Influential Writing for Government
This short course covers how influential and effective writing can generate a range of positive outcomes for government. Using a workshop format, it covers proven, practical techniques needed by government employees at all levels.
Enrol
1 day
In-Person, On-Campus
UNSW Canberra City Campus
$1045.00
Accelerate your career, learn new skills and expand your knowledge.
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Overview
Learn how influential writing generates positive outcomes for government, improving productivity, lowering costs, enhancing reputation, and making better decisions. Our workshop equips government employees at all levels with proven techniques to maximize these benefits for you, your team, organisation, and the broader community. Gain valuable knowledge and learn new writing techniques based on leading research in neuroscience, persuasion, audience engagement, and adopting a growth mindset.
Course content
- This workshop is structured around the best practices for influential writing in a government context. These practices draw upon the collective experience of what works for senior professionals, including current and former senior executives from the public service and private sector, combined with expertise from within UNSW.
- Why effective writing in government matters and how to maximise the benefits of influential government writing for you, and your team, organisation and community.
- The core skills of effective writing in government, including practical frameworks used by senior executives for understanding your audience, engaging with stakeholders, and planning and drafting government documents for maximum influence and impact.
- An overview of the key types of government writing, including ministerial and agency head-level briefs, ministerial correspondence, government reports, speeches, minutes and internal documents.
Participants will benefit from the highly interactive workshop design features, drawing on the rich knowledge contained within each cohort’s professional experiences.
Learning outcomes
Skills, competencies and knowledge gained through this course.
This course covers:
- the best practice frameworks for all forms of government writing
- how to apply those best practices in the context of a real, relevant and current piece of written work that's relevant for your role
- high-level guidance on some of the main forms of government writing together with further reading and reference material for situations where this information will be helpful.
By completing this course, participants will be able to:
- describe the importance of effective writing in the Australian government context
- understand and apply the core skills required to write influentially and impactfully for government
- explain the role of neuroscience and the principles of persuasion in attaining optimal audience impact
- outline frameworks for understanding one’s government audience and techniques for planning and delivering influential written work
- identify the key types of government writing and how to apply the core skills to each type of document
- understand the importance of adopting a learning mindset and principles of deliberative practice, and apply the core skills of effective government writing in a range of contexts
- implement the benefit of practical experiences gained during the workshops, including a highly practical experiential learning opportunity, reflective practice frameworks and peer-to-peer learning activities.
In addition to a highly engaging, expertly facilitated workshop experience, attendees will receive:
- a detailed participant handbook containing valuable reference materials
- an individual action planner to record actionable insights for use in the workplace
- a highly relevant pre-reading resource on influential writing to help set learning objectives ahead of the first half-day workshop.
Who should attend
The workshop content and activities is designed primarily for a public sector audience (especially for those working in the Commonwealth and ACT public sectors).
Prerequisites
There are no prerequisites.
Facilitator
James Fletcher
James brings a wealth of experience and credibility to the Influential Writing for Government course.
He is a highly experienced former Senior Executive Service (SES) Commonwealth Government lawyer, with experience in public and private sectors. He has experience managing some 30 lawyers as well as leading significant legislative initiatives. He is also an experienced workplace investigator, executive coach, mentor, facilitator and trainer.
His Government experience relates to his experience as a regulatory and administrative lawyer who has worked extensively across Government, both in-house and in an advisory capacity for top tier practice for over 14 years.
Formerly the Branch Manager of the Public Law Branch in the (then) Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA), James has been responsible for delivering significant and high-profile projects and has managed multi-disciplinary teams and multi-million-dollar budgets.
James is a Level 3 credentialed Executive and Organisational Coach; accredited mediator and trainer as well as being an accredited practitioner in the use of the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI); High Performance Trait Indicator (HPTI); and Strengths Deployment Inventory (SDI)
Cancellation policy
Courses will be held subject to sufficient registrations. UNSW Canberra reserves the right to cancel a course up to five working days prior to commencement of the course. If a course is cancelled, you will have the opportunity to transfer your registration or be issued a full refund. If registrant cancels within 10 days of course commencement, a 50% registration fee will apply. UNSW Canberra is a registered ACT provider under ESOS Act 2000-CRICOS provider Code 00098G.