How to choose a business-writing training provider

Writing skills is a subject that many trainers claim to be able to provide. Here’s our guide to sorting the wheat from the chaff.

Writing analysis

It’s important always to build on what trainees know already. So a good provider should start by assessing documents that delegates have written – and do so preferably in advance of the training course. (At Emphasis, we start by assessing 14 aspects of each delegate’s writing, producing a graph to show which skills they should concentrate on.)

It’s also useful if they can do the same after training, to assess the effectiveness of the training and pick up on any outstanding learning needs.

Specialist trainers

The fact that English is usually the first language of trainees does not mean that any English-speaking trainer can train them to use it effectively. Many trainers claim to be able to deliver writing-skills training. But you need to make sure that they have specialist skills in this area – apart from experience of running training courses on the subject.

To state the obvious: English may be our native language, but it’s still a language. So it demands specialist skills. After all, you wouldn’t want to learn Spanish from a trainer whose only qualification is that they read a book on it last week.

Flexible, solutions-based approach

The objective of all training should be to give trainees the skills they need to work more effectively. It should not be simply to run a training course. Make sure, therefore, that the providers you choose can be flexible in their approach. They should be able to use a range of training techniques (eg. group-based training; one-to-one, on-site coaching; telephone coaching), so that they can adopt the methods most suited to the trainees’ needs and circumstances.

Bespoke training

Training needs to be authentic to work, as trainees need to be able to apply the techniques they learn to their jobs straight away, without having to ‘translate’ it. So make sure that the provider you choose has the resources to provide bespoke training courses.

Follow-up support

The true test of training comes when trainees get back to their desks and have to plough through the 30 emails that have piled up while they were on the course. New techniques are easily dislodged by day-to-day workloads, and it’s all-too easy to slip back into bad habits. So ask what back-up the trainer can provide – such as telephone/email support or regular reminders of key messages.

If you’d like to discuss how we can help you or your team improve your business-writing, call us on +44 (0)1273 936 907 or send us a message.