The tone dial: stakes decide warmth
Use stakes, reader emotion, and action need to choose an appropriate written tone.
Use the tone dial to decide how much warmth, formality, and detail the message needs. Tone Dial for Written Moments Low stakes kudos, FYI, small update warmth can be expressive Moderate stakes deadline, decision, request clarity leads, warmth supports High stakes bad news, policy, correction serious, respectful, specific Action need what must the reader do? plain language at every level Expressive warmth works when risk is low. Higher stakes require clearer repair and less flourish. A customer-facing outage update is high stakes and the reader is anxious. Which tone profile fits best? Serious, respectful, matter-of-fact, and concrete about impact and…
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