Business Writing With Heart

272 Pages·2016·3.5 MB·English

by  Gaertner-Johnston Lynn.

Table of Contents
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
Introduction
Part One: The Essentials
Chapter 1: Add Heart to Your Writing One Message at a Time
Chapter 2: Protect Your Relationships by Avoiding Bad Email Behaviors
Part Two: The Opportunities — Powerful Messages That Often Get Overlooked
Chapter 3: Write Mighty Thank-Yous
Chapter 4: Give Positive, Powerful Feedback
Chapter 5: Send Congratulations to Warm Hearts and Build Relationships
Chapter 6: Convey Condolences to Connect With Others
Chapter 7: Personal Introductions: Pave the Way to New Relationships
Chapter 8: In Your Job Search: Write Messages That Build Relationships and Create
Opportunities
Chapter 9: Send Meaningful Christmas, Chanukah, and New Year’s Greetings
Part Three: The Challenges — Messages That Can Make (or Break) Relationships
Chapter 10: Write Apologies to Mend Fences and Support Relationships
Chapter 11: Share Bad News Without Fostering Bad Feelings
Chapter 12: Say No Clearly and Courageously
Chapter 13: Disagree With Discretion, Not Destruction
Chapter 14: Remind People Without Nagging or Whining
Chapter 15: Deal With Anger (Yours and Theirs) to Preserve Relationships — or End
Them Well
Chapter 16: Share Constructive Feedback to Improve Performance — and Relationships
Chapter 17: Communicate Around the Globe With Courtesy and Wisdom
Part Four: Take Action
Chapter 18: Create Your Action Plan for Building Relationships One Message at a Time
For Your Reference
Recommended Resources: Learn More About Building Relationships
Ways to Render Names and Titles in Greetings and on Envelopes
Greetings (Salutations) for Letters, Notes, Emails, and Text Messages
Complimentary Closes (Sign-Offs) for Letters, Notes, Emails, and Texts
Acknowledgments
About the Author
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Copyrighted Material
Business Writing With Heart: How to Build Great Work Relationships One Message at a Time
Copyright © 2014 by Lynn Gaertner-Johnston. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means
— electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise — without prior written permission from the publisher,
except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.
For information about this title or to order other books and/or electronic media, contact the publisher:
Syntax Training LLC
7332 16th Avenue NW, Seattle, Washington 98117-5415
www.syntaxtraining.com
[email protected]
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013952284
ISBNs:
978-0-9778679-0-5 (print)
978-0-9778679-1-2 (eBooks)
Printed in the United States of America
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To my parents, Ed and Louise Gaertner, who live on in my heart
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Contents
Introduction
PART ONE: The Essentials
CHAPTER 1: Add Heart to Your Writing One Message at a Time
CHAPTER 2: Protect Your Relationships by Avoiding Bad Email Behaviors
PART TWO: The Opportunities — Powerful Messages That Often Get
Overlooked
CHAPTER 3: Write Mighty Thank-Yous
CHAPTER 4: Give Positive, Powerful Feedback
CHAPTER 5: Send Congratulations to Warm Hearts and Build Relationships
CHAPTER 6: Convey Condolences to Connect With Others
CHAPTER 7: Personal Introductions: Pave the Way to New Relationships
CHAPTER 8: In Your Job Search: Write Messages That Build Relationships and
Create Opportunities
CHAPTER 9: Send Meaningful Christmas, Chanukah, and New Year’s Greetings
PART THREE: The Challenges — Messages That Can Make (or Break)
Relationships
CHAPTER 10: Write Apologies to Mend Fences and Support Relationships
CHAPTER 11: Share Bad News Without Fostering Bad Feelings
CHAPTER 12: Say No Clearly and Courageously
CHAPTER 13: Disagree With Discretion, Not Destruction
CHAPTER 14: Remind People Without Nagging or Whining
CHAPTER 15: Deal With Anger (Yours and Theirs) to Preserve Relationships — or
End Them Well
CHAPTER 16: Share Constructive Feedback to Improve Performance — and
Relationships
CHAPTER 17: Communicate Around the Globe With Courtesy and Wisdom
PART FOUR: Take Action
CHAPTER 18: Create Your Action Plan for Building Relationships One Message at a
Time
For Your Reference
Recommended Resources: Learn More About Building Relationships
Ways to Render Names and Titles in Greetings and on Envelopes
Greetings (Salutations) for Letters, Notes, Emails, and Text Messages
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Complimentary Closes (Sign-Offs) for Letters, Notes, Emails, and Texts
Acknowledgments
About the Author
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Introduction
W
hen you think of establishing business relationships, what comes to mind? Perhaps you
imagine schmoozing at trade shows and conferences or listening attentively to new clients.
Maybe you see yourself shaking hands with new employees during their first-day tour or
