Guidelines on how to send written messaged to external stakeholders

Communication Skill

Communicating to External Stakeholders

See also Guidelines on Effective Writing

Writing is one of the primary methods organization executives use to communicate with external stakeholders such as beneficiaries or large numbers of individual investors. 

As you are aware, there are several issues one faces when communicating in writing, such as appealing to your reader, convincing your reader, organizing ideas and using appropriate formats for constructing written documents.  In what follows, each of these issues is addressed to assist you in further refining your written communication skills.

 Appealing to Your Reader

Writing requires a focus on the reader’s needs and communicating concerns to the reader.  Focusing on the reader as you write is crucial for creating effective messages. As Locker notes, you should “look at things from the reader’s point of view, emphasize what the reader wants to know, respect the reader’s intelligence and protect the reader’s ego.”    

Use the following techniques to appeal to your reader:

• Communicate to readers in terms they can understand.
• Refer to the reader’s request, need or concern specifically.
• Don’t talk about your own feelings unless you are sure that the reader wants to know how you feel.
• Don’t tell readers how they feel or will react.
• Avoid assigning blame.  (Do not be judgmental  ,)

Convincing the Reader

In addition to appealing to your reader, you must also convince your reader, particularly when you are attempting to persuade her/him.  As discussed in the prior section on persuasion, when you attempt to persuade an audience, you are asking them to take a risk by moving from what they know—even if what they know is ineffective—to the unknown.  Because many people are uncomfortable with the ambiguity of what they do not know, they would prefer to uphold the status quo.  So, your job as a writer for external audiences, is to persuade them to accept an unknown reality.

 In sum, Locker offers four steps you can take to help convince your reader:

• Give evidence and specific supporting details.  Back up your statements with facts, evidence, and other support. (Use Compelling Evidence)

• Connect the parts of your argument.  Lead people through ideas.(Effective Presentations)

• Respond to possible objections.  Know your audience well enough that you can anticipate objections and address them in your document. (Analyzing your Audience)

• Limit your claims to make them more persuasive.  Again, people will be more willing to take small steps rather than giant leaps!  (Keep it simple)

2. Involving Your Audience

In addition to appealing to your readers, you must also involve your audience in the message.  Locker offers four concrete steps you can take to involve external stakeholders in your message:

Help people see and own the problem.