By Richard White – Master Trainer: Think on Your Feet®, Writing Dynamics™ and Grammar on the Rocks™.
We’ve all been writing for most of our lives and have developed our own style and method. Most of us probably haven’t questioned how we write since leaving school or college – we just do it! So, let’s take a look at how we can get our message across more effectively and write more efficiently.
Break it down
First, we’ll break the writing process down to its three main elements: planning – collecting and organising content, drafting – writing and thinking about language, and editing – reviewing our writing for content, sense and clarity.
At Indigo our research shows that, on average, people spend fifteen percent of their writing time on planning, seventy percent on drafting and another fifteen percent on editing. Further research reveals that at the drafting stage they often think about content and structure as well as making edits like spelling and grammar correction when their sole focus should be language. This high-level multi-tasking can quickly lead to overload, i.e. those occasions when we find ourselves sitting staring blankly at the screen.
Focus
We think more effectively by focusing on one task at a time so it’s better to plan a document before writing it, only drafting it when we are sure that all the content is there and in the right order. Then we can focus our attention on finding the right words to get our message across, before moving into the editing phase.
Changing the way your people write
The Writing Dynamics™ workshop shows you how to plan a document so that, at the drafting stage, your brain is free to fully focus on using the best language. Drafting can be amazingly fast when you’re working from a good plan. Similarly, editing should be left until the draft is done. Writing Dynamics™ shows a fast, efficient way to edit so that your message comes through loud and clear.
Writing Dynamics™ is a simple, straightforward, practical process designed to help you write efficiently and get your message across by planning thoroughly, drafting effectively and editing for clarity and understanding. Find out more at www.indigobusiness.co.uk/wdyn
More about Richard White
Richard White is a certified master trainer in Writing Dynamics™, Think on Your Feet®, The Skilled Presenter™ and Grammar on the Rocks™. He is also accredited to deliver Dr Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats®, Lateral Thinking™ and Power of Perception™.
He brings a wide range of practical business experience to his training. He has worked in a corporate environment as an engineer, before spending 15 years managing customer service, marketing and sales departments. He subsequently held a senior position on people development programmes in BT. His corporate career gave him both first-hand knowledge of day-to-day management issues and the opportunity to play a leading part in many cutting-edge projects.
