10 distractions corporate communicators face

For many corporate communicators, the job largely entails writing and editing. At least, that’s what we signed up for.

Sometimes, however, it seems like the last thing we get to do during our long, busy days is write. This week, it seemed like every time I opened a document to start writing, I was distracted by a non-writing task. Here’s what I found to be the most common distractions in my job:

1. Unwanted writing advice. I once had an extensive email exchange with a co-worker who wanted us to use “includes, but is not limited to” instead of “includes” in an advertisement listing product features. He argued that just using the word “includes” could be viewed as false advertising.

2. Common-sense moments. Many times, communicators have to point out the obvious. For example, explaining that the email being sent to all our customers alerting them to a change in payment plans should be signed by a person, and not “the accounting department.”