I want to share this email from Danielle because I know many of you might be having this issue too.
I’ve had my OFS for 10 months and it’s great 🙂
However, I need a little advice.
Sometimes grammar or wording can be an issue. Some of her tasks include writing social posts, newsletter drafts and email drafts.
…
We have tried using grammarly and even had an AI (Jasper subscription) but I’ve noticed it still misses many simple errors.
…
I want to keep my OFS for a long time and want to invest in her English abilities in writing in particular. What kind of solutions have worked for you and your team?
Thank you,
Danielle
First, I asked my team how to improve English.
They gave me nothing. Like, they didn’t have anything to say about learning to speak better English. They only had tools and processes to talk about.
Here’s our experience:
Grammarly is a good tool for checking grammar and spelling mistakes. We use it regularly.
When I sent this email to my OFS, 2 of them said “Grammarly is really helpful to me in my writing.”
I also edit and explain to my OFS what’s wrong with their writing on occasion. I did this a lot when I first outsourced writing. But I eventually realized that when I do all the editing, it creates a bottleneck. It becomes my responsibility to spot the mistakes that just doesn’t work for me.
It makes it so I have to oversee everything, which I don’t want to do.
I know my OFS can do better. They have the tools. When the blog post or the caption comes to me, it should be perfect or close to perfect.
So we changed some things in our process. Before the output gets to me, it must go through at least two pairs of eyes, checking for spelling, grammar, and content.
We adjusted deadlines, so the writer has time to go through what they wrote. This is something they told me has helped them improve. Giving them time to re-read and edit their work.
They run it through Grammarly before it reaches the editor.
The editor reads through it and makes (or tells the writer to make) changes or corrections.
Last, it goes through our QA guys to ensure it’s on brand, the links work, etc.
In Danielle’s case, if she only has one OFS this process will be hard to implement. But I think giving your OFS time to edit their work will greatly improve their work and your process.
It’s your OFS’s responsibility to deliver the best output possible. Provide feedback and point out the mistakes. But make it her responsibility to fix those mistakes.
Now…what I think Danielle was actually after…I don’t really have an answer to:
“How do they improve their English”
My thoughts are just your thoughts. Ask them to read English books. Ask them to watch TV in English, not dubbed in Tagalish.
Pay them to do these things.
I don’t really have a better answer.
John