Writing Ministerial Letters and Briefings

This course maps to capability:

Overview

This one day course is for middle-level public sector employees who do not have extensive writing experience in writing ministerial letters and briefings. The course will provide participants with a sound understanding of the role, purposes and types of ministerial letters and briefings they will be asked to write. They will gain a good understanding of the different requirements and approaches required for success in each of these quite different writing tasks, and be able to apply their knowledge in the workplace. The course will refresh the participants’ knowledge of the principles and techniques of quality writing, before focussing on ministerial letters and briefings individually and in depth. Participants will receive detailed instruction on the knowledge, techniques and skills required to produce quality writing which meets the needs of their agencies and Ministers.

Course Content

  • The principles of good writing – the essential skills and techniques for effective, quality writing that meets the needs of your agency and your Minister.
  • Analysis and discrimination – deciding what can be included and what should be left out and awareness of the context and environment.
  • Know your audience and apply the correct approaches and techniques for each writing task.
  • Detailed information on how to approach and research, prepare and write quality ministerial letters and briefings

Activities

As well as detailed instruction, the course will include workshop activities so participants can put into practice what they have been learning, and develop skills and knowledge they can apply in the workplace. Participants will review and prepare two draft ministerial letters and ministerial briefings

The participants’ course workbook contains activities, resources and templates to take away for future reference.

Course Outcomes

By the end of this course attendees should be able to:

  • Understand the purposes, importance and types of Ministerial letters and briefings and the differences between them
  • Know the characteristics of well written Ministerial letters and briefings which meet the needs of the Minister and the agency
  • Understand how to decide what is important and relevant and what can be left out
  • Understand and be able to apply the techniques and strategies that result in high level writing skills, particularly in relation to Ministerial letters and briefings

Benefits to your organisation

  • Your manager will not be spending time editing or returning your work to be rewritten, resulting in increased productivity for you and your manager
  • Your documents will better represent your agency and your Minister

Benefits to you

  • You will understand what makes a quality and effective ministerial letter and briefing
  • You will be able to apply that knowledge and your skills to improve your ministerial letters and briefings immediately
  • You will become an effective writer with the capacity for continual improvement of your writing