Written communication is a critical skill for anyone in business. Over the last two months in Training Tips, we have provided ideas for planning your communication and for ensuring that the message is clear to your reader. This month, we’ll explore ways to ensure that your writing is concise.

Why bother with making our communication concise? You’ll save your reader both time and energy. Let’s explore three ways to ensure that your message will be as concise as possible while still retaining your meaning.

1. Avoid wordiness
   We define wordiness as using multiple words when one good word will do. Many of us have been conditioned toward wordiness by teachers who require us to write papers of 300 or 500 or 2000 words. We tended to put more emphasis on the number of words than on the conciseness of our message.
   
   Our readers simply do not have time to wade through our wordiness. So when you write, avoid wordiness by selecting one best word instead of multiple words. For example,
   
   

   Instead of	Try
   In order to	To
   Due to the fact that	Because
   With the exception of	Except

2. Avoid redundancy
   Redundancy is using more than one word with the same meaning. When we are redundant, we make more work for our reader.
   
   To combat this, edit your work for redundancy. Try editing the following redundancies often found in business writing:
   
   
   • Small detail:
   • End result:
   • Past experience:
3. Use appropriate sentence and paragraph length
   Why worry about sentence and paragraph length? Consider that your reader must not only read the message, but also understand, remember, and interpret your message. That’s a lot of work. The longer the sentence or paragraph, the harder on your reader.
   
   Here are some rules of thumb:
   
   • Limit sentences to 15-20 words.
   • Limit paragraphs to 3-6 sentences. And ensure that you’ve expressed just one thought per paragraph.
   • Limit an e-mail message to one screen. If it’s longer, consider an attachment as many readers will not scroll past the first screen.
   
   Of course, there will be instances where the rules of thumb do not fit. You might have a sentence of just a few words or a paragraph with just one sentence to add emphasis. Be sure, though, to double-check any sentence or paragraph that seems too long. How can it be edited to make it more concise for your reader?

So next time you dash off that e-mail to a client, colleague or team member, proof for conciseness by checking wordiness, redundancy and length.
          - The Northstar Team