Crafting Business Writing Goals for Performance Reviews

Crafting Business Writing Goals for Performance Reviews To accurately measure employee business writing, itis critical to link the business goals of the employee's key documents to specific writing attributes. "Better report writing" or "more clear email" is too vague and impossible to measure. Instead, approach it more strategically: Define the goals of the documents your employees need to write. Assess the sub-skills required for these documents. Evaluate if these identified sub-skills actually support the overall document goals. What is the desired outcome for the employee's documents? First, identify the key documents the employee needs to write and then assess the requisite skills for each of these major documents. For example, if an employee needs to write spec documents for vendors, the end goal of these spec documents is likely receiving vendor RFPs that accurately respond with solutions that match your company's specs and needs. Or, if employees need to write reports on the status of critical company equipement, the end goal of these status reports is likely keeping your executive team informed about key equipment or perhaps requesting funding for needed repairs. So, the first task in crafting employee business writing goals is defining the real business purpose of each document. Don't move immediately to syntax and language, which is a very common mistake. Every business document requires five core requisite skills: Audience awareness Appropriate content Content logically categorized Content logically sequenced Syntax and grammar that is clear and correct and interesting Let's apply these requisite skills to the employee who needs to write spec documents: Sub-skill = audience awareness - Do the spec documents accurately address an identified reader (i.e. the employee understands when a vendor is unfamiliar, or familiar, or interested, or disinterested, or experienced, or less experienced). In essence, the employee is able to critically assess both the project and the vendor's current understanding. Sub-skill = appropriate content - Do the spec documents provide complete yet non-redundant information,based on vendor needs.For example, a vendor who has never worked with your company likely needs more background information than a vendor who has successfully completed a similar project before. This is the most important skill in business writing. Be sure you thoroughly assess the substance of your employees' documents. This substance - the information, details, and general content - enables a reader to know or do the task at hand, so it's critical. Any gaps or errors here, and it can echo into very costly problems later. Sub-skill = logical organization - Are the spec documents logically organized? Is the information logically grouped, and tiered? Can the vendor readily identify significant information and delineate what is essential from background information? Sub-skill = logical sequencing - Do the spec documents start at the best place, move logically through the information, and close clearly and logically? Sub-skill = language and syntax and format - Is the grammar correct in the spec documents? Is the language clear? Is the tone professional and well matched to your company and vendor? Is the document easy to skim and absorb for busy readers? This same process can be applied to customer service email, quarterly performance reports, business justification documents, or any key documents you or your employees write.The key is to identify the desired business outcome of key documents, and then break down the requisite skills into measurable components. Goals must be linked to document outcome, with the skills broken down, or there is no real way to measure the progress or identify the skill gaps. Without the skill gaps clearly identified, any training or feedback will be hit or miss. Most performance reviews for business writing focus primary on syntax - the language, grammar, and tone of the document. That is a mistake. It's essential to evaluate both substance and syntax. To do this, we have to first define purpose and then assess the requisite sub-skills. There is another significant benefit of linking the document goals to specific rhetorical measurements. It's very likely that some employees, particularly non-native business writers, are weak in syntax and grammar, yet have fantastic analytical skills. This approach strengthens that desirable analytical thinking and places focus on the areas where real skill gains can happen. WHERE WE CAN ASSIST We can analyze your employees' writing skills and write the performance goals for you. As you can see, this requires a thoughtful document purpose and writing analysis. All of our customized business writing training includes this assessment. Our executive business writing coaching program includes this, and coaches the employee until these identified skills are attained.

Passed vs Past

Passed vs Past Passed vs Past Passed vs Past By Ali Hale Sandi from Inspiration for Writers wrote to ask: â€Å"Can you do a segment on Past vs. Passedif you havent already? Too many get these words mixed up.† Very happy to oblige, Sandi! Past – relates to location The word past locates something in time, and sometimes in space. It can be used as an adjective, noun, or adverb. Past as an adjective The first definition which the OED gives for past as an adjective is â€Å"Gone by in time; elapsed; done with; over.† For example: â€Å"The days for mourning are now past.† When attributed to a group of people, past can also mean â€Å"Having served ones term of office; former.† (OED) All past presidents of the United States were male. And in grammar, we have more examples of past being used as an adjective, such as in â€Å"past tense† and â€Å"past participle†. Past as a noun The main meaning for the noun form of past, given by the OED, is â€Å"The time that has gone by; a time, or all of the time, before the present.† In the past, standards were higher. â€Å"We cannot live in the past.† Past as a preposition As a preposition, past can mean: â€Å"Beyond in time; after; beyond the age for or time of; (in stating the time of day) so many minutes, or a quarter or half of an hour, after a particular hour.† (OED) It is almost half past five. It can also be used for location: â€Å"Beyond in place; further on than; at or on the further side of; to a point beyond.† (OED) My house is the one just past the turning. Past as an adverb The first meaning the OED cites for past being used as an adverb is â€Å"So as to pass or go by; by.† For example: The ball sped past the goalkeeper. Passed – a verb in the past tense Passed is the past participle of the verb â€Å"to pass†. It can be an intransitive verb (one which doesn’t require an object) or a transitive verb (one which requires both a subject and one or more objects). â€Å"To pass† means â€Å"To proceed, move forward, depart; to cause to do this.† (OED) This can refer to movement forwards in time, in space, or in life (such as â€Å"to pass an examination†). For example: The weeks passed quickly. (Intransitive: subject â€Å"the weeks† and no object). I passed all my exams! (Transitive: subject â€Å"I† and object â€Å"my exams†.) He passed the ball well during the match earlier. (Transitive: subject â€Å"He† and object â€Å"the ball†.) When do â€Å"past† and â€Å"passed† get confused? Often, writers muddle the words past and passed in sentences such as: â€Å"The heroes passed a village on their way towards the mountains.† It’s common to see this written as: â€Å"The heroes past a village on their way towards the mountains.† But the word should be passed, as (in this sentence) it’s the past participle of the verb â€Å"to pass†. An easy way to tell is to rewrite the sentence in the present tense, as though you’re describing something which is happening currently: â€Å"The heroes pass a village on their way towards the mountains.† or â€Å"The heroes are passing a village on their way towards the mountains.† However, if you wrote: â€Å"The heroes walked past a village on their way towards the mountains.† It’s correct to use past. The verb in this sentence is â€Å"walked†, and the â€Å"past† is acting as an adverb. Unusual uses of the word â€Å"passed† Most of the time, passed is a verb, as described above. There are a few occasions when it can be used as a noun or an adjective, though. For example: â€Å"Don’t speak ill of the passed.† (noun) This comes from the phrase â€Å"passed-away†. â€Å"A passed pawn† (adjective) Term used in chess. â€Å"A passed ball† (adjective) Term used in baseball. â€Å"A passed midshipman/fireman/surgeon† (adjective) Someone who has passed a period of instruction and qualified through examination – apparently this usage arose in the navy. Have you come across any other unusual uses? Are there still any cases where you’re not sure whether to use passed or past? Share your examples with us in the comments below! Why Do People Confuse â€Å"Past† and â€Å"Passed†, Anyway? The words â€Å"past† and â€Å"passed† are homonyms (or homophones): they sound alike, but they’re two different words. This makes it easy to confuse them when writing – just like people often confuse the words â€Å"there†, â€Å"their† and â€Å"they’re†. It doesn’t help that â€Å"past† and â€Å"passed† have quite similar meanings, each referring to movement relating to a fixed point (in time, space, or even life). This means it’s a lot easier to muddle them up than it is with some other homonyms with very different meanings, like â€Å"blue† and â€Å"blew†. For a whole list of homonyms that commonly get confused, check out 25 Confused Homonym Pairs. Quick Rules of Thumb When Dealing With â€Å"Past† and â€Å"Passed† If you’re still struggling with â€Å"past† and â€Å"passed†, remember, â€Å"past† can’t be used as a verb. If you find it hard to identify a verb, try replacing â€Å"passed† with the words â€Å"went by†, and see if your sentence works: The heroes passed a village on their way towards the mountains. The heroes went by a village on their way towards the mountains. Time passed slowly that afternoon. Time went by slowly that afternoon. (This won’t work in every case – e.g. â€Å"He passed his exams† won’t sound right as â€Å"He went by his exams† – but it’ll help you a lot of the time.) Alternatively, as mentioned above, you can rewrite the sentence in the present tense, as though it’s happening right now. Right/Wrong Examples of the Use of Past and Passed Sometimes, it’s helpful to take a look at some examples so you can double-check if you’re using â€Å"past† and â€Å"passed† the right way: Right: He ran straight past the bus stop. (â€Å"Past† is acting as a preposition here and could be replaced with the word â€Å"by†) Wrong: He ran straight passed the bus stop. (â€Å"Passed† can’t be a preposition.) Right: He passed the bus stop on his run. (â€Å"Passed† is a past-tense verb here and could be replaced with â€Å"went by†.) Wrong: He past the bus stop on his run. (â€Å"Past† can’t be a verb.) Right: She passed the time by reading a novel. (Here, â€Å"passed† is a transitive verb and â€Å"time† is the direct object.) Wrong: She past the time by reading a novel. (â€Å"Past† can’t be a verb.) Right: It is past the time you should be home. (â€Å"Past† is a preposition here. You could replace it with â€Å"after† or â€Å"beyond†.) Wrong: It is passed the time you should be home. (â€Å"Passed† can’t be a preposition.) Hopefully this helps clear up any â€Å"past† vs â€Å"passed† confusion for you. Past vs Passed Quiz For each sentence, select whether past or passed is correct. 1. The time [past/passed] slowly that afternoon. passed past 2. If I had a time machine, Id rather travel to the future than the [past/passed]. passed past 3. The bus will arrive at half [past/passed] six. passed past 4. My friend [past/passed] all her exams. past passed Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! 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