Collaborative Customization: Tailoring Writing Training for Geotechnical Engineering Success

Our client is an environmental and geotechnical engineering firm located in the US, with a team of consultants who write highly technical reports. 

These reports need to be clear enough for their less-technical readers to understand. The writers need to use concrete, objective language and avoid ambiguity and absolute terms. In addition, the reports are an important tool for building trust with their clients.  

Junior consultants are the main audience for this training. They spend the first few years of their careers receiving guidance from their managers in the field, and as they gain more experience, they are expected to take on more and more report writing. This includes drafting client deliverables such as memos and reports.   

This firm had been looking for a long-term training partner and tried a few vendors in 2022 – 2023 before trying Wavelength. They approached us wanting a curriculum that was more advanced than typical programs and a partner that was flexible.   

Fifteen engineers participated in our Writing Technical Reports pilot course, and the initial feedback was positive. They liked that instead of insisting writers follow hard-and-fast rules, we encourage them to use judgment when applying our writing techniques. But participants wanted content that was more relevant to their industry, so they asked us to customize the content to reflect the firm’s real-world reports.  

Our instructional design team reviewed sample reports and the firm’s writing resource library. For several weeks, we worked closely with our client’s subject matter experts to customize before-and-after examples, exercises and templates.  

The customized course was positively received. Participants appreciated the custom content and engagement with the facilitator. Junior engineers, who are just beginning to write complex reports, gained the most benefit from the course.  

We look forward to a long-term relationship with the firm.  

“I have enjoyed working with Wavelength for our company’s writing training. I had tried a few other writing training vendors before finding Wavelength. What I appreciate most about Wavelength is how easy they are to work with and how responsive they are to our specific needs. Our organization required some training customization, and Wavelength’s team seamlessly connected with a principal at our company to adapt their standard program to meet our needs.” - Learning & Development Manager