The Whole Thing reserves the right to alter dates, content, venue and the trainer for each course with reasonable notice.

CERTIFICATION

This course is CPD Certified with each day equivalent to 6.5 hours of CPD

Business Writing Skills that Produce Great Results

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

All employees in the organization that want to learn, relearn or improve their business writing competency so that they can get the very best results from their leadership, teams and colleagues in pursuit of the organization’s goals.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Effective writing practice is an essential life skill required to produce communication that encourages the desired response. At work people need to write clear, effective, professional e-mails, memos, letters, and reports so that the organization communicates properly and delivers its purpose every time. If done well business writing will nurture trust, confidence and respect for the individual writer as well as drive teamwork that will lead to higher overall performance. Mastery of business writing practice is vital for effective leader and leadership and driving personal and business growth.

Business Writing is a proven straightforward approach to business writing that provides a dramatic increase in the quality and impact of the writing produced. The course is designed to help delegates write documents that will be understood and generate the desired response. The program takes a holistic view of business writing and introduces the delegate to the knowledge, skills and attitude required to effectively structure and produce basic business writing.

The program is a well researched knowledge-based workshop and designed with the individual learner at the centre of the learning process which means that the course is extremely interactive and practical.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

By the end of this course delegates will be able to:

✓ Determine business writing

✓ Determine the art and benefits of simplicity in writing

✓ Develop key business writing skills

✓ Identify simple business writing tools and techniques

✓ Practice tools and techniques before returning to work

✓ Produce drive to self-develop your motivation and empowerment practice skill

✓ Produce positive impact on the overall performance of each delegate and the organization

COURSE CONTENT

This course content shown in this outline is typical and we expect to agree the daily content with the client in advance of the intervention so that their particular priorities are identified and we deliver for maximum learning and impact.

DAY ONE • GETTING STARTED

Letters, Emails and Other Business Documents

• What writing do you do at work?
• Activity – list all types of writing & purpose

Business Communications

• The benefits and drawbacks of writing
• Choosing the correct medium
• Activity – from case studies, choose the most appropriate medium for writing

Preparing to Write

• The purpose
• The recipient – needs and knowledge
• Gathering information
• Activity – how, when and what information do you gather about your readers?
• Formal, neutral & informal writing
• The impact of tone & style on your reader
• The dangers of using the wrong tone
• Activity – Review examples of tone

Back to Basics

• Words, Sentences & Paragraphs
• Avoiding clichés, obsolete words, vague terms and jargon
• Grammar
• Activity – Series of exercises to review knowledge

DAY TWO • PUTTING IT TOGETHER

Planning the Structure

• Making a plan
• The structure/sequencing
• Creating a Coherent & Cohesive Document
• The five C’s of powerful writing
• Strong introductions
• Proper body
• Proper flow of ideas
• Utilizing and referencing of visual aids
• Effective conclusions
• Activity – Prepare a draft of business writing based on case study

Producing a first draft

• Tips for getting started

Producing a final draft

• Forms of Address
• Punctuation
• Spelling
• Clarity
• Style
• Format

Editing and Proofreading

• What to look for
• Self-checklist
• Some common mistakes
• Activity – proof read your example – how many errors?

Business Email Etiquette

• Ten ‘do’s’ and ten ‘don’ts

Key Learning Review

• Group discussion and professional feedback to consolidate key learning. Delegates will leave the day with a list of development activities to improve their business writing competency back at work.

IN ADVANCE

Each delegate will be asked to complete a pre-course questionnaire to determine their individual learning objectives. These will be used by the trainer to give on track training that is focused on the individual learner attending.

ON-TRACK FOR GROWTH

The individual leaves this program with a Personal Action Plan to encourage immediate transfer of training to the job.

REGISTER FOR THIS COURSE

To register for this course please review the grey box above. If no public course is listed or the location and dates shown don’t suit you then please request a proposal for this course either as a public training course or if you have 6 delegates or more as an in-company training course by clicking on Request a Proposal.