A directive letter is written by an authority to its employees. The authority has a right to issue different types of tasks to its employees. The directive can be about the submission of a report, conducting an investigation of anything or doing a special task.
There are many other reasons for which different companies use directive letters. Regardless of the reason, it should be ensured that the directive letter is completely in accordance with the situation.
Guidelines for writing the letter:
Writing a directive letter effectively is very important. If you don’t write the letter effectively, you will not be able to get fruitful results. Here are few guidelines to help you in this matter.
- It is important for the authority to describe the task to be completed in detail.
- The steps involved in conducting the study and investigation on a particular matter should be stated in the letter so that the employee can know how to perform the study as well as investigation.
- You should mention all the steps involved in bullet points, so the employee can execute the task by stepping through each point.
- Mentioning the points in bullets also ensures that the employee does not miss any of the instructions given in the directive letter.
- The authority can also tell how to conduct the studies and investigation as necessary.
- The reasons for asking the employee to perform this task should be clearly indicated.
- If there are concerned people who can be contacted in case the employee does not understand anything, mention their names in the letter.
- The contact details of all those people should also be mentioned in the letter.
The letter should properly address the recipient. The subject of the letter should be mentioned. There should not be any ambiguity in mentioning the details of the task to be assigned. You can mention the timeline for completing the process of studies and investigation.
If you need a follow-up, tell the employee clearly. Ask the employee to submit the report of the assigned task after a particular interval of time.
Sample Letter
We are expanding our business to the other cities of the country as well. For that purpose, we need to have complete know-how about the area we want to open the branch of our bakery. The company has chosen you as the representative who would be dealing with all the needed things.
You will visit the different cities one after the other we are interested in opening our branches in. You must study the environment of the place and investigate the area and its merits & demerits. Commercial area with an affirmative atmosphere would be our top priority. You must be vigilant while preparing the notes which you must have with you all the time to elucidate us later.
The company is quite positive about your enthusiastic & hardworking nature & I believe that you will bring the best information available. On your return, we will be holding a meeting to finalize the location. In case you have some issues in this respect that needs to be discussed instantly, feel free to approach me anytime.
All the best of luck!