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Scrubbing up on English skills

Carly

Hi 

I currently work in HR and have done for about 8 months now, two months ago I started my CIPD level 3, all is going well (passed the first unit today!) 

I just had a 121 with my line manager, who has told me my communication could be a show stopper in my career and is what could stop me to making it as an HR manager, which has left me rather disheartened. To me, my grammar and written English has been a little over average, clearly to my employer it is not. He would like me to explore how I 'write' better and produce documents. 

Does anyone have any advice or know of a good book I can read to better my skills? 

Many thanks 

Carly 

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  • I am no expert (and frequent readers will have noticed more than one or two grammatical and typing errors in my posts) but I would suspect its one of two things

    (1) Your manager/organisation is one of those very small number now that are obsessive about grammar, syntax etc and for whom a split infinitive is almost a cardinal sin. If that's the case then take heart that most organisations aren't and it won't hold you back in other organisations (and my personal view is that to the horror of many/some the world where this is important is rapidly receding). This isn't excusing elementary spelling mistakes - but your post shows no sign of that.

    (2) It's about how you present arguments and the narrative in documents. Its a personally view but I find many HR people actually very poor at being able to structure a concise, compelling document that draws the reader into it, takes them quickly through the key points and leaves them with the conclusion and next steps. This is a skill you can practice and get better at. Crack it and you will go far, don't and you can still go far just not as quickly :-) 

    I would always focus on (2) over (1)

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