COMMUNICATIONS/WRITING SKILLS TRAINING

ENTRANS Policy Research Group offers three standard workshops that are intended to improve public servants' writing skills. These courses are offered to departments that prefer delivering courses to their staff on an "in-house" basis, so that participants can make use of their usual workstations to perform writing exercises. ENTRANS usually concludes agreements (i.e. purchase orders) with departmental managers, who select the participants from among their staff.

The workshops leader is Robert Lyman, a retired public servant with 37 years' experience in the federal government. He also has over twenty years' experience at the executive level, having retired as Director General, Environmental Affairs, at Transport Canada.

The Fundamentals of Writing

This one day workshop is designed to train adults how to write sentences. It includes a review of the parts of speech (nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.), punctuation, and syntax (sentence structure and choice of words). There are several exercises which allow participants to apply the principles.

Who should attend

People who have difficulty writing clear sentences or who would benefit from a review of grammar principles that they were once taught, but may have forgotten.

Participants learn:

• The structure of sentences
• The functions of different words
• Subject-verb agreement
• How to avoid ambiguity of pronouns
• When to use and avoid the passive voice
• How to use adjectives and adverbs
• The different roles of commas, semi-colons, colons and dashes
• How to vary sentence structure to maintain reader interest
• How to avoid run-on sentences, misplaced modifiers, split constructions and faulty parallelism
• How to continue improving through self study.

Price

$300 plus GST per participant for off-site workshops (maximum of twenty participants)

$1400 plus GST for workshops delivered in-house (maximum of twenty participants)

Writing Memoranda for the Minister: An Introduction

This one-day workshop is designed to train public servants to write memoranda to the Minister. It explains the role that Ministers and political staff play and offers advice on how to meet their information needs. The workshop explains, in an introductory way, the structure of the memorandum and the different formats that are used in federal government departments. It describes the techniques that can be used to improve the composition of Ministerial correspondence. Specifically, it describes how to improve style, organization, clarity, cohesion, conciseness and tone. The course also offers advice on how to be sensitive to Ministers' needs, how to "speak truth to power", and how to be better understood when writing on highly technical subjects.

Who should attend?

New public servants, and others who are being asked to write memoranda and briefing notes for the Minister for the first time, or who would benefit from a review of basic writing techniques.

Participants learn how to:

• Plan and outline in advance
• Focus on the reader's needs
• Define the issue
• Present options and analysis clearly
• Formulate action-oriented recommendations
• Revise and edit their own work
• Use published and internet reference sources on writing and grammar

Price:

$1400 plus GST for workshops delivered in departmental facilities (maximum of twenty participants per workshop)

$2200 plus GST for workshops delivered in a central training facility (the price includes the cost of the workshop, room rental, of coffee and refreshments)

The Craft of Writing for a Minister

This two-day workshop is designed to train public servants to hone their writing skills in preparing memoranda and briefing notes for a Minister. It explains the role that Ministers and political staff play and offers advice on how to meet their information needs. The course describes the techniques that can be used to improve the composition of Ministerial correspondence. Specifically, it addresses how to improve style, organization, clarity, conciseness, objectivity and tone. The course also offer advice on how to be sensitive to Ministers' needs, how to "speak truth to power", and how to be better understood when writing on highly technical subjects. Participants write a memorandum to the Minister, and receive feedback in the form of detailed edits (i.e. track changes) and verbal advice.

Who should attend?

Public servants who write briefing notes and memoranda for Ministers on a regular basis, whether they work in policy, program, regulatory or scientific organizations.

Participants learn how to:

• Plan and outline in advance
• Focus on the reader's needs
• Define the issue
• Present options and analysis clearly
• Demonstrate cohesion in the presentation of related ideas
• Formulate action-oriented recommendations
• Draft presentation decks for the Minister and Cabinet
• Prepare talking points
• Revise and edit their own work

Price: $2400 plus GST for a workshop delivered in departmental facilities for groups of up to 12 participants

What Participants in Past Workshops Have Said

• "The course leader should write a book. He is a master on the subject." (Natural Resources Canada)
• "Having worked in a Minister's office, and the department, I feel the workshop leader very much understood the real process of these environments. Thanks, great work!" (Fisheries and Oceans Canada)
• "Much better than I had hoped in terms of delivery of a potentially dry subject…Quite engaging! Time flew." (Coast Guard)
• "Great instructor. Very understanding. Very, very productive." (Indian Residential Schools Resolution Canada)
• "This course exceeded my expectations in completeness, scope, format and the communications style of the workshop leader. I thoroughly enjoyed this course." (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada)
• "I expected it to be extremely dull. Instead, I found it interesting, informative and well delivered." (Transport Canada)
• "I would definitely recommend this course to the rest of my group. It was very informative and I learned a lot (even little mistakes I had never realized I was making)." (Transport Canada)

---

---