Three Must-Have Writing Skills for International Business Professionals

You work across international borders. Every day, you write emails or articles in English. You desire to make a global difference, to have international impact and influence. The problem is you are uncertain how to express yourself professionally and eloquently. You are concerned that your writing is unclear or wordy. You know there are grammar errors, but you are unsure how to fix them. At times, it feels like you are climbing a mountain.

Around you, you see your colleagues speaking and writing in English. It feels like they are more proficient than you. You ask yourself, “How will I be visible in this company? How will I get that promotion?"

You might think it is because:

• You have not spent enough time in an English-speaking country.
• You have not found the right resources to help you improve your English.
• You do not have time to practise writing exercises.

The truth is you need to upskill your writing so you write clear and engaging copy in every situation.

Often English Second Language (ESL) learners are taught English in terms of vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar etc. They are rarely taught the same writing skills as native English speakers. They are expected to know them. But often, they do not. Instead of learning more grammar and more vocabulary, ESL learners who want to advance their writing, need to upskill, like an Olympic swimmer.

Let me use an analogy to help you understand.

You are a talented swimmer and you want to swim in the Olympics. Will you be able to go directly from swimming in the local club to swimming in the international competition?
No!
Why?
Because you don’t have the skillsets to be an Olympic competitor.

You need a vision and a systematic approach.

Before starting a plan of action be clear about your vision: what do you want to achieve and why do you want to achieve it? Being an Olympic athlete means hard work, endurance, perseverance and a lot of training. You need a vision to lead you. Then you can systematically upskill.
For example, first, you target skills for your sport, but you also cross train so you can build flexibility, strength and endurance.
Second, you build competition skills, locally, regionally and then internationally. The Olympics cannot be your first competition.
Third, you build mindset skills, that enable you to compete at the highest level internationally.
Training and acquiring skills can be painful. You will need to practice, practice and practice, you will need a training schedule that is hard but smart.

Grasp a vision of writing clear English

Similarly, to improve your English so you can write clearly and eloquently, you need to grasp a vision and upskill in three areas.
Without a vision of the end result, it’s hard to move forward. The daily grind of learning is too painful. But with a vision, you see where every day tasks take you; you visualise the new job, the accolades from family, the global influence. The vision gives you the grit and determination to continue when you want to give up. Once you have the vision, move forward systematically to build foundational writing skills.

First, Build Storytelling Skills
People relate and connect to stories on more levels than to a presentation of facts. When you inject stories into your writing you engage and captivate your audience. Storytelling skills are also the foundation for engaging and effective writing and are the cornerstone building blocks for learning to write presentations, opinions, reports and resumes.
You can achieve this by learning the story arc, the elements of story and how to immerse your reader in the world of your story.

Second, Build Summarising Skills
When you have summarising skills, you capture the essence of a meeting in a few lines in an email; write the executive summary for a report; summarise issues in introductions and conclusions of proposals; communicate effectively via PowerPoint slides, and many more. When you can understand the main point of an argument, a report or a story, you will be able to convey a clear message to your reader.
You can achieve summarising skills by reviewing other people's summaries and capturing the main theme, characters, conflict, and solution in a few sentences.

Third, Build Sequencing Skills
Sequencing skills help you to put your thoughts into logical, chronological or thematic order. So you can structure your writing into beginning, middle and end. Sequencing skills include sentence structure and unique collocations, idioms and phrasal verbs that go together. It also includes writing structures, for example: emails, PowerPoints, reports, resumes or social media posts.

You can achieve sequencing skills by looking at mentor texts which model the structures, and practice, practice and practice.

I work with my clients following this exact approach. I help them visualise their future, and build their skill sets with consistent practice.

Before working with me, they felt stuck, and did not know how to move their English skills forward. Now they write more confidently and apply the skills they learnt so they can communicate their thoughts effectively and achieve their goals.

Do you need more confidence to write in English and excel in your career? Do you desire to have global influence? Do you want to write articles that engage your readers?

Follow these tips to develop your confidence.