Clear, easy-to-read documents are critical for any business. Artis
REIT, a real estate investment trust that began in Winnipeg in 2004,
understands this keenly. When the trust began, most of the team
came from the real estate, finance and accounting worlds. They did
not have a focus on human resources (HR) or writing. As a result,
much of their HR related documents were piecemeal to start,
without a dedicated focus on consistency between documents.
Looking for Consistency and Perspective
“Our goal was to be more planful and responsive to the business needs.”
Morgan Johnson, Senior Manager, Human Resources at Artis
In 2015, the human resources department created a strategic plan. “We wanted all communications from HR to have the same feel and tone,” according to Morgan Johnson, Senior Manager, Human Resources at Artis.
“We wanted an external perspective. In some cases with our documentation, employees had questions or wouldn’t take action the way we wanted them to. We wanted to inspire confidence.”
Empowering Employees to Write and Edit with Clarity and Consistency
Morgan had previously taken a writing course by Marie Antaya of Eclectic
Communications. When the time came to choose an outside source for help,
they knew what they wanted. “We picked Marie because her methodology is great.
What she does is business appropriate and gets to the heart of things,” Morgan
reported. “She’s very problem-solving focused.”
Marie began the project with a thorough needs assessment. “We had in-person
meetings and a series of phone meetings,” according to Marie. “We did
a survey of all participants and they all submitted writing samples, which we
then used in our workshop.”
“You don’t leave the course with an overwhelmingly big binder of materials you won’t look through
again. Marie concisely summarized key points that we could easily keep at hand in the form of a
job aid.”
Morgan Johnson, Senior Manager, Human Resources at Artis
Together, Eclectic and Artis planned a one-day writing for clarity workshop. All five human resources employees participated in the workshop, where they reviewed a series of templates and documents they wanted to improve. As part of the workshop, Eclectic provided a series of tip sheets to help the participants back in the workplace. Everyone also created action plans to keep up the focus back at work.
In the second stage of the project, the employees divided up the documents to rewrite. Using the editing methodology
learned in the workshop, the employees passed the rewritten documents among
themselves for peer editing.
The HR team selected the most important of those documents and sent
them to Marie for review, since they also wanted an outside perspective.
“We wanted Marie to see if anything was missed,” Morgan said. “We work with
these documents all the time, so we become blind to what might be missing.
Its valuable to have an outside review.” The HR team made final updates based
on Marie’s feedback.
“We’ve made hires who have complimented us on the communications. Some even said they
accepted our offers because of our style of communication throughout the hiring process.”
Morgan Johnson, Senior Manager, Human Resources at Artis
The new documents have done their job. “Each year in December, we facilitate
the year-end bonus process,” Morgan reported. “As part of the bonus, we used
to have a multi-page set of instructions for managers about how to use the tool
and what to consider in determining employee bonuses