One-on-one Coaching to Improve Your Writing in the Workplace
My technique: If people receive too many comments – hours worth of them on the telephone – or if all space in the margins in a document is filled up with comments, people get discouraged and overwhelmed. They also don’t have enough time to do their substantive work if they spend hours being edited.
I usually use the following steps:
- Identify one or at most two problems per document. The problems are either the highest priority or ones that can be solved most easily.
- Identify the problem briefly to the person being coached.
- Explain briefly why the problem is a problem.
Ask the person how he or she could have avoided the problem; walk the person through solving the problem; or give the person the solution outright – whichever is appropriate.
Move on – either to the next problem or to ending the coaching session.
Why do I say that “I usually use the following steps”? Because sometimes people want to be coached on a particularly important document. In that case, we’ll review the entire document. Sometimes people want long coaching sessions. In that case, I’ll provide them.
Coaching vs. editing: Sometimes documents need so many changes that the process becomes, not coaching, but editing. I provide editing as well.
I prefer coaching over editing. That way, a document’s author can still present the document as his or her own work, and do so more fairly. And the author has learned something from the process.
My non-threatening approach: People are self-conscious about their writing, and defensive, too. I recognize that, help them feel comfortable, and show that I am on their side.
My success in coaching: I have coached people in their workplace writing. I have seen their writing improve. And it’s gratifying.
Long distance: I am based in Boston, but I have worked with clients across the country, including coaching lawyers by phone.
Seminars
I customize the length of my seminars, from 1 ¼ hours to a work day. I customize the content to address the common writing challenges in your workplace.
I don’t lecture literally or figuratively. I succeed at putting people at ease. And my writing tips stick.
Here are some comments from the evaluations of my legal writing seminar at the Social Law Library in March 2020:
“Helpful seminar for my writing projects. Knowledgeable speaker!”
“Excellent program. Moved it along. Very informative.”
“Presenter was great, clear, and concise!”