Customized training in effective writing pays productivity dividends
	New reporting models help both management and operations
	Coaching of key individual produces a market-opening presentation
	Customized training curriculum solves a customer service need
	Report design meets decision makers' needs
	Scientists break the word barrier
	Revised credit letters improve collection process
	Expert editing makes a difference for high-impact documents

Customized training in effective writing
pays productivity dividends

In an information economy, almost all employees must write. Yet many people, lacking confidence in their skills, rush through the task, agonize over every sentence, or avoid communicating entirely. The organization's information productivity, measured by time spent writing and clarifying, declines. High-quality, customized training throughout the organization can solve the problem. At its business processes center, one major oil company strongly encouraged all employees — managers included — to participate in effective written communication classes. With 10 seminars a year, more than 1600 employees learned to get to the point, use a reader-focused style, trim the deadwood, and proofread for quality control. The result: The company's old indirect messages and impersonal, wordy style disappeared, replaced by letters that were direct, clear, and reader-friendly. The number of follow-up calls and messages declined, to both internal and external audiences. The letter-review process speeded up, and new employees, with better models to follow, became productive faster. A major commitment to good writing paid bottomline dividends. Back to Top

New reporting models help both
management and operations

Senior management of a natural gas transportation company had difficulty distinguishing major incidents from routine maintenance because the gas dispatch group was recording all calls in the same traditional narrative style. Group facilitation and training using a real incident call led the dispatchers to understand their audiences, the importance of the reports, and the need to change. The result: During StrategicCommunication-led training, the group designed their own standard reporting formats that met their need for speedy recording of details and management's need to understand the significance of the event. In later training with other dispatch groups in the field, the new models became the standard for improving field reports throughout the company. Back to Top

Coaching of key individual produces
a market-opening presentation

A talented marketing manager in a start-up software company had the opportunity to explain their breakthrough product at the major client-industry association meeting. In intensive coaching sessions — some on the deadline weekend — the manager and the StrategicCommunication inc. coach hammered out the written article and then the polished presentation. The result: One client's reaction was "Wow." An associate reported, "In 4 years at the company, I've never seen a better performance." The company president wrote, "A thousand kudos." Back to Top

Customized training curriculum solves
a customer service need

A utilities customer service group, hammered by rude callers, had become almost confrontational - to customers and to each other. StrategicCommunication inc. designed and delivered a comprehensive curriculum to address the specific communication challenges they faced — listening, writing, and interpersonal skills. The result: Customer relations improved, and the group gained stronger teamwork and self esteem. As a bonus, the organization received a national award for its commitment to excellent communication. Back to Top

Report design meets decision makers' needs

A major oil company assembled mid-career professionals from throughout the world for a high-visibility, year-long geosciences training program. At year end, each participant wrote a long technical document, reporting his or her project results. While the projects demonstrated cutting-edge science on significant exploration targets, the reports drew complaints and weren't read. "Too long, too technical, not worth the effort," management complained. The result: Through continuous collaboration between the StrategicCommunication inc. consultant and the program team leaders, the outdated scientific report (hundreds of pages, method-focused) evolved into a 20-page management summary, a series of poster-size visual montages, with a short technical report and appendices of technical data and methods — all available via the Web. Now stakeholders at the program participants' home offices throughout the world can stay current on how the project is progressing. Back to Top

Scientists break the word barrier

A team of scientists had spent days revising a mission statement and had reached an impasse. While they agreed on their mission, they couldn't agree on the wording. In a one-hour session, led by an impartial StrategicCommunication inc. coach, they reached consensus — and got back to their scientific work. Back to Top

Revised and resequenced credit letters
improve collection process

Credit letters sent in sequence had lost their impact because, over time, different writers had created inaccurate or inappropriate models. Our audit of what "the computer" was writing led to proper sequencing in content and tone. Resequenced and revised, the "softer" letters were mailed first, with the legally demanding letters held until the end of the collection cycle. Back to Top

Expert editing makes sense for
high-impact documents

Whether it's an emergency call to focus a technical paper for an international conference on well logging or late night sessions to turn sloppy legal reasoning into a logical, terse, compelling brief — our precise editing saves hours of wasted time and energy. Back to Top