Why writing is a struggle… and how to fix it
What you’re likely accustomed to
Most people simply haven’t been given good tools for writing effectively at work. That can make writing feel like this:
Effort
Time
Page count
Stress
Frustration
Our workshops offer an alternative
Good writing is not rocket science. We teach a series of practical steps that give writers traction and lead to clear documents.
Ease
Clarity
Flow
Speed
Mastery
What we teach your people to do
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Before
30 words
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After
17 words
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Before
51 words
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After
50 words
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Before
26 words
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After
11 words
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32 words
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After
13 words
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48 words
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After
33 words
What costs can Wordsmith’s trainings save you?
Wasting time writing inefficiently and ineffectively can cost your organization money. Wordsmith has witnessed significant cost savings in its client’s businesses after training programs. Use the cost savings tool to project your organization’s potential gains.
Our workshops
Choose the training that fits your needs
We offer in-person, live webinar, and online self-paced courses. Each workshop is customized to your organization and group.
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Core content all workplace writers and reviewers need
We teach internationally established best practices for clarity, as well as a new staged process to help participants reduce writing and review time. Ideally, a foundation course is a prerequisite for other courses. -
Address the challenges of specific documents
Governments and regulatory bodies produce certain documents repeatedly. These courses teach writers how to:reproduce clarity and speed every time they write
avoid common pitfalls
deepen their understanding of the foundational principles
use templates effectively
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Targeted courses for tricky writing problems
These are for teams that want to strengthen certain skills. For example: editing and proofreading, delivering negative messages, or writing complex documents as a team. -
Courses for individuals or independent teams
We have a series of online modules (more to come)
Some of our clients
Alberta Energy Regulator
British Columbia Financial Services Authority
British Columbia Securities Commission
Canada Energy Regulator
Canadian Human Rights Commission
Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization
Cities of Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer, Vancouver, and more
Civilian Review and Complaint Commission for RCMP
Federal and provincial governments (across nearly every ministry)
Local Government Administrative Association of Alberta
Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board
Municipal governments across Canada
Nunavut Impact Review Board
Office of the Veterans Ombudsman
Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments
Workers’ Compensation Board
A success story
The Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI) is an organization that resolves financial disputes. Plain language has become, in their words, “the way we do things.” OBSI:
trained all their staff—we offered foundational and document- and skill-specific, training to give writers and reviewers tools
updated templates—this significantly shortened the length of documents and time to produce them and improved clarity
created consistency—they now have a one-page writing standard of principles and a style guide
streamlined the review process
Clearer letters in a fraction of the time
In a specialized and jargon-filled industry, their documents have become extraordinary examples of clarity. Consumers have responded to unfavourable letters by saying, “Thank you. You were the first person who helped me understand.”
Many of the major banks have now adopted OBSI’s approach to letter writing.
Grow your audience.
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Grow your audience.
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Most workplace writing doesn’t work
Documents take too long to produce and are too hard to read. This wastes times and leads to costly rework or miscommunication. This is the problem we solve.
We have specific solutions for…
Board reporting
Briefing notes and memos
Business cases and change requests
Council reports
Decisions and investigation reports
Email
Forms
Legal documents
Marketing and communication plans
Policies and procedures
Presentations and PowerPoint
Proposals and grant applications
Report writing
Standards and bylaws
Technical writing
Templates, style guides, and standards
BEFORE
Complainants, stakeholders and the institutions that are the subject of the Ombud’s mandate should have a clear understanding of the fairness criteria that the Ombud will apply when investigating a complaint. Establishing what fairness means for the particular Ombud’s role is important for understanding and accountability. The meaning of fairness chosen should lend itself to assessment criteria that are objective as opposed to subjective.
AFTER
We have recently redefined our approach to fairness so it is easier to understand. Our new approach also gives us more objective criteria to measure ourselves against and helps hold us accountable.
