‘Good morning, esteemed Mrs Ossai, ‘ a polite WhatsApp message from an executive MBA student interrupted my workflow.

‘I would like to have a quick connect with you on a personal book project…’ Executive Z continued, after the professional greeting and introducing himself. He was a participant in an executive MBA cohort at a Financial Times-ranked business school in Africa, where I worked part-time.

A quick exchange followed, and we scheduled a three-month one-on-one coaching programme. The overall goal was to help strengthen his writing capability, with the second goal of ensuring he had a first draft written by the end of our programme.

After the first two sessions, I began to appreciate one key component I knew and applied instinctively, but paid little attention to when lecturing or training — precisely because I apply it intuitively in my writing:

Structure.

What Structure Mapping Looks Like

Executive Z had a loose structure, although he had a clear vision and had written some chapters before contacting me.

But as our discussions progressed, it became evident that his structure needed tightening.

So, we retraced his steps and started at the beginning. Then I challenged him to rethink his journey before deciding, step by step, how to proceed. The result? A clearer structure and renewed enthusiasm for writing his book.

In my work as a trainer, facilitator, coach and leadership communications advisor, I’ve noticed one contradiction:

Despite expertise or other brilliance, without a defined structure in writing, ideas meander, arguments weaken, and the overall impact dwindles.

As a professional, executive or leader, your writing has a greater chance of getting the desired result when you first craft the two-step structure below to guide your piece.

Therefore, to ensure your ideas land with the precision you need, start with the first step.

Step 1 – Define within tight constraints

Decide on the broad idea of your proposal, formal letter, etc.

Now, let’s consider your big idea below:

I need to draft a proposal for a multi-million-dollar investment to overhaul the company’s global AI-powered analytics system, projected to reduce waste by x% and boost productivity by y%.

Critical data to gather at this stage include:

A) Who is my audience — local or international, and why should they care about my piece?

B) What data will be critical based on the audience’s expectations, my goal, and the desired outcome (anecdotes, stories, case studies, financials, statistics, competitive analysis, etc)

C) What scope (length or depth) is ideal? (The structure of a business proposal of four pages will differ in detail from that of a 16-page proposal)

This step works because crafting your structure within the above-mentioned constraints eliminates interesting but irrelevant information, which delays decision-making. 

You’ve laid the foundation. Next, expand each component to ensure impact.

Step 2: Expand the sequence

Apply granular-level clarity.

This step is what Executive Z didn’t address before our sessions. But when I introduced it, he lit up and expanded on aspects of his structure he hadn’t considered.

Writing clarity comes when you expand the content flow within the tight constraints of your structure.

A) For Proposals

I) Opening/Executive summary or equivalent (optional for short reports less than four pages) 

Although this section comes first in a report, it should be written last so that critical insights can be pulled from the content. Ideally, a maximum of two pages, it provides a snapshot of the premise and signals information to support the call to action.

II) Body (separated into headings or sections)

Heading 1: XXX

– Powerful one-liner or other concise sentence, flowing to first paragraph.

Sub-heading 1 (Underlined or in title case)

– Content (main point or other data):

Ensure short sentences (ideally no more than 20 words) where feasible to improve comprehension. Longer sentences require additional punctuation, such as the dash, colon, and semi-colon.

– Bridging statement 1: 

Next, Then, Below, Consequently, etc.

– Sub-heading 2 (Underlined or in title case)

– Content (additional insights or data)

– Bridging statement 2

Heading 2: YYY

– Powerful one-liner or other concise paragraph

– Sub-heading and bridging statement, etc.

Subsequent headings follow a similar sequence.

III) Conclusion (Recommendations and Call to Action)

– High-level recap of the big idea

– Clear recommendations with timelines

– Clear call to action stating the consequence of inaction

– Future outlook/aspirational one-liner

B) For emails, memos/letters

The structure for these business write-ups will differ as shown below.

I) Address block (where relevant) and opening section

–  Subject line (concise and ultra-specific with a timeline if urgency exists)

– Professional greeting tailored to culture

– Short first sentence or concise paragraph that signals the purpose 

II)  Body

Sub-heading 1 (underlined or in title case)

–  Content (main point broken into parallel bullet points)

For example:

Our proposed AI analytics upgrade will achieve the following by month two:

– Reduce human errors by 80%

– Improve customer satisfaction rate by 40% due to the revised AI chat agents

– Increase conversion rates by 30%

– Bridging statement 1 (Next, Then, Below, Consequently, etc.)

Sub-heading 2 (underlined or in title case)

– Content (Short sentences of 20 words where feasible. Longer sentences require additional punctuation such as the dash, colon, and semi-colon).

III) Conclusion (Recommendations and Call to Action)

– Reiterate the big idea.

– Give clear recommendations with timelines.

– Provide a short call to action stating the consequence of inaction.

– Future outlook/aspirational one-liner

The expanded sequence:

Multi-million-dollar proposal for upgrading AI-powered analytics 

Data collection, including audience analytics, and the length of the piece

Heading 1  Opening section  Sub-heading  Body  Bridging Statement Heading 2  Concise sentence/paragraph  Sub-heading  Body  Bridging Statement

(Optional) Heading 3  Concise sentence/paragraph  Sub-heading  Body  Bridging Statement

Conclusion (Recommendations and CTA)

Using Your Structure to Write

After Steps 1 and 2, you’ll have a structure with signposts to guide your writing. The final stage is the actual writing.

Following the structure, write your memo/email/proposal/essay/opinion piece step by inputting your material.

Next, ensure you adhere to the three rules of business writing and format your piece for scanning by strategically adding spacing.

With the two-step structure guiding your writing and your content already established, use AI to serve one critical purpose: refinement.

AI to Refine — Never to Control

With the availability of AI tools such as Grammarly, ChatGPT, Claude and others, grammatical accuracy should be standard. But also use AI to test the logic of your content, then adjust to sharpen it.

Nonetheless, as I advised Executive Z and others, I train or coach:

Refrain from using ChatGPT and other AI tools to write your piece from scratch. An over-reliance on them fails to differentiate your tone from others. The damage compounds, so over time, you weaken your critical reasoning and your adaptive writing muscles. 

Remember that AI helps to uncover angles you might not have previously considered — so that you can expand/tighten the scope of your work based on specific contexts.

Prompt AI to refine your writing after your first draft (aka ‘vomit draft’) so you harness the full extent of your creativity. But never to control.

Conclusion

By the end of our second coaching session, Executive Z had the two-step structure provided above, which enabled him to expand the scope of his material for a global audience.

Unlike Executive Z, you might not be writing a book. 

However, whatever your writing goal, using a clear structure simplifies the process and gives you the confidence to craft any intimidating piece. It also ensures your write-up is precise, actionable and resonates with the audience, thereby influencing outcomes.

Therefore, use the two-step structure process provided in this article when writing to challenge/inspire/persuade.

Your writing will become unforgettable.

Note:

The Global 4-Domain Communication Skills Rating Tool™ is currently in beta and will remain private until its public launch in 2026.

In the meantime, please email Lucille@LucilleOssai.com if you’d like me to speak at your event or design and deliver communication coaching and training programmes for your organisation.

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N.B: First image is courtesy Andreas Lischka via Pixabay. Flowchart and table are courtesy of Lucille Ossai