes.
- Preparing for the next wave of retirement/labor
shortage (Trend 7). Write to the Top
strategies increase productivity--writers write 30% -
50% faster, and readers cut reading time in half. Your
people work as efficiently as possible.
- Use and development of e-learning (Trend
8). We offer our Reader-Centered Business
Writing® workshop on line over
many platforms.
Call or write us if you're interested in more detail on
how our strategies can help you get ahead of
trends--and not just tag along behind.
Click here to see all Top 10 HR trends »
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| The Write to the Top book is back! |
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Expect to see a fresh, new Write to the Top:
Writing for Corporate Success in Write to the
Top workshops starting this fall. Deborah
Dumaine, president and founder of Better
Communications, has just revised and updated the book
with the Better Communications team, led by senior
editor Larissa Hordynsky. The book was published by
Random House in July 2004.
This third edition includes new sections on
- Writing Presentation
Documents™
- the Challenges of Persuasion
- Action Through Words.
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