6 Positive Writing
In many textbooks about professional writing, you’ll find a chapter about delivering “bad news,” which includes guidance to stay positive in your writing where possible. I agree, which is why this chapter is called “Positive Writing,” which is the goal, rather than “bad news,” which is the problem.
The intellectual shift to positive writing sounds simple, but it’s actually quite a challenge.
For our whole lives, we have received messages in negative framing, whether that be from parents (No! Don’t touch that!), educators (Stop talking or you’ll be in detention!), religious leaders and texts (“Thou shalt not…”), businesses (No shirt, no shoes, no service!), or myriad others. Most rules and laws are in the negative frame, telling us what we cannot do and challenges we face are often defined in negative terms, such as “problems,” “conflicts,” or “mistakes.”
Sometimes, we need to communicate in the negative frame for urgency, clarity, legal reasons, or other needs, but most professional messages can be communicated in the positive frame.
There are many ways to frame a message. For example, if I want my spouse to buy me ice cream, I could communicate that in any of the following ways:
- Please buy me ice cream.
- We need more ice cream.
- Could you pick up more ice cream at the store?
- Ice cream!
- Darling, sweetest, could you grab us more ice cream so I can make your favorite dessert tonight?
The topic of ice cream requires little skill to stay positive (unless you’re saying “Stop stealing my ice cream!”), but take note of how the same message can be packaged in different ways. (Also, a little marital advice, go with the last one on the bullet list for best results.)
So, what do we mean by “positive frame” and “negative frame”? Look at these examples:
| Please close the door. | Don’t leave the door open. |
| Let’s talk about this in a future department meeting. | I don’t want to talk about this now. |
| We’ll need to develop a new path forward. | What we’re doing now isn’t working. |
| Our past work offers us opportunities to improve. | You’ve made mistakes that need to be fixed. |
| We’ll need to repair this to get it working again. | This is broken, so we can’t use it right now. |
The examples on the left are all in the positive frame and the examples on the right are their counterparts in the negative frame. Each set communicates the same message, but the framing is different.
The switch from negative framing to positive framing is a major challenge and one that is easier acknowledged than achieved.
Contemporary professional communication should be in the positive frame as much as possible. Always look for opportunities to switch your writing from negative framing to positive framing, except where negative framing is truly necessary, such as when delivering bad news.