4 Writing Tips for Annual GRC Updating

This time of year always feels odd. Holidays, parties and vacations make it difficult to remember what day it is. Projects seem to speed up so that they are wrapped before the end of the year. Everything else gets put on hold since the new year is just around the corner, and our organizations don’t want to start anything new.

One thing that is usually a constant, though, is the annual updating of policies, procedures, workflows, etc. This is the time of year where we find the space in the lulls of our required work to update the documents that guide our companies.

As GRC professionals, we write a lot. We write policies, draft reports, send emails, provide feedback, and yes, update our own procedures. So, for this month, I’d like to provide you some inspiration, tips and reminders to help you with your writing journey.

The Power of Imperfect Drafts

“It is better to write a bad first draft than to write no first draft at all.”
─ Will Shetterly, Elsewhere (1991)

Draft documents are just that: drafts. They shouldn’t be perfect. In fact, I want you to give yourself permission to write absolute garbage (and if you are a supervisor reading this, I want YOU to give your staff permission to write garbage). We need to allow draft documents to be a work in progress, a draft with the expectation that it is going to get revised.

However, there are two mistakes we’re making when we write our drafts. The first mistake is on the part of the readers. No matter how many times “Draft” is in a document name, email or watermarked, too many readers of draft documents get upset and think that document is going on the public website immediately. Readers shut down and demand changes before the invitation to the exit meeting request has been accepted.

Which likely leads to the second mistake. Writers try to perfect the draft before presenting it to their readers and then get frustrated when changes are requested. Who here has had a draft audit report thrown back at them? Just me? I sure hope so.

All of us need to allow draft documents to be drafts. Expect to revise. Final documents shouldn’t look anything like initial drafts. Having a draft that needs revising isn’t a reflection of poor intelligence of the writer; it’s proof they wrote the draft correctly.

Your Secret to Better Writing

“Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.”
– Margaret Fuller, Women in the Nineteenth Century (1845)

The absolute best thing you can do to improve your writing is to read.

You want in on a little secret? I point out which colleagues of mine aren’t big readers.

How?

Emails that have not been proofread, responses that don’t answer the question asked, obvious use of AI to write a response, lack of knowledge of Gandalf…among other things.

Reading provides many benefits that organizational leaders need. You improve memory as you remember characters and plots, build empathy as you dig into a character’s actions, improve your critical thinking skills as you try to deduce what’s next and many other benefits.

Every time someone tells me they don’t like to read, I’m more convinced that they haven’t found the right genre. High school likely didn’t help as reading was an “assignment,” and unless you had a reader in your family, you had no one else encouraging you to read anything else.

Thankfully, there are lots of tools today that can help recommend you books to try. Now, your local librarian I feel is best. Librarians work magic, I tell you. There are resources online that offer questionnaires to yield genre and book recommendations. I have recently found Bookfinity, which has you take a quiz and will assign “reader types” that come with recommendations. Not only can you explore books based on this type, you can rate the recommendations so you’ll start to get better ones. Reading trackers, such as StoryGraph, also offer recommendations based on your reading history but also track statistics on what you read such as the size of book and mood you like to read. You really are running out of reasons to justify why you can’t find a good book.

And remember, use those libraries. You don’t have to buy books to read them; check them out of the library if you are unsure.

three white and red labeled business books — Photographer: Lala Azizli | Source: Unsplash

Crafting Corporate Narratives

“Close the door. Write with no one looking over your shoulder. Don’t try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It’s the one and only thing you have to offer.”
— Barbara Kingsolver, Demon Copperhead (2022)

Telling stories to explain concepts goes WAY back for humans. We’ve lost some of that in corporate writing, in my humble opinion. We’re told to state the facts, and I see a lot of writing that is black and white, this-then-that happened and maybe a pretty visual because we’re told that’s what leadership likes.

I also feel many of us write in a manner that tries to present the information with a focus on how our readers will respond, not the story that needs to be told. When you write a document, remember, you own it. It is your story to tell. Even audit reports tell stories; give yourself space to craft them.

I have two recommendations to help you become a better storyteller. First, focus. Block time and turn off notifications. Allow yourself the time and the space to develop what you need to say. Make a plan to write.

Practice. This year (well, for 2025 that is), I’m restarting my practice of writing at least a sentence a day, everyday based on a prompt for the week. I’ve done this before and I have found that when I start I usually can only crank out one sentence, but by about month three, I’m writing full paragraphs daily. Plus, I get to work on my handwriting which is another nice benefit. Nobody sees these entries unless I want them too. They are a low risk way for me to get into a daily creative habit of storytelling that makes my corporate writing easier to tackle. This will be a part of my work “start-up” ritual and is booked on my calendar.

Editing With and Without AI

“It is perfectly okay to write garbage—as long as you edit brilliantly.”
— C.J. Cherryh, Downbelow Station (1981)

I believe that editing is the critical part to writing, and we should make use of both our human and AI counterparts. I will admit that I have been extremely reluctant to jump on the AI train to help me write. Especially writing full blown reports, presentations and so on. First, because we are still at the stage where it is clear AI wrote something for someone (see this Apple commercial). When you write documents for others to read, you still need to sound like you. Second, AI can still make mistakes. I’ve had to fact check a few things and yes, you can get bad answers from AI.

Where I have found the most benefit is using AI to help me edit. Assisting me with tone and finding alternate ways to say something have been the most beneficial. Even then, I have my documents edited by a human.

Where we can get the most benefit from personal editing is using that time to have interactions with our colleagues not only to get their feedback and corrections, but also establish relationships. Presenting draft documents in “working sessions” is one way you can communicate again that it is a draft document, discussion is allowed, and provide a place where your point of view can be shared. Take your time here; don’t rush.

I hope these reflections can help you as you continue to refine your writing.