“Stop -> Think -> Act -> Review” (STAR) is a best practice, borrowed from other industries, which some hospitals use to transform organizational culture to promote safety. It applies equally well to writing.
Excellent communications are essential to organizational success. Why, then, are so many executives and managers such poor writers? It may be our fast-paced world of email, texting and tweeting that places a premium on quick responses with abbreviations, incomplete sentences and lack of attention to detail. Perhaps we aren’t educating our young people to write well.
The secret to writing well is thinking. Critical thinking and organizing your thoughts before hitting the keyboard is the first step. After your message is composed, rereading and editing it (sometimes more than once) for accuracy and conciseness is the next. The STAR practice for writing would be: Stop -> Think -> Act (Write) -> Review (and Edit). Only when satisfied, press “Send”.
Likewise, when responding. Read the received message deliberately, think about your substantive and emotional reactions, formulate your response, read and edit it, then send. If your time is limited or your emotions are still at play, wait. You don’t want to say something that doesn’t represent your best thinking or your will later regret.
Writing well is important: poor communications create misunderstandings, ambiguities, inefficiencies and hurt feelings. A clear message avoids follow up questions. An unintentional misstatement or unqualified assumption can result in a wrong follow-up action. A poor choice of words can damage a reputation.
Reading and life-long learning are key indicators of writing competence. Asking prospective new hires (and existing staff) about what and how often they read and whether and how they self-educate should tell you something about their writing quality. If they read works by superb writers and are self-motivated learners, chances are they already write well or will be open to instruction.
Unfortunately, many leaders don’t recognize the importance of writing well to organizational success and tolerate poor writing despite the dislocation it causes. Writing well should be an organizational competency with as much priority as others. It should be embedded in personnel recruitment and employee training. The benefit will be executives and managers who think critically.
May 2016