Right Attitude – The Stepping Stone to Success!

By Tharun Kumar Unni

Among the many qualities that are expected of technical communicators, attitude is an singularly important. Consider writing for instance. Many of us feel we’re the best in the line and no one can really question us. While it is true that we are hired for our strengths in writing, we should be careful that this is not viewed by others as arrogance. This could lead to problems in getting reviews done and getting good quality review feedback. 

Switch your role to that of the reviewer. A lot of reviewers get excited when they see errors – a good opportunity to settle scores with the author. In the process, the review feedback is badly worded, leading to completely avoidable situations.

Started as a practice to help employees strike a balance between personal and professional responsibilities, flexi-time is open to misuse. To such an extent that some companies have gone back to the traditional 10-to-6 approach. If you work in a flexi-time environment, ensure that you do not overuse or misuse it. A callous approach to this can prove detrimental to the team’s image.

The success of a writing team also depends largely on the attitude of the team leaders and members. Your team may have some of the best individual performers, but that does not ensure success as a team. 

Attitude issues transcend the writing teams – issues crop up even when interacting with other teams in the organization. But then, service begins at home and we must first get our act together!

Let us focus on the goals we wish to achieve in each of these situations as individuals, and as teams. As a writer, you send a document for review so that inconsistencies or errors are identified long before the document reaches the customer. When you play the role of a reviewer, bear in mind that the task is not to belittle or ridicule the author. Your objective must be to ensure that a better quality document goes out to the customer. And lastly, as a team, you wish to be looked upon with respect and recognition and as role models that others would want to emulate.

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