Deliver Negative Messages Effectively
Balance authority, professionalism, and empathy
All writers find delivering negative messages one of the most difficult parts of their job. We customize this session for clients who:
make decisions that significantly affect the reader
respond to consumer or citizen complaint letters
manage complex, sensitive stakeholder engagements
have to deliver news with a strong emotional charge
What our clients have achieved
This training has:
reduced the number of appeals on decisions
led to feedback from complainants such as, “Thank you. You’re the first person who helped me understand.”
brought industry recognition to clients for the effectiveness of their responses
created deeper trust in the decision-making process among stakeholders with opposing interests
Some of our clients
Alberta Energy Regulator
Alberta Human Rights Commission
Bank of Montreal
British Columbia Securities Commission
Canada Energy Regulator
Canadian Human Rights Commission
Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization
Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board
Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board
Nunavut Impact Review Board
Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments
Ombudsman for Veterans Affairs
Workers Compensation Board
Workshop details
We customize our workshops to your organization, team, documents, templates, and style guides
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If participants have recently taken our Effective Writing workshop, this is a 3.5-hour session (in-person or online).
Otherwise, we recommend this be a 1-day workshop in-person or 2, 3.5-hour Zoom sessions.
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All writers and reviewers who deliver negative messages and want to understand the mechanics of tone.
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We meet with you to discuss your group's challenges and goals
You send us a series of representative documents
We analyze your documents
We customize our course material using excerpts from your documents
What you’ll learn
Deliver messages in the most effective way for each situation
Communicate so stakeholders hear and understand your organization’s position
Be able to draft difficult messages more quickly and confidently
Shape the response that will work for the audience and purpose
Learn the principles that shape tone
Develop important messages and support them with strong rationale
Create neutral and fact-based responses where appropriate
Create empathetic or sensitive responses where appropriate
Receive a toolkit of specific ways to refine messages based on context
Use active and passive voice strategically to shape tone
Understand when to focus on tone as your draft
Start the conversation
I was reflecting on the best courses I’ve taken and this was hands down one of the best. So applicable to my daily work.
— Ministry of Environment and Parks
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
