Communication is a vital part of leadership. After all, how can you lead a group of people if you can't explain where you're headed? We admire charismatic leaders who can stir a crowd with an impassioned speech. But in today's world we're just as likely to communicate important messages in writing via reports, proposals, white papers, memos, emails, or slide presentations. Good writing is a crucial skill for leaders. But what makes writing good? Simply put, good writing is clear, direct, and easy to understand.

Some writers choose complicated language on purpose, believing it makes them sound smarter. Some use complex sentences and mile-long words to hide the fact that they really don't have much to say.

But today's readers are in a hurry. They don't have time to decipher jargon and tease out meaning buried in convoluted sentences and overstuffed phrases. So, if you want people to understand (and even act on) your ideas, don't hide them from your readers. 

Use these tips to quickly improve your writing:

• Don't use a twenty-dollar word if a ten-cent word will do.  Instead of utilize, say use. Don't use requisite as a fancy stand-in for required.
  
  
• Don't use a longer phrase to try to sound smarter. For example, in light of the fact that can be replaced by because or since. Don't use equates to if you mean equals.
  
  
• Avoid empty words.  Filler words such as actually, virtually, generally, and basically add little, if any, meaning and can almost always be eliminated.
  
  
• Avoid constructions that include there; reword them to state your meaning more directly. 

• Don't replace a simple verb with a noun combined with a general-purpose verb (such as provide, serve, form, or render). Say analyze instead of provide an analysis of; instead of serve to emphasize, just say emphasize.
  
  
• Watch out for verbs or adjectives turned into nouns, often signaled by words ending in -tion,
  -ment, or -ence. Instead of engage in the implementation of, say implement. 

• Don't ruin perfectly good active verbs by linking them with vague "be" verbs. Instead of saying the results of our study are indicative of, say our results indicate.

• Delete redundant words.

Once you train yourself to notice overblown phrases and confusing sentences and replace them with concise, straightforward language, your audience is more likely to understand what you tell them and respond by acting on what they've read. And isn't that the purpose of written communication?

Article contributed by Kim Jaynes, CDM Smith 

Do all meetings need to last an hour?  Is it possible to reduce the length of most meetings by 17 minutes?  Does this sound appealing but improbable?  

According to Mark Murphy from Leadership IQ, it is very possible.  Often times we are incredibly efficient at facilitating a meeting.  Over the years and through training we have learned to put together

agendas, schedule the meeting space, make all the right calls to all the right people, and we are brutally efficient in all of this.  However, many times our meetings are not what they could be.  Why is this?  Mark Murphy explains that a meeting behaves just like Bernoulli's principal; hence, meetings are like gas that will expand to fill whatever space we give them.  Maybe our focus on efficiency and process has lost the point or more specifically "a point".  For example, Murphy cites a survey of meeting participants performed, where they were asked if the meeting they just attended had accomplished its original objective.  Surprisingly, the survey found most did not answer "yes" or "no" but "I have no idea."  This leads us to believe the trite saying "pointless meeting" is in fact truer than we often realize.

A meeting should have a point.  In fact, meetings should be more effective than brutally efficient.  So how do we accomplish this in a tangible way?  Certainly, none of us start a meeting with the notion of being ineffective.  Murphy states in his article every meeting should begin with a Statement of Achievement and not a slot of allotted time.  A Statement of Achievement is simply one sentence that says "As a result of this meeting, we will have achieved [insert objective/point here]."  If you can't identify a very specific achievement that defines the meeting, then there is more work to be done and a meeting should not be held.  The Statement of Achievement should be at the top of everyone's agenda or posted in a way where all meeting attendees are aware of it.  The meeting is officially over when the Statement of Achievement is met.   

Murphy states in his article that leaders who implement this simple technique save an average of 17 minutes from every meeting; hence "Meeting Tip 17 (Minutes)".

Q.  When did you first participate as student in a SDITE Leadership Class?

A.  I participated in the Class for the first time in the fall of this year.  

Q.  What subjects had the most impact on you at that time?

A.  I would say the "Building Relationships with Peers" module had the most impact. It is our peers we spend the most time with and effective communication with our peers is critical to our success as professionals.

Q.  What modules could you see yourself teaching and why? 

A.  I would be interested in both the "Building Relationships with Peers" and "Mentoring Employees". I think it is important to have strong relationships with your peers, both in and out of your own company. I also believe in developing the next generation through both informal and formal mentor programs.    

 Q.  In what areas have you most improved as a leader in recent years? 

A.  I believe I am a better communicator and meeting facilitator. With more confidence and practice, I feel a lot more comfortable in both formal and informal meetings and other events.     

Q.  What is your greatest leadership challenge at this time?

A.  I still find dealing with difficult people a challenge.  There is a module specifically on this and I have also taken some internal CDM Smith training on this subject matter. I am using some of the strategies I have learned to improve, but there is still room for improvement.  

How to Get Your Point Across in 30 Seconds or Less, by Milo Frank, is a great primer on business communication, and its a short read.  You'll learn how to focus on your objective, use a hook to capture attention, and send a message that's understood.  This is a classic read for anyone who wants to be a better communicator.

What leadership book would you recommend to others?