Hit it out of the park with grammar the first time, every time

So many skills make up a good communications professional, from curiosity to collaboration, creativity, and expert listening skills. It's a wide and varied career, so it makes sense that the skillset is broad. 

There is one that people tend to hone in on, and if you drop the ball with it, they will let you know about it. 

I'm talking about grammar. Because our field of work strongly focuses on words, it seems our peers and colleagues expect that we are masters of them.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that grammar isn't important; it is complex, though, and if it isn't your natural strength, you don't want to risk damaging your brand with simple grammatical errors in your work. 

It would be a shame to spend hours crafting a witty and engaging media release only to have a senior leader pick up a really obvious spelling mistake in the headline when you send it through for their approval. 

I'm here today to share my tips and tricks for nailing your spelling and grammar, particularly when you're working at pace, so you can let all your other excellent skills shine. 

Have a checklist - Create a checklist of what you should look out for while proofreading. It will guide you through the process and ensure you remember to check that your work is grammatically correct and well-presented. Not sure what to include on it? List off every annoying mistake someone has picked up, from incorrect spacing to a misused capital letter.  

Read it aloud - once you have your ideas on a page, read them aloud. Proofreading is critical, but sometimes, our brain sees what we want it to see. By reading aloud in your first scan of your work, minor errors that you may not otherwise notice can pop out. 

Get a second set of eyes on your work - After you check over your work, get someone else to look. Fresh eyes pick up on things we may have missed in several read-throughs. 

Call in a robot - I'm not talking about R2D2, but great if he is available; I'm talking about AI. Many programs are available now to help review your work and ensure it's hitting the mark. I like Grammarly, personally. I don't recommend relying solely on AI, as the human touch is still needed to ensure your meaning isn't lost. 

Those are some tips from me: how do you ensure grammar and spelling mistakes don't take the shine off your fantastic work?