138 Improve your Communication Skills
Try to keep the stages separate. If you can take breaks between
them, so much the better. It can also be useful to ask a colleague
for help at each stage.
In
this chapter, we look at these three stages and explore the
key issues in each. Many of the techniques will already be
familiar to you. The idea
of delivering a single message, SPQR
(situation–problem–question–response) and using a pyramid
structure for organising information,
all have a place in writing
well.
Designing the document
We can break planning a document into five stages:
• goal orientation;
• readership analysis;
• creating a message;
• organising information;
• constructing an outline.
Goal orientation
Start by identifying the purpose of your document. Distinguish
between the document’s purpose and its subject. Whatever
you
are writing about, you must be clear what you want to
achieve.
Make your purpose as specific as possible. Take care not to
create a purpose that is inappropriate. For example,
documents
cannot analyse or evaluate. These are thinking processes. The
document will display the product of your thinking. It can’t do
the thinking!
( c) 2011 Kogan Page L imited, All Rights Reserved.
139 Putting it in Writing
What do you want the reader to do
as a result of reading the
document? Functional documents demand action and deliver
information to help achieve it. Identify the action you want the
reader to take and you will be better
placed to provide the
information that will help them take it.
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