Business and Report Writing for Managers – Training Course Outline

Business-critical decisions are often based on reports that companies commission from the people who know their business best – their own management staff. It takes a lot of skill to communicate important financial, technical or business information efficiently and accurately at this level.

This course has been designed to build on the skills of senior managers who are required to write key documents which will support management reporting or decision-making.

What you will learn on this course

By the end of the course, you will know how to:

• Accurately assess the requirements arising from your brief—and what to do if you don’t receive a well-detailed one
• Target your audience and analyse their needs
• Set accurate terms of reference for staff providing data
• Gather your data and select the relevant information for your audience
• Structure your writing to maintain the readers’ attention
• Construct your arguments persuasively
• Write SMART recommendations
• Edit your draft for maximum impact and polish the final product
• Present your report clearly and effectively

What our customers say

“Excellent course with lots of good examples.”

Shaun Holden, Balfour Beatty Capital

“I think nearly all of my colleagues would benefit from this course.”

Nick Clements, Medical Protection Society

“It was a one-day course so inevitably there was not a great deal of time for practical exercises. However, the practical content was useful and helped to reinforce the understanding of the principles taught.”

Glenda Terry, Leicester Money Advice UK

“An excellent course, very well presented and with excellent resources for future reference – Thank you!”

Jo Poulton, Darent Valley Hospital

Course Duration

This course comprises eight core modules and an additional five supplementary modules. It can be run as a one-day intensive course or two-day workshop.

When run as a one-day public course, we cover the core modules and if there is time, one or two supplementary modules chosen by the delegates on the day.

As a two-day workshop, we cover all the modules, and, additionally, you will have time to work on documents that you bring with you.

For private one-day courses, clients choose in advance which modules they want to focus on.

The course materials include all the modules so delegates on one-day courses may study the supplementary modules in their own time if they wish.

For more information, give us a call on 01635 202013 or email

Follow up session

Get the most from a staff training day and make sure valuable ideas aren't forgotten by booking a follow-up session. Our trainer will visit you again a month to six weeks after your course to give delegates the chance to:

• discuss how they implemented what they learnt
• go over points from the course
• practise their skills by working on their own writing with the trainer’s help

Course Contents: core modules

1. A framework for success

• The BASDELL business writing model – a model of the process to create effective business documents

2. Understanding your brief

• What’s the purpose of a business, technical or financial report?
• Assessing the issues and focusing on the essentials
• Setting a clear objective to save you time and effort
• Building on the skills you have and developing the skills of your staff

3. Analysing your audience

• Questions you need to ask yourself about your readers
• Producing a clear set of guidelines on what response you want from each reader
• Understanding different readers and giving them what they need—and in their preferred style and format

4. Designing your structure

• The benefits of structuring before you start writing
• Using techniques like mind mapping™ or Word™ Outline View to sequence and structure your material
• Ensuring your structure supports and delivers what you want from your audience
• Breaking the job down into manageable chunks

5. Developing your style

• Plain Words’ eight principles for clear writing
• How to keep sentences short and simple – even though the content is complex
• Writing to express not impress!
• How to write in terms your reader will relate to
• How to use variety in your writing without confusing your reader

6. Making your arguments persuasive

• What are the principles of persuasive writing?
• Explaining the problem to get readers on-side
• Anticipating and overcoming objections
• Subjective versus objective justifications—what’s best when?
• How can your overall structure support your arguments?

7. Creating your executive summary

• What is the purpose of the executive summary?
• Why it’s the most important part of your report
• How to structure your executive summary
• What are the most important things to include?

8. Drafting and polishing your words

• mindset for drafting – how to avoid writer’s block
• A top-down approach to improving your text
• Ensuring that you achieve maximum impact – things to check when editing your draft
• Common mistakes you can avoid – sentence fragments and run-on sentences
• Merging different writing styles from contributors and ensuring a consistent voice
• Getting the most from your headings
• Hints for proofreading

Supplementary modules

9. Writing SMART recommendations

• Why use SMART recommendations?
• Creating Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-framed recommendations

10. Creating professional emails

• Plain Words’ seven principles to ensure your emails are professional
• Staying on top of your in box

11. Write winning bids

• Meeting customer requirements: analysing the ITT
• Making your bid a winner: understanding why people buy

12. When words are not enough

• When and how to use graphics – pictures, screen shots, diagrams, flow charts, tables, graphs, etc.
• How to present numerical data
• Things to check when including illustrations

13. Crafting presentations that work

• Planning for your content and audience
• The best order for creating your presentation
• Notes, handouts and visual aids – what works, what doesn’t
• Different presentation styles – avoiding death by PowerPoint®

Book Now!

For details of timetabled courses, see the schedule. For prices, see the costs table.

To reserve your places you can either book on-line or call us on +44 (0)1635 202013.