We understand that being able to write in a clear and professional style is important to your business. That is why we have developed the Business Writing Institute and the Effective Business Writing course. This practice-driven business writing course will significantly improve your ability to write in English, so that your readers will receive a clear, concise, effective message. Most professionals spend at least 15-20% of their time writing for business; emails, memos, business letters, reports and other business correspondence. Our customized approach guarantees an improvement in business communication skills that will increase your productivity, success and job satisfaction.
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Benefits of business writing training courses:
- learn how to write a business letter
- discover the skills of writing a business letter
- learn to create clear business correspondence
- understand the difference of writing for business
- improve overall business communication
Business Writing Training: Toning up communications - business writing courses can help employees and managers learn to clearly express organizational messages
Two years ago, when KeyBank began developing an online
reference system for its call center professionals, managers
realized they needed to offer more guidance to the employees
who were writing the E-manual.
"We had 10 people [writing] and they were all writing
differently," says Nicole Raumberger, E-manual development
manager for the financial institution based in Brooklyn, Ohio.
The multiple styles would have made the instructions difficult
to decipher, slowing down call center response time. "We
needed to set a standard so that [the manual] made sense to
our [call center professionals] and looked to them like only
one person was writing." Raumberger hired E-Write, a
Maryland-based online writing consultant, to help develop a
format and to teach employees how to write for the web. "They
helped us bring our writing styles together," she says.
The results were clear: Raumberger's staff slashed each call
center procedure by up to 10 pages and made them easier to
understand. This, in turn, drastically reduced the average
time needed to handle client calls.
Raumberger expects the streamlined procedures to save between
$64,000 and $72,000 in 2003. 'We calculated the savings by
timing the [call center staff] as they answered a call with
the old procedure and comparing it to the time it takes them
to answer a call with the new procedure;' she says. Using the
new procedures, the center shaved an average of
five-and-a-half seconds off each of its 22,000 monthly calls
for a total savings of more than 32 hours per month.
Like Raumberger's staff, many of your employees may be asked
to compose memos, sales letters, e-mail messages, reports or
other documents that can have a profound--although not always
immediately recognizable--impact on your organization's bottom
line. Yet many of those employees may also lack the business
writing training or experience they need to succeed.
Writing Skills Matter
However, you should consider your corporate culture when
deciding whether to train employees and managers in the same
class. Some managers may not feel comfortable sharing their
inadequacies in front of subordinates.
Whether you plan to train managers and subordinates together
or separately, consider grouping them by business division.
For instance, engineers will have different writing needs and
challenges than salespeople. Categorizing employees this way
can help the teacher focus the training and use examples
relevant to their business needs.
Nuts and Bolts
Once you've identified employees who need training, you must
determine what the training will cover. Business writing
courses vary from those that focus on the mechanics of grammar
and punctuation to those that emphasize tone and
persuasiveness. It's important, then, not to offer a generic
business writing class. Instead, determine your employees'
needs based on their current skills, as well as the type of
writing they do.
Leslie O'Flahavan, a partner at E-Write, recommends having the
trainer analyze sample documents in advance to assess training
needs. Another option: Ask employees to take a writing
assessment test to help you and the trainer focus the course.
You should also keep in mind what each employee's job
requires, and target topics to the audience, says Doyle Young,
vice-president of ACT Inc., a nonprofit testing and training
company in Iowa City, Iowa. For example, group employees who
need help writing memos, and hold a separate class for direct
mail writers.
"We did a specialized course for one client on writing status
reports," says Marilynne Rudick, another E-Write partner. "The
managers were wasting a lot of time trying to understand these
status reports, which were not well written, nor written in a
particular format. We helped develop a format. It saved work.
The staff could write [reports] more quickly, and the manager
could review them more quickly."
Once you've decided which areas to cover, make sure the
training is hands-on.
"Some subjects you can learn about simply by listening, but
writing is not one of them," says O'Flahavan. Participants
should do a lot of writing during the training.
That was key to success in the Marvin Windows and Doors
classes, Anderholm says. "They were encouraged to bring work
they had to do to the class. They practiced on real
materials."
It also helps to allow students to immediately put into action
what they learned in class. Instead of offering a half-day or
one-day course, set up several shorter visits, such as once a
week for two hours, O'Flahavan says. Although that is more
expensive, it allows the participants to try out their new
skills right away, and then return to class with any
additional questions.
Vendor Selection
The next factor to consider is whether you should outsource
the training or develop it in house.
"The vast majority of organizations I've worked with over the
years use an outside agency to deliver their training," says
Young. "Whomever they select, they've got to understand and be
able to customize the content to the requirements of the
individual or groups.
Trainers should also have some practical experience.
"Look at their background, what kind of personal published
writing that person has done in the past," Josephson says.
"Ask to see samples of sales letters they have written. Look
for someone who understands your industry. Health care people
need to write differently than engineers."
Another option is to partner with a college or university. For
example, the Dixie Group Inc., a carpet manufacturer in
Calhoun, Ga., offers its courses as part of a management
mini-certificate program at the local college. Alan Artress,
education director for corporate human resources, says the
college was easy to work with and responsive to his company's
needs.
Anderholm went the same route, hiring instructors from the
Carlson School of Business at the University of Minnesota. "I
was a little nervous; I thought they were going to be stuffy
professors from the university," she says. But they had taught
non-traditional students in the past and they interjected
humor into the lessons, she says.
Measuring Success
Business writing courses can represent a substantial
investment, so HR must make sure that the investment pays off,
as it did for KeyBank's Raumberger. While online courses can
cost as little as $30, most instructors charge $1100 to $300
per person, per day.
To assess the effectiveness of the training, ask each employee
to write a note immediately afterward and then again three
weeks later about whether the training was helpful, Josephson
recommends. If their writing is still atrocious, you'll know
the training isn't working.
"Evaluate the product," E-Write's Rudick advises. "If the
course was about writing status reports, look at the outcome:
Have the status reports improved? Are we having fewer problems
with clients not understanding what we're saying?"
There may also be benefits that are more tangible to your
employees than to you and your managers. For example, Wendy
Sizemore, a sales tax analyst for the Dixie Group, says she
feels more confident in her ability to communicate with others
after taking the company-sponsored training.
Effective communication has always been key to business
success, but the tools are evolving.
"Communication is different than it used to be when Grandpa
Marvin would send a memo written on a piece of scrap wood,"
says Anderholm with a chuckle.
It's up to HR professionals to help their employees at all
levels learn to write well, no matter whether they are
communicating on paper or online.
Source: Kathryn Tayler link
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