Training Clients for Results
By Kelli Calabrese
I'm working on the last article in a series on fitness management. This piece is about brushing up on your writing skills. It will cover: why it's important to have strong writing skills as a manager, in what applications writing skills are used, common writing/grammatical errors, and tips for writing things like policies and procedures, press releases, ads, and memos. I'm looking for experts who are well-versed in this area. No phone calls, please. I'm a freelancer.
There is no quicker way to lose respect from your team than to write a letter, e-mail or marketing piece with spelling and punctuation errors and poor grammar. With the convenience of e-mail as a tool for communicating to your associates, it’s more important than ever to ensure you understand where and when to punctuate, use capitol letters and have an acceptable command for the English language.
When managers write, they want to capture their associates, get their points across and leave them with a clear understanding of the purpose of the e-mail or letter. Thankfully computer programs such as word help to identify spelling, punctuation and grammar mistakes and make suggestions. Managers can rely on the thesaurus and dictionary. When in doubt, they should consider having an editor or assistant on retainer to review any written material prior to it being circulated. It’s always a good practice to have another set of capable eyes review written material prior to it being finalized.
As a manger if you find yourself writing about a particular topic that is pertinent to the operations of the club, save it for including into training manuals. If something is worth taking the time to write about, it likely should be incorporated in writing into the clubs operations.
Since today’s trainers and consumers are more savvy than ever, it’s worth brushing up on your writing skills to avoid confusion, to provide clear direction, to position yourself as a competent leader, to avoid embarrassment, save time and enhance your operations.