Over the past few weeks, I’ve had a lot of calls from people with the same Pain Point…
In each case, a boss had asked them to create a communication for them.
But the communication they created wasn’t what their boss wanted.
So they had to redo it again. A bad outcome for everyone.
Sound familiar?
Well, here’s a very quick way to get it right first time…
Before you write anything, ask the boss:
- Purpose. Think WHO/DO. In other words, WHO is the audience for the communication; and what does your boss want them to DO after hearing it?
- Headings. Agree with your boss what the structure/headings will be. Get this right, and your content’s much more likely to be right. Get this wrong, and there’s no saving it!
- Format. PowerPoint, meeting notes, a document…which?
- Approval. When can you show the first draft of your skeleton to your boss, for their sign-off? Once you’ve agreed that, it’s pretty easy to complete the rest
If you omit one of these four, your communication could have been better.
If you omit all of them, you’re guessing.
Which means it probably couldn’t have been worse.
Action point
If your boss has asked you to create a communication for them, ask her these four questions in advance of you writing it. You’ll both be glad you did.