Julie Petersen gives the community her best tips for improving writing skills for leaders.
If you try to follow any guide that would turn you into a better leader, you will probably come across this step: improve your writing skills. Have you ever wondered why this part is so important for your professional success? A leader has to be charismatic and authoritative, but she also needs to know how to express those characteristics through every email message and document she writes.
Let’s get deeper into this skill that should be a part of every leader’s qualifications: how can you improve your ability to convey a message through a written text? The following 10 tools will help.
Title-generating tools
Portent’s Content Idea Generator
This tool will help you think of a captivating title for your articles, email messages, and all other texts you write. The title can be a really problematic aspect of the entire writing process: if you don’t get it right, you won’t intrigue your audience. This title generator will provide you with many options according to the keywords you enter. Some of them will certainly inspire your creativity.
HubSpot’s Blog Topic Generator
Although this tool is mainly intended for bloggers, it is suitable for anyone who cannot think of a proper title for his project. The automated tool requires you to enter three nouns that are related to the thing you want to write about. As a result, you’ll get a week’s worth of relevant blog posts that will inspire you to start writing.
When you become aware of the trending topics in the blogosphere, you will identify the interests of your audience, so you can address them in an engaging manner.
Editing tools
Even a single spelling or grammar issue in an email message can ruin your authority. If grammar is not your strong side, then a professional editor will help you make your texts perfect. This is especially important when you’re about to present a business report or give a presentation. At the following website, you can collaborate with real editors who will improve your writing, but will preserve your voice and individuality.
In addition to editing assistance, the company also offers proofreading and formatting services. You can get your content formatted and referenced according to any citation style.
Although no software can replace a real editor, certain apps can help you improve the quality of your writing. Hemingway Editor is one of them. This online tool will warn you about the sentences that need shortening and editing. When you see a yellow or red highlight, try simplifying the sentence structure. Hemingway was known for his concise style that enabled his readers to understand the point right away. This automated editor will help you achieve that effect.
As a leader, you cannot allow yourself to present confusing content that no one would understand. You need to choose your words carefully. The Readability Test Tool will assess the readability of your text according to several formulas. Depending on the score you get, you’ll understand whether or not you need to spend more time in editing.
Autocorrect features, which are available with all word processors, have affected our ability to spell properly. You might not be aware of some of the mistakes that remained uncorrected, simply because you expected the software to take care of them. Unfortunately, Word cannot make your text completely free of mistakes.
SpellCheckPlus is a sophisticated tool that will make you aware of misspelled words that remained unnoticed during the initial stages of the composition. Yes, it’s an automated tool, but it’s more effective than the ones built in standard word processors.
Visual content creation tools
A true leader has to know his way around design. At one point or another, you will be expected to create an awesome presentation that would capture the attention of an important client. Canva is a tool you can use in such situation. It enables you to create flyers, presentations, business cards, posters, invitations, and other types of content without the need to go through an entire course for design.
Thanks to this tool, you can easily turn your ideas into captivating designs.
If you are looking for a way to present your vision in the most approachable way, infographics are a great choice. Infogra.me is a service that enables you to share your creations with an international community. Thus, you have a chance to use this communication tool to present your message in front of a greater audience.
You can use Infogra.me to find content related to your interests, but you can also post your own infographics.
Research tools
Social media influences the way people think and act. When you understand the trends on these sites, you will be able to use them to your advantage. Topsy is a great tool that enables you to search and analyze the social web. You can set engine to search for links, tweets, videos, influencers, photos, or everything. The results will help you boost your leadership strategies.
You want to write like a leader? The best way to achieve progress on that goal is to learn from other leaders. BuzzSumo enables you to find content written by web influencers, whose voice is being heard all over the world. Analyse the way they address the audience. With reading and tons of practice, you will be able to improve your own writing skills as well.
Julie Petersen is a tutor and a blogger, who features the latest career and educational trends in her articles. At present time she is working on her first ebook dedicated to online learning. You may see Julie’s latest publications and contact her via Linkedin
