Who cares about writing skills?

A more recent post on this issue is available here.

Years ago I went for a job interview at a well-known PR agency and was rather taken aback to be asked to do a writing test.  I never got the job and never got any feedback so I’ll leave it to my loyal readers to judge if my writing would have let me down or whether I can blame it on my dreadful interview technique.

But it is something that has puzzled me over the years.  Does a competent communicator have to be a good writer or are there other attributes that are more important?

To be honest I don’t think being a good writer matters – I’ve met plenty of great comms people who couldn’t write to save their lives and I know a few fantastic writers who I’d never trust to give communications advice.

And that was one of the findings that cam out when Sue Dewhurst and I conducted our skills research a few years ago.  Simply put, many senior communicators see writing as a technical or craft skill that can be bought in as it is needed.  Other abilities are much more important when it comes to planning messaging or gathering feedback for senior leaders.

Clearly writing involves certain skills that are invaluable for a communicator.  Empathy with your audience, simplifying complex ideas and finding ways to make a dull subject engaging are certainly useful.  And advice like this supplied by Wedge at Kilobox is valuable.

But I’m not sure I’d appoint a director of comms on the basis of their ability to win a Pulitzer prize.

I’m not suggesting that a communicator should be allowed to get away with bad writing.  All I’m saying is that it doesn’t make sense to prioritise writing over any other skill – if a single skill is all that matters why shouldn’t it be film-making, web design or spamming twitter?

Take a look at some of the skills models that exist and make your own mind up!

 Liam