A memo (or memorandum, meaning “reminder”) is normally used for communicating policies, procedures, or related official business within an organization. It is often written from a one-to-all perspective (like mass communication), broadcasting a message to an audience, rather than a one-on-one, interpersonal communication. It may also be used to update a team on activities for a given project or to inform a specific group within a company of an event, action, or observance.
Memos can be tricky because they often communicate to multiple audiences who have different levels of knowledge about the context. For example, if you are communicating a new company policy, different types of employees will want to know exactly how the policy impacts them.
Memos are used in a variety of workplace communication situations, from documentation of procedures and policies to simple announcements. Below are some common types of memos:
Memos are distinguished by a header that includes DATE, TO, FROM, and SUBJECT lines. Other lines, such as CC or BCC, may be added as needed. An RE (“Reference”) line may be used instead of SUBJECT, but this use is becoming rarer as “RE” is often mistaken as “Reply” because of its use in email.
These headings may be double- or single-spaced, and the SUBJECT line is sometimes written in all capital letters. Furthermore, the order of the items can vary. Many organizations have their own style preferences on these issues. If not, the order listed above, double-spaced, is the most common. The text of memos typically uses block format, with single-spaced lines, an extra space between paragraphs, and no indentions for new paragraphs.
Professional memos are organized according to one of two strategies: Direct and indirect.
The direct approach is used for good news or routine communication; the indirect approach is used for persuasive, sales, or bad news messages. A directly stated purpose is welcome in good news or routine messages but could be viewed as abrupt or insensitive in a bad news or persuasive message. When the audience is not receptive to the message, it is best to lead up to the purpose gradually. Activity 6.4 compares both strategies.
Activity 6.4 | Direct vs Indirect Strategy
In both types of organization, action information (such as deadlines or contact information) or a courteous closing statement is placed in the last paragraph.
Activity 6.5 provides an example of a direct memo.
Activity 6.5 | Sample Direct Memo
As you can see, this memo has a direct and concise opening that states the purpose of the memo. The body paragraph provides the award criteria, which will help managers follow through on the request. The conclusion provides action information, a deadline and a courteous closing message. We can contrast this organization to the indirect memo in Activity 6.6 below.
Activity 6.6 | Sample Indirect Memo
As you can see, the introduction is relevant to the subject but doesn’t directly state the bad news, which is that the popular early weekend schedule is ending. Instead, the writer uses a buffer that lists the reasons for the change to prepare the reader mentally for it. The bad news is then clearly stated, but it’s sandwiched between two positive statements. Note that the bad news is at the end of the paragraph since the writer doesn’t want readers to skim the memo and miss this important information. The memo then ends with action information and a forward-looking statement.
While memo reports and policy memos have a more formal tone, most memos will have a conversational style—slightly informal but still professional. The audience of memos are coworkers, so the writing style usually assumes a relationship with them (and therefore a certain lack of formality). Just keep in mind that the relationship is a professional one, so the writing should reflect that. Furthermore, as with all workplace documents, the audience may contain a variety of readers, and the style and tone should be appropriate for all of their technical and authority levels. Activity 6.7 below compares various levels of formality.
Activity 6.7 | Levels of Formality
Activity 6.8 is a guide you can use to write a standard memo.