Course information

Business Writing. Communicate with clarity and impact.

Writing policies and procedures are responsibilities delegated to many individuals in government departments, not-for-profit organisations, and businesses in Australia today.

Policies and procedures are operational documents that communicate, support, and justify an organisation’s decisions and actions. They can help staff, clients, and the public to understand an organisation’s work and how the work relates to them.

Writing effective policies and procedures requires attention to purpose, context, and audience. Using plain and inclusive language can inform and meet the needs of audiences.

If you are responsible for writing, reviewing, or updating policies and procedures, this course is for you. It offers practical skills and advice to guide you through the process.

Aims

This course aims to increase your confidence and skills in:

• initiating and writing new policies and procedures
• discerning strategies for revising existing policies and procedures
• describing the approach to policies and procedures used in your organisation
• identifying delegations and approval processes required for policy development and review.

We want you to leave feeling empowered to participate actively in policy development and review in your workplace.

Outcomes

By the end of this course, you should be able to: 

• identify the rationale, purpose, audience, and context (including legislation) of specific policies and procedures within your organisation
• identify your policy network, recognising the participants, approvers, and their delegations involved in the development of policies and procedures
• initiate and facilitate approval processes for new and revised policies and procedures
• apply text features such as layout and style to maximise the impact to your organisation’s overall policy messages
• use plain and inclusive language to write policies and procedures that are clear, appropriately sequenced and readable
• use jargon effectively to communicate information relevant to your organisation
• identify any additional information required to support the enactment of policies and procedures within your organisation.

Content

This course will be offered over two half-day sessions.

Day 1

We will begin by examining definitions of policy and procedure, and common usage of the compound term: policies and procedures. We’ll consider policies and procedures through your engagement as a writer, relationships with your networks and knowledge of your audience. Additionally, we will identify and define specific components of policies and procedures, and how they are apparent in the written word. Exploring a sample of publicly available policies and procedures, we will discuss the messages they reveal about the organisations.

We will then focus on the language of policies and procedures, including an introduction to the notions of plain language and inclusive language.

Towards the end of the first half-day, we will focus on your work context. You’ll be guided to describe your organisation’s approach to policy development and review, including approval processes and your place and role within them. You’ll also be invited to share a challenge to pursue between sessions.

Day 2

In the second half-day session, we will engage in discussions and share suggestions for effectively addressing policy challenges within your workplace.

We will explore the notions of plain English and inclusive language in more depth, through individual and group exercises related specifically to policies and procedures. We will also discuss the potential use (or misuse) of jargon.

Finally, we will examine a rating scale for assessing policies and procedures for clarity, coherence and potential impact. There will be time in this session for you to work on your draft policy or procedure, applying strategies gained in the course and receiving facilitator and peer feedback.

Throughout both sessions we will consider how artificial intelligence (AI) can be used, or potentially misused, in writing effective policies and procedures.

Intended audience

This course is focused on the presentation and language of policies and procedures to maximise their impact. It is suited to team members tasked with writing or rewriting operational policies and procedures.

Prerequisites

None

Delivery mode

• Face-to-face, presenter-taught training using your own device
• Online training via the platform Zoom

Delivery style

The course will be conducted over two half-days, spaced two weeks apart. This course structure will enable you to apply learning from the first session and gather information to inform the second session. You are encouraged to bring along an example of a draft policy or procedure that you are currently working on, to both sessions.

Materials

All course materials are provided electronically using Dropbox. Printing services are not provided.