What our clients have achieved
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Half the time to produce documents
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41% to 98% usability for public document
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3000 to 300 pages of quarterly board reporting
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A reputation for clarity in their industry
We have specific solutions for…
Board reporting
Briefing notes and memos
Business cases and change requests
Council reports
Decisions and investigation reports
Email
Forms
Legal documents
Marketing and communication plans
Policies and procedures
Presentations and PowerPoint
Proposals and grant applications
Report writing
Standards and bylaws
Technical writing
Templates, style guides, and standards
Training—write in a way that works
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Government & Regulatory
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Technical & Environmental
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Business
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Legal
What is poor writing costing your organization?
Clear communication
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About us
Wordsmith is a home for smart people with a love of clarity and a healthy impatience for inefficiency. We are a small company that does important work helping clients big and small build a culture of clear, effective writing.
What people say about us:
Writers and reviewers are finding writing is faster and easier overall. Our quality assessment measures show writing quality is improving. Staff are engaged and driving a plain-language culture through the organization.
—Sarah Bradley, the CEO of the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments
Radical collaboration
Exchanging ideas within a group of people who trust one another—without fear or judgment or failure—can feel electric. Your idea spurs another person’s. The whole is much greater than the sum of its parts.
—Creative Confidence, Tom and David Kelley
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Training
Give writers the tools they need
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Coaching
Get solutions for specific document types
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Editing
Make your documents clear and effective
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Consulting
Solve efficiency issues and reduce review cycles
Some of our clients
Courses—Online, in-person, or self-paced
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Course Name
Explaining more about it in brief and simple terms.
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Course Name
Explaining more about it in brief and simple terms.
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Course Name
Explaining more about it in brief and simple terms.
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Online Courses
Self-paced courses to fit your schedule
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A sneak peek into our online briefing note course
This free module is an excerpt of Briefing Note Fundamentals. It will give you a feel for our online teaching style, and the content doesn’t just apply to briefing notes, so you’ll also learn a new skill.
Briefing Note Fundamentals gives writers the tools they need to draft strong, clear briefing notes for decision makers. If you do any kind of writing for decision makers, this content will be relevant to you. We address all the common problems and give concrete solutions to them. See the full course page here or watch the introductory video here.
Choosing the right issue is a challenge for most documents
The issue is a document's focus or the problem that needs solving. The issue you choose determines the direction of your document. So getting clear about it is the first and most important step of your process.
If the issue is imprecise, all the content of your document veers off track. This can come from writers going without clear guidance, or because they know so much about a topic it’s difficult to sift through it all to get to the heart of the issue.
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A sneak peek into our online briefing note course
This free module is an excerpt of Briefing Note Fundamentals. It will give you a feel for our online teaching style, and the content doesn’t just apply to briefing notes, so you’ll also learn a new skill.
Briefing Note Fundamentals gives writers the tools they need to draft strong, clear briefing notes for decision makers. If you do any kind of writing for decision makers, this content will be relevant to you. We address all the common problems and give concrete solutions to them. See the full course page here or watch the introductory video here.
Choosing the right issue is a challenge for most documents
The issue is a document's focus or the problem that needs solving. The issue you choose determines the direction of your document. So getting clear about it is the first and most important step of your process.
If the issue is imprecise, all the content of your document veers off track. This can come from writers going without clear guidance, or because they know so much about a topic it’s difficult to sift through it all to get to the heart of the issue.
-
A sneak peek into our online briefing note course
This free module is an excerpt of Briefing Note Fundamentals. It will give you a feel for our online teaching style, and the content doesn’t just apply to briefing notes, so you’ll also learn a new skill.
Briefing Note Fundamentals gives writers the tools they need to draft strong, clear briefing notes for decision makers. If you do any kind of writing for decision makers, this content will be relevant to you. We address all the common problems and give concrete solutions to them. See the full course page here or watch the introductory video here.
Choosing the right issue is a challenge for most documents
The issue is a document's focus or the problem that needs solving. The issue you choose determines the direction of your document. So getting clear about it is the first and most important step of your process.
If the issue is imprecise, all the content of your document veers off track. This can come from writers going without clear guidance, or because they know so much about a topic it’s difficult to sift through it all to get to the heart of the issue.
