4. Proofreading Carelessly
This includes spell-check typos and over-relying on spell-check. As mentioned in a recent post on Embarrassing Writing Mistakes, your spell-check program will let you type potty talk instead of assets or assess. It will helpfully fill in pubic when you meant to write public. It will let you write, as someone in my business writing training once did, Invoices are singed by the controller. There is almost no limit to the embarrassment that can come from trusting the spell-check software to do the job that your brain should do.
At the same time, spell-check can save you from glaring spelling errors. So use it – but check the text yourself after you’re done. Don’t accept too quickly when the spelling program suggests an alternative. Stop and ask yourself if the word is right.
One respondent pointed out the hazards of the auto-fill function in iphones and emails. He wrote, “The speller ‘corrects’ to words you didn’t mean and then the whole sentence sounds stupid.”
SOLUTION: Re-read every email before you send It – no matter how short it is, no matter how pressed for time you are. Go back to it and s-l-o-w-l-y read it through. Make sure that what you wrote is what you meant.
Watch for extra words and missing words – especially words like no and not, which radically alter the meaning of your message.
5. Writing Too Casually
Everyone is not your pal. Senior managers, partners, clients and others in authority do not take well to being greeted with “Hey!” or treated to textisms such as “r u there?”
One woman wrote,
“The funniest mistake I’ve made is because the ‘i’ and ‘u’ are next to each other on the keyboard. I told a friend everything ‘she’ (by typing ‘u’ instead of ‘i’) was doing for a party instead of what ‘i’ was doing … luckily it was a good friend who responded, ‘ok i can do all that…’ We quickly realized I wasn’t quite so bossy as to tell her all that she should do, but was referring to what ‘i’ was doing.”
SOLUTION: Do not use IM or texting shortcuts in business emails. Address people in authority by their names – even calling them “Mr. Ms, Doctor, Professor, or whatever their title is.
Never start an email with “Hey”. Use a formal greeting or the person’s name. If you are writing to a group, address the members as “Dear Marketing Team” or “Good morning, everyone”. Be specific.