smiling at them in videoconferences. If your business is strictly online, perhaps you
envision uploading new-customer offers on your home page. Those are a few easy steps in
initiating relationships.
But once begun, the challenge is building and maintaining those bonds. How do you
maintain individual relationships with coworkers, employees, customers, industry peers,
donors, board members, citizens, and others? How do you protect professional
relationships from fading due to lack of attention or cracking under fast-paced, high-
pressured communication? How can you cultivate relationships to support your success
and gain a competitive advantage?
The answer to those questions is the promise of this book: You can build and
maintain great work relationships one message at a time, by writing with heart — that is,
with respect and positive intent, using language that makes those feelings clear.
More than ever before, writing is the lifeblood of business relationships. If you are like
most professionals, you email or text more than you talk on the phone or meet in person.
You may have long-distance relationships with people you never meet and rarely speak to,
although you write to one another regularly. You may email or IM (instant message)
people who work in the next building (or even the next cubicle), rather than walk over to
talk with them. Even if you do meet with colleagues, customers, and clients, written
messages are likely to keep you connected between meetings.
With this focus on writing comes much risk to relationships. It’s very easy to derail
work relationships by what we say and how we say it. Hastily written messages, cryptic
brevity, clumsy wording, boilerplate language — even punctuation — can unintentionally
send the wrong message. After all, readers can’t see your sincerity and good intentions on
the page or screen. And as a writer, you unfortunately can’t see their puzzled or frowning
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faces to instantly fix the situation.
Applying the lessons of this book, you will be able to minimize writing risks and
protect your professional relationships. You will not come across like a soulless suit, a
beleaguered or bullying bureaucrat, a self-effacing shadow, a saccharine adolescent, or a
[fill in the blank with your fear about undermining your relationships]. Instead, you will be
able to communicate authentically and considerately with people in writing, even in
awkward and challenging situations.
Business Writing With Heart is for you if you want to build and sustain your business
relationships while meeting the challenges of high-speed, high-demand communication. It
shows you how to write relationship-building messages rather than relationship-neutral
ones. It gives you concrete tips and examples to help you in your work in any industry,
from high tech to nonprofits, from manufacturing to government, from finance to consulting
to education.
No matter what your job is, if your work involves relationships and the communication
challenges that flow naturally from them, this book helps you meet those challenges.
Whether you are a corporate communications specialist, an administrative assistant, a vice
president, a human resources manager, a sales or customer-service rep, a team leader, a
teacher, a contractor, a consultant, an entrepreneur, or another type of professional, you
will find the right words and messages in this book to create win-win communications. If
you don’t have a job because you are self-employed or between positions, Business
Writing With Heart helps you connect with people in positive, natural ways that lead to
sales, contracts, interviews, and job opportunities.
With clear sample messages, before-and-after examples, easy-to-apply dos,
emphatic don’ts, and memorable stories, Business Writing With Heart helps you:
Add heart to your messages so they intentionally nurture rather than unintentionally
ruin your relationships.
Send brief messages that come across as efficient yet friendly — not brusque and
thoughtless.
Cultivate relationships with thank-yous, congratulations, positive feedback, and
condolences that sound sincere instead of smarmy.
Avoid unconscious email habits that injure and end relationships.
Choose the perfect words and tone to communicate bad news without fostering bad
feelings.
Disagree without destroying initiative and damaging relationships.
Give constructive feedback to improve performance and reinforce relationships
rather than make everyone feel embarrassed and defensive.
Stay connected during your job search without feeling like a bother.
Say no clearly, courageously, and courteously, without guilt or foot-dragging.
Apologize in a way that redeems a situation and makes everyone feel better.
Deal diplomatically with angry messages and transform your own anger rather than
enlist in a verbal war.
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