Asante has style (and a guide to match)

Is it “RRMC” or “ARRMC”? “September 12^th” or “Sept. 12”? “And/or” or just “or”? Those questions may stump most employees, which isn’t surprising considering that punctuation places far below the important work of saving lives.

But for Asante’s Communications and Marketing team, those little details are a big part of the job. Because like clinical pathways and workplace behavioral standards, language consistency also is a hallmark of high-performing organizations.

To that end, Asante follows an editorial style guide, which governs everything from job titles (not capitalized — mostly) to entity names (should be prefaced with “Asante”) to what professional certifications can be published after an employee’s name (fewer than you think).

Asante’s guide is based largely on the Associated Press Style Book with some modifications and is a companion to Asante’s brand book.

The style guide was recently updated to include some new features:

• A section on language inclusivity to reflect the diversity in our workforce, patient population and community.
• A helpful appendix of Asante entities with addresses, phone and fax numbers.
• Rules for web publishing, which differ slightly from the print guide.
• A special “wayfinding” section that determines spelling and punctuation for signage.

Every poster, ad, booklet, brochure and system newsletter is edited according to Asante’s style rules to ensure brand and language consistency. This means capitalizing “ZIP code” but not “surgeon.” It means including “MD” but not “MBA” after a name.

“Admittedly, some of these rules may seem arbitrary,” says Shirleen Holt, senior internal communications specialist. “But the benefits of a language guide far outweigh its restrictions.”

Employees don’t need to know Asante’s style rules — that’s what Communications and Marketing is here for — but those who are curious may review the guide, which can be found by clicking on the image to the right or visiting the Marketing page on myAsanteNET.