Tailored treatment means healthier writing at The King’s Fund

When you’re dealing with major issues such as healthcare policy, NHS management and leadership development, focusing on the writing can seem trivial in comparison. But Emphasis helped staff at The King’s Fund to see that improving their writing skills would strengthen their ability to bring about major change.

The challenge

The King’s Fund examines how the health system in England can be improved. It uses that insight to shape policy, transform services and change behaviour.

The organisation has several departments that produce written material, with varying styles and audiences.

‘The policy department, for example, writes for a more academic market and for policy makers, but also increasingly for senior healthcare managers, to help them to interpret and implement policy,’ says Publishing Manager Mary Jean Pritchard. ‘The leadership department, however, is focusing on personal development and uses language that reflects that.’

The organisation wanted to improve the overall quality of writing and adherence to house style while keeping these individual styles intact.

The solution

Over the course of a year, Emphasis delivered specially designed training to almost 100 staff, who represented all departments.

‘Most of the training was done by the same two trainers, which was really helpful, because they got an overall grasp of the requirements of different departments, as well as the varying abilities,’ explains Mary Jean. ‘The quality of the personal interaction in the sessions was at least as important as the content of the programme. The trainers definitely won over people who perhaps hadn’t gone into the session feeling very positive about it.’

The results

Following the training, staff are more aware of how to plan their writing and communicate clearly, and are also more accepting of feedback from colleagues.

‘The feedback was so positive that senior management decided to run ongoing sessions for new staff,’ says Mary Jean.

The King’s Fund chose Emphasis as their training partner because they felt we understood the organisation’s specific needs. ‘We chose Emphasis because they really “got it” – from the writing samples we provided, they really understood exactly what we needed and what our issues were,’ says Mary Jean. ‘We also valued their professionalism, including their track record with similar organisations, and liked the fact that they were able to tailor the programme to meet our specific needs.’