Briefing Notes for Beginners

An introductory workshop

This course is for brand new briefing note writers and is ideal for onboarding new staff. We cover what briefing notes are, why they matter, what strong content looks like, and how to approach the writing process.

Workshop details

We customize our workshops to your organization, team, documents, templates, and style guides

- In-person—Half day (3.5 hours)
- Live webinar—Half day (3.5 hours)
People who have never written a briefing note or want to refresh the fundamentals.
1. We meet with you to discuss your group's challenges and goals
2. You send us a series of representative documents
3. We analyze your documents
4. We customize our course material using excerpts from your documents
5. We hold the workshop

What you’ll learn

an introduction to briefing notes and why they matter
identifying key components of a strong briefing
using templates effectively
what information should go where and the right level of detail
differentiating background from analysis
structuring content for readability
what a business versus government writing style looks like
tools to avoid common problem patterns in briefings
writing for different levels of decision makers

Fundamentals for strong briefings—where and how to start

What style and structure is most appropriate

What strong analysis looks like and how to create it

Before taking this course, it took me three full days to finalize a briefing note…After being halfway through and learning new techniques, I finished a briefing note in an hour and a half with limited editing! This course is a huge win for me and the work I do daily, thank you!”

— Federal briefing note writer

I appreciated the tailoring of the workshop materials to our organization, using real-time, current writing examples to analyze and improve. It was readily applicable to my work and very professionally done.”

—The Civilian Complaints and Review

I saw an immediate and lasting improvement in my branch and the organization as a whole. Products became much more concise. The biggest benefit was that it gave people permission to leave extraneous details out. It definitely reduced the time spent on reviews and revisions.”

— Executive Director of the Public Service Commission

Have documents that look like this

Before (314 words)

Issue

The XX Committee (the Committee) was tasked with sourcing information that could potentially be used to strengthen Province X’s health care system, deliver better results for citizens, and deliver greater efficiencies.

Background

Over a matter of nine months, the Committee conducted research and facilitated discussion with stakeholders with expertise across the field of health-care systems.

Stakeholders involved in the Committee discussed at length how to best ensure that evidence is gathered, analyzed, and disseminated throughout the system relative to publicly funded services, technologies, structures, processes and procedures and incentives.

It should be noted that much research and analysis has been done on leading and best practices. The sources of this research and analysis were cross jurisdictional in nature, as well as in our own province.

Many possibilities were discussed. These included a “clearinghouse function” being identified or established and other structures being engaged and put into place to ensure greater coordination and application in the use of evidence.

Analysis

The Committee’s mandate is built on the platform of the ongoing and increasing need for the health system to do more to ensure that evidence is appropriately applied in order to better inform decisions about services, practices and policies and improve health outcomes in Province X.

The Committee is of the belief that the Province X Health Act should contain provisions to establish an objective, independent entity with the resources to assess and analyze health research and other relevant evidence in order to inform decisions on health services throughout the system.

The Committee agrees that as its recommendation is implemented, all necessary steps should be taken to optimize the use of existing expertise and resources, such as those residing in the health system, X Province universities, institutes, and other health agencies, as well as national research organizations.

Recommendation

It is recommended that Province X establish an arm’s-length entity to support evidence-based decision-making throughout the health system.

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After (249 words)

Issue

The XX Committee investigated how best to use health research to strengthen Province X’s health care system.

Recommendation

The Committee recommends the Province X Health Act establish an independent body to collect and analyze research, communicate findings, and inform decisions on health services.

Background

The Committee’s mandate was to analyze ways to improve Province X’s health care system, deliver better results, and increase efficiency.

The Committee worked over nine months to research the issue and consult healthcare experts. We gathered and carefully reviewed the information available nationally, internationally, and here in Province X.

There is already a solid body of research in health care, but there is currently no organization to coordinate and communicate it.

Analysis

Province X is not currently maximizing its ability to use existing research to make evidence-based decisions.

The Committee found rich opportunities to improve the health system by:

better understanding the existing body of health-related research
integrating existing research into the province’s day-to-day practices
communicating findings to policy makers to inform decision making

The Committee believes the best approach is to establish an independent body to undertake these responsibilities.

It is important this body have the necessary resources.

The advantages of establishing an independent organization

This body would:

centralize the research
draw on expertise from institutes and agencies, provincial universities, national research organizations, and within our own health care system
develop strategies to inform decisions about health care and propose ways to apply evidence to daily practices across the system