Is it time to Experiment?

(Source: http://thosedesigners.com/Cartoon%20Page.html)

Johns, Lee Clark. (1989). The file cabinet has a sex life: Insights of a professional writing consultant. Worlds of writing: Teaching and learning in discourse communities of work, 153-187.

Johns’ article focuses on what happens when the workplace fails to evolve its writing formats or even properly teach its workers, especially new comers, how to write documents. He puts the filing cabinet as the “hub” of company documents, resulting in old, non-progressive writings. Johns sees the filing cabinet as the culprit of badly formatted documentation that the company has solely depended on. Because of that, new comers in the workplace find themselves resorting to the cabinet in order to find direction for the specific company’s writing habits.

But there is a bigger problem than just these outdated files in the world of corporate writing. This problem happens when the “high-ups” in the business dictate company writings by what they like, versus what the audience likes or needs. When preferences inside the company become the focus of the writers, we forget the true audience that needs to receive and interpret this material.

Another issue Johns speaks about is what is learned in the classroom, as opposed to what is needed in the office realm and how that varies from one company to another. He gives the example of company Y and company X for a graduated who found themselves thriving at one company but drowning at another, despite his PhD. There is a lack of “educating” workers, especially new ones, on company expectations of good and effective writing.

It is important to fix these bad habits so that our external audiences are the focus and purpose of the documents created by the company. And it appears formatting and document examples on tap in the filing cabinet is convenient, convenience does not guarantee results. Companies need to seek ways to teach and encourage their staff to grow and evolve with effective document creation, throw out the preferences and focus on why these messages are important and who needs to understand them.

What is an effective approach to eliminating writing-style preferences within companies so that writing is more audience focused?