Write to build conclusions in the reader's mind

Conclusions in business writing

Much business writing communicates conclusions and the facts upon which the conclusions are based. A department manager recommends purchasing database software and explains why. An account rep concludes that the company needs an Internet site and explains why. A manager sends an e‑mail to the MIS manager explaining that her department is having trouble using the new software and supports that with examples. An auditor makes a judgment about a report and provides the rationale for the judgment.

Identify the conclusions in your writing. Then examine the explanations and rationales to be sure they are adequate to help the reader understand your conclusions. If they are not adequate, your conclusions may not be received well regardless of how good they are.

If you are an auditor or are in another such position providing evaluations of products or performance, you must communicate the rationales for your judgments clearly. If you do not communicate them clearly and the evaluation is negative, the reader will not understand the conclusions, may regard them as opinion or prejudice, and may not be able to make the changes the conclusions suggest to correct the problems. If the evaluation is positive, the reader will not be rewarded for the good work and will not know what he or she should keep doing to remain successful.

Most business writing is intended to influence people. They will not be influenced as well if they do not understand the rationales for your conclusions.

State a conclusion and explain it or build to the conclusion and then state it.

The clearest organization presents the conclusion first, then the explanation or rationale. If you state the conclusion in the beginning, you may follow with the statement of contents: "We have determined that the new site will not provide the resources we need. This report explains why we arrived at that conclusion."

If you believe the reader may not accept the conclusion easily, provide the explanation or rationale first, ending with the conclusion.

You may also build to the conclusion in a long introduction, state it, and then expand on it in the body. However, that organization can be confusing for readers because it is necessarily redundant.

All the sentences must build to the conclusion.

All the sentences must either explain the conclusion you stated at the beginning or build to the conclusion you state at the end. To make sure your report builds to the conclusion, begin by identifying the conclusion. It may be at the beginning or end. Then examine the blocks in your writing. Be sure the first block builds toward the conclusion before you go on to the second block. Be sure the second block continues the case and builds adequately before going on to the third block. Continue that progression.

In this example, the writer has not prepared the reader for the conclusion that comes at the end of the text. The writer has been asked to review a book to see whether employees in the company should be asked to read it. The report is a review of Chaleff's The Courageous Follower. We would expect that the writer would provide a compelling, rational explanation to support the stated conclusion.

The conclusion, stated in the last paragraph, is "Chaleff creates this book to enable courageous followers to deal with the challenges they come across and meet them head on." That seems to be her rationale for recommending that employees read the book. As a reader, decide whether you can see the text building to that conclusion so you can agree with her.

The book, The Courageous Follower: Standing up to and for Our Leaders, by Ira Chaleff, explores the dynamics of the leader-follower relationship and presents a model of how courageous followers can improve the relationship, benefiting themselves, their leaders, and the organization. The term "courageous follower" can best be described as an individual who shares a common purpose with his or her leader, believes in the overall goals of their organization, and wants both the leader and the organization to achieve.

Ira Chaleff goes on to say that to attain empowerment, the follower must accept responsibility for both himself or herself and the leader. To do so, the courageous follower must understand three things: (1) the follower’s power and how to use it, (2) the seductiveness and pitfalls of leadership, and (3) the value of leaders and the critical contributions they make to a follower’s endeavors.

The author insists that the challenges that face a follower are great. I recommend that our employees read the book because Chaleff creates this book to enable courageous followers to deal with the challenges they come across and meet them head on.

The reader should understand your rationale and have enough information to agree with it.

The readers may not agree with your conclusion, but they should have enough information to potentially come to the same conclusion you did. If you leave out important information or don't develop the explanation in stages, the reader may not agree with the conclusion, but not for good reasons; it may be that they just don't have the information you did or haven't understood it as you understand it.

Include enough for readers to understand your rationales and agree with the conclusion.

 

 

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