Table Of Content

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 2 3 4 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 5 To my parents, Ed and Louise Gaertner, who live on in my heart 6 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 7 Complimentary Closes (Sign-Offs) for Letters, Notes, Emails, and Texts Acknowledgments About the Author 8 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 9 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. 10