Writing Business Reports

Report Writing - within a business context, the main purpose of a report is to communicate ideas and information; to inform and persuade.

Written reports are made up of facts and arguments on a specific subject. The structure of your report allows the information to be presented in an ordered way. The structure allows your reader(s) to extract specific material from the report quickly and accurately, enabling them to make better informed decisions.

The best approach to writing reports is to adopt a structure that is:

• Clear, logical and easy to follow.
• Concise and to the point.

Business professionals frequently find reports challenging to write and so structure them inappropriately. All too often reports are:

• Badly planned.
• Unattractively laid out.
• Poorly structured (because of the planning element having been inadequately managed).
• Verbose, or with convoluted grammatical structures.
• Lacking in signposting, making it difficult to find key information quickly and efficiently.

The secret to successful business report writing

It's not difficult to deliver your reports with style and confidence. Here are a few hints and tips to use when writing your business reports (you will gain more by attending our business writing training courses):

Planning

• Decide in advance what you want to say and what you want your reader to do as a result of reading the document.
• Marshall facts, viewpoints and recommendations and organise them to be digestible for your reader.
• Plan the flow of arguments through the written report - the order in which you will present information and ideas.

Language and Style

• Your writing should be clear and precise in meaning (all your detail should be in an appendix).
• The style of your writing should usually be factual and objective.

Layout and Use of Headings

• The main parts of your report should have headings.
• Important points within these main areas should carry sub-headings.

Summaries and Conclusions

• Make it easy for your reader to see what the conclusion is and what actions you are suggesting or recommending.

We offer training that will help you to excel in turning all your documents into resources that your reader will want to read, refer to and trust time after time.

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The following courses will help you to improve your business writing:

Writing Dynamics™

Today's readers are overloaded; they have little time and will, at best, skim-read. Writing Dynamics™ shows you how to handle these challenges:

• Get your reader's attention
• Ensure your key message is understood
• Save you and your reader time

The Writing Dynamics™ three-stage writing system helps you PLAN using creative and structured thinking; DRAFT in record time and EDIT for impact. Find out more about Writing Dynamics™ here. (Available in London or as an in-house course at your choice of venue)

Grammar on the Rocks™ 

This is the practical approach to the rules of grammar. The rules that are needed to present a professional written image for yourself and your organisation. It will actively improve your understanding and use of grammar without bombarding you with too much information. Find out more about Grammar on the Rocks™ here. (Currently only available as an in-house course)

The Business Writing Workshop

This is our most intensive business writing workshop. By combining Writing Dynamics™ and Grammar on the Rocks™ together over 2 days you will not only save your organisation time but also money. Find out more about the Business Writing Workshop here. (Currently only available as a 2 day in-house course)

 

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