Writing for any audience can be daunting, but when the audience includes your bosses and the top management of your organization – the stakes are that much higher.
A well written business memo achieves multiple goals at once – it helps communicate decisions that have been made or are to be made, it helps explain complicated things simply, it tells people why certain things are happening in the organization and it helps serve as an archive of information on decisions made; among other things. A memo is also reflective of your communication skills, business acumen, company knowledge and awareness of the issue on which the memo is being created. Getting it right is more than just necessary – it is critical.
So here are some handy hints to keep you on top of memo writing in your workplace.
- Remember who you are writing for. Your memo will need to be tailor-made for its target audience. The level of detail is dependent on who you are sending it to.
- Every memo needs to have a number. This makes it easy to refer to in other correspondence and is convenient for filing as well.
- The must include elements of the header of a memo are: To, From, Date, Subject. These are followed by the Main Body and the signature (Signed) and CC fields.
- Subject Lines are important, so be sure to include one that is short and conveys the core message. Leave two line spaces after the subject line and before the main copy begins.
- Sign your memos to increase credibility. If it is a memo on behalf of a senior member of the organization, then request a digital signature which can be affixed at the bottom.
- Avoid jargon. Business memos need to be clear and easily understood. Avoid using big words or fancy jargon, the message will get lost and no one is really impressed by it.
- Keep it short. Reduce the length of the memo by replacing long winded sentences with crisp communication. Use short paragraphs and short sentences.
- Summarize the key point at the start of the memo and get into details in the later paragraphs.
- Use the active voice, this helps make the memo seem more emphatic and action oriented. It also makes the reader more interested and comes across as more spirited and lively.
- Use symbols like bullet points and %, # or $ to help highlight some sections of the text. For instance, saying ‘The committee will invest $50,000’ will catch the attention of the reader better than ‘The committee will invest fifty thousand dollars’. Use sub headings the same way if needed.
- Make sure you cover who, what, when, where and why. At the end of the memo, the reader must be able to understand who took the decision, who will be impacted, what it entails, when it will be effective from, where changes/follow-up will take place and why.
- Mention attachments if any. If there are enclosures with the memo, be sure to mention this at the end of the memo with an ‘Attached:’
- There is no need for any sign off such as ‘Yours truly’ or ‘Regards’. The ‘from’ field in the memo header serves that purpose and the signature field denotes the end of the memo.
- Proofread your memo before sending it out. Most business memos have a way of eventually finding their way to the top management and a badly composed or poorly edited memo will be as detrimental to their impressions of you as a bad presentation.
- Double check all names, dates and data. Any error on this front is likely to be spotted easily by others and can cause the greatest damage as well.
- Keep about an inch of margin space around the memo and print it out on white paper when you are done. Use the company letterhead for official memos if that is the norm in your organization.
- File a copy for yourself/your department/whoever you are sending the memo out on behalf of.
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