Are you a tone deaf or tone savvy writer? How do you know? How do you craft documents to control tone?
By understanding how negotiating styles influence tone, technical communicators—and other professionals––can control the effect their communication has within an enterprise and on individuals. What we say and how we say it cause people to act or react and to perceive us in a certain way that, rightly or wrongly, defines who we are in that organization or to them individually. This definition can work for or against us. By not realizing that a “natural” or “default” negotiating style affects our message, others’ perceptions, and their resulting action, we lose control over what we are writing and are no longer crafting but drafting; our technical competence becomes hostage to inattention.
In this STC-ETC program, we will
• Identify our “current” or “default” negotiating style
• See how different negotiating styles influence content, structure, and tone in professional writing, using short email examples
• Observe how readers respond to email with “tone”
• Learn a strategy for adopting the most appropriate negotiating style to create professional, constructive, and actionable writing that strengthens relationships and supports an organization’s strategies and initiatives
 

Thank you,