by Jody Bruner
One of our clients, Liberty Algonquin Power & Utilities, recently asked us a great question:
“As Liberty is engaged in the renewable energy industry and has prioritized the integration of Sustainability across our business modalities, we encourage and seek out Suppliers who share its sustainability goals and are proactive on environmental factors. Read more →
by Jody Bruner
Have you ever had a colleague eagerly ask for feedback on a document only to have her face fall as you eagerly point out all the ways she could improve it? Why, you wonder, did she ask for help in the first place if she doesn’t really want it? Read more →
by Jody Bruner
Like most of you practicing self-isolation and social distancing, I’m getting lonely and stressed out. I miss seeing my family and friends and getting out to yoga classes. Most of the media is alarming, and it looks like self-isolation, or cocooning, is the new normal for a while. Read more →
by Jody Bruner
We’re updating our annotated list of references in our writing skills manual and thought you may find some inspiration. Below you’ll find a collection of some of our favorite books that explore everything from ESL grammar to texting and email. Read more →
Back in 1969, Wavelength started by helping business people communicate more easily, clearly, and persuasively. Our first workshops were delivered to oil field workers in Alberta.
Fifty years later, we keep this vision alive by helping our learners wherever they work: in banks, governments, airports, mines, insurance companies, engineering firms, pharmaceuticals—you name it. After all, everybody benefits from better communication skills. Read more →
by Jody Bruner
Collective nouns are words that are singular in form but refer to a group of people, things or animals. Read more →
by Lesley Nevills
Have you ever had to read a message several times just to understand it? We’ve all been on the receiving end of emails like that, and our impulse is to hit delete. But what if that email includes information you need, or it comes from someone you can’t ignore?
Many writers fall into the trap of writing in a vague and bureaucratic style because they think it makes them sound more formal or professional, but it confuses and challenges the reader. So, if you don’t want your readers to hit delete, use a modern written communication style that engages your reader with a friendly, conversational tone. To be effective, let your human voice come through.
Who would you prefer to work with – Writer A or Writer B? Read more →
by Leigh Geraghty
Most of us understand the benefits of branding our business-it helps build recognition, credibility, customer loyalty and a competitive edge. But what about branding yourself? What is personal branding, and why is it an increasingly important area of employee development?
Personal branding is how you define and portray yourself as a person and a business professional. Your brand expresses your interests, talents, personality, and expertise. It portrays the person you are and the person you want others to see. You want to make sure that you are using a custom SEO for your brand to hone in on the target customers that you ideally need for your business, for example, if your brand was of luxury items like furniture, then you would look into seo for luxury brands and how it can help you. Read more →
by Jody Bruner
Wavelength is the result of merging two communication skills training companies, IWCC and BrunerBiz. In 2017, we blended our two flagship business writing courses (IWCC’s High Impact Business Writing and Bruner’s Effective Business Writing) to deliver a course that combines the best of each: Professional Business Writing. Creating this new workshop was a great learning experience, and everyone—our team and clients who have piloted the course—is happy with the results.
This is an instructional design story, in which we share how this redesign revealed what each workshop assumed about the learner, and about reconciling two different approaches to writing.
Different assumptions about our learners Read more →
by Alan De Back
The end of the calendar year is when many organizations start their performance review process. Both employees and managers often find the process confusing, frustrating, and demotivating. Whether employees are writing their self-review or managers are writing their supervisory reviews, many struggle with what to write and how to write it. If they’re not careful, managers can lose the opportunity to not only improve their team members’ performance but also improve their relationships and communication channels.
Here are three tips to help you in the performance review process:
Always provide specific examples.
Simply writing “I am a great employee” or “Tom did a great job” is not enough. You need to give specific examples Read more →