How to Supercharge a Company Style Guide Using Software
As I explained in my previous article, a company style guide is a written insurance policy of sorts taken out against sloppy mistakes that could cost your company in the long run.
Despite its incredible value and importance, a company style guide is waging an uphill battle when it comes to effectiveness.
First, it requires that employees read something that might not interest them. That’s always a challenge, especially with a style guide, which has a titillating score that ranks it somewhere below an employee manual.
Second, a company style guide is static, which means it just sits there (in print or PDF) with its value derived solely from employees who actively use it.
Larger companies can probably avoid some of these style guide pitfalls by making its use and application the primary responsibility of a single person or department.
Smaller companies face more challenges in this regard, especially if the company’s ethos is “everyone wears multiple hats.”
While you want your employees to know the basics and be effective communicators, you probably don’t want your most valuable (read: expensive) talent poring over a style guide in search of answers. Their efforts are probably better directed elsewhere, especially if they’re…
