Improve Your Writing

Annual reports come in many shapes and sizes, from formal reports with dozens of pages to friendly updates designed with brochure-like brevity. Of course, it’s best if you communicate more than once a year, but by publishing an annual report, you can be sure to share the highlights of your accomplishments with stakeholders and potential clients at least once a year.

What should an annual report include? Generally, it’s best to remind folks of your mission and vision, and the goals you set out to accomplish; then demonstrate how you stayed true to those ideals and goals. If you experienced surprises, either good or bad, it might be worth mentioning how they affected your decision-making and outcomes. In essence, the annual report should make people feel like they can depend on your organization to achieve what it sets out to achieve

While your report may need to include less-than-riveting details for legal or regulatory reasons, I highly recommend starting with a succinct executive summary. This will serve as a road map and provide an overview, setting expectations and allowing people to get the gist of your report without reading every detail.

If you want anyone to read past the executive summary, use a visually appealing layout with plenty of whitespace (the space around text and graphic elements). This will draw people in and make the report easy to read. It is far better to have ten pages of uncrowded text that doesn’t require reading glasses than it is to stay within some self-imposed page limit. If you have a strict page limit, then you have a strict text limit, too. Use headers to signal main points, and keep the content to a handful of well-considered messages. If you’re trying to make complex data easy to understand, consider using infographics.

Regardless of the type of content you’re sharing, providing appropriate background material allows your readers to understand your report and put it in context. Avoid acronyms, industry-specific nomenclature and references that your audience might not understand. It canbe difficult for those immersed in their work to recognize jargon that would confuse the public. Consider having an outside editor review your report before publishing. Better yet, hire a professional writer who knows how to convey ideas in a clear, compelling way right from the start.

Regardless of the type of content you’re sharing, providing appropriate background material allows your readers to understand your report and put it in context.

When I write this type of content for my clients, I often ask whether they can think of a memorable story to illustrate each main message. Stories are often far more effective than providing a play by play of how you adhered to a plan and stayed within budget.

Think about what you might find interesting in someone else’s annual report–write your report that way. If at all possible, highlight the stories of individuals who benefit from your work, rather than simply describing the work. If that’s not practical, tell the story of your work through the employees who made it happen. In the end, people care about people.

Spelling, grammar, and other writing mistakes tell your audience you either don’t know or don’t care whether you’ve gotten things right. These are not good messages.

In today’s busy world, many of us feel like we need to proofread our work right after we write it (if we proofread at all). This is a tall order for our brains, because our brains remember what we meant to write and will often breeze over mistakes, filling them in with the intended word or punctuation mark.

Whether you’re writing a quick email or a major proposal, mistakes can be costly. Here are some tips to help your brain see what you actually wrote.

1. Read each word out loud slowly. If you have colleagues within earshot and your information isn’t for public consumption, this approach is problematic. However, if you have enough privacy (or don’t need it), this is a great way to proofread. Carefully look at each word before saying it — each word should take about a half-second to look at and then pronounce. The first few times you do this, you’ll notice your eyes darting ahead. Force them back to the word you’re reviewing.
2. Take a small break and do something else before proofreading. The more time you can put between the time you write and the time you proofread the better. While your subject matter may remain familiar, the precise way you intended to tell your story will begin to fade. This makes proofreading easier because you actually have to READ the material to know what it says.
3. Read your work backwards. I know it sounds weird, but reading backwards works really well to spot misspelled words, repeated words, and formatting mistakes. Because the narrative doesn’t flow, your brain doesn’t get swept up in the story, and instead stays focused on each individual word.
4. Find a proofing buddy. While this may not be practical for every email you write, it’s great to find a colleague who’s willing to review your work before you send it to key audiences, like your boss or prospective clients. You can do them the same favor.
5. Never send anything without reading it through at least once, twice is better. If you are in a hurry, at least read over your work once before sending it. Look for common mistakes you know you make (for example, I often write “your” instead of “you”).

If you’d like to improve your writing, let me know. It’s amazing how much progress people make when they dedicate a little time to it.

In 2016, my favorite high school teacher, Nick Ferentinos, lost his battle with lung cancer. Nick was a teacher who selected the best and brightest students to participate in his journalism program. We thought we knew how to write until our first paper came back with more red ink than we’d ever seen on a page.

Though I hadn’t seen Nick in 25 years, I’d heard him in my head regularly, whenever I started to break one of his many rules. In journalism class, he’d tell us, “You can only break the rules once you know them.” Each day, he implored, cajoled, and castigated us until we internalized the knowledge he held so dear. Whether the lessons were about small points of grammar or large philosophical discussions, Nick delivered them with unrelenting passion. Here are a few pearls of wisdom I carry with me.

1. If you feel compelled to use the word “very,” choose a better adjective. Instead of “very hungry,” use famished, ravenous, or starving. Instead of “very tired;” say exhausted, wasted, spent, or bone-weary.
2. There’s never a good reason to use “in order to.” Just say “to”–the rest is superfluous.
3. Express yourself with powerful verbs; and the corollary: “There is” is a horribly weak subject/verb combination.
4. You have more than a number, not over a number. Can you climb over the number 100? No. But you can have more than 100.
5. You can almost always cut a little more and your writing will be a little better. Distill your story to its essence.
6. Pay attention to spelling, especially names.
7. Talk to everyone who has a piece of the story. Reserve judgment. Keep digging.
8. Tell the real story; this is not always the obvious one.

Thank you, Nick, for teaching me to write and to dig for the truth no matter how deeply its buried. With your teachings firmly embedded, I just published my first book, Perseverance and Passion: The People Who Shaped Health Care in Ukiah, California (available at Mendocino Book Company and the Ukiah Valley Medical Center gift shop). I will always be grateful for your brutal honesty and your loving compassion.