Advanced Report and Business Letter Writing Skills Programme
Strategies and techniques to create effective business reports and letters.
Written communications play an increasingly important part in modern business life. Business reports and correspondence form two major channels to get messages across to the reader. Underlying these are some key principles that apply to all writing.
The course will therefore cover both the essentials of effective writing and the specific techniques for successful reports and business letters. We will introduce a systematic approach to writing, based on the world-class Writing Dynamics™ system. This will reinforce participants’ skills in planning and organising, focusing on the reader, productive drafting and effective editing.
5 day programme outline
Delegates will learn how to apply these core principles and other techniques to create effective reports and business letters. Using a mixture of teaching, exercises and individual practice, we will advance people’s understanding of how to plan long and short documents to meet readers’ needs. We will address all the specific aspects of reporting and letter writing, including steps, structure and style.
The trainers who we would propose to run this course have been accredited by a Master Trainer to teach the Writing Dynamics™ system, and have extensive business experience of report writing, letters and emails.
Programme objectives:
This course will show you how to improve your reports and business letters, memos and emails to an advanced level. You will learn a systematic approach to writing which will save you time, as well as improving the quality of your finished reports and correspondence.
Programme overview:
- Why writing matters - fitting reports and other documents into the communications mix.
- Advantages and disadvantages of written communications.
- A systematic approach to writing - key principles and why they work well.
- Value from planning - techniques to organise ideas.
- Focus on the reader - from the planning stage.
- Time saving drafting, quality editing - how to draft swiftly; how to edit for clarity; how to edit for energy; how to edit to make the document stand out.
- Better business letters - purpose and value of letters, memos and emails; planning the letter; how to reach your reader, with the right tone and style.
- Better business reports - the reporting process and its different stages, types of report, their value and purpose; organising the project, structuring the report; selecting and reviewing content; presenting material, including use of graphics and tables; supporting material, references and appendices; how to review.
Since this course is conducted in English, participants need to have a good grasp of both spoken and written English.
Suggested programme breakdown
The Writing Dynamics™ course will be delivered as a part of this programme. Attendees will receive the full Writing Dynamics™ manual and a supplemental manual for business letters and reports. Attendees will also receive post courses access to our Writing Dynamics™ post course learning area.
Day One
- Introduction and aims of the programme.
- Why writing matters, and when.
- Taking a systematic approach.
- Effective planning techniques.
Day Two
- Time-saving drafting.
- Editing for a clear document.
- Editing for persuasive energy.
- Common slips in grammar, punctuation and spelling.
- The system revisited, and preparing for further application in days 3-5.
Day Three
- Business correspondence – purpose and methods.
- Planning effective letters and emails.
- Getting the right tone for your reader.
- Dictating.
- Handling difficult responses.
- Do's and don’ts.
Day Four
- Business reports – purpose, types and value.
- The reporting process, from initial brief to achieved result.
- Process stages: from briefing to research findings; from analysis to a plan.
- Choosing suitable structures for your readers.
Day Five
- Process stages: from drafting to editing.
- Ensuring value from visual elements.
- Creating the Executive Summary.
- References, Appendices and Annexes.
- Reviewing, for self and for others.
- Action plans and overall review of program.
The course has been designed to be interactive, helping each trainee to advance their writing skills. Each day will include live practice to help reinforce learning and identify any issues or gaps.
The participants will work both in groups and as individuals to maximise their learning and enjoyment.
How to take this course
This course is only available as an in-house programme for groups and teams. It can be delivered anywhere in the world. We are also able to tailor the content. Please contact us for more information about how we can deliver this training to your people.
If you are an individual we offer public training courses in Central London (UK): Public Writing Dynamics™ Courses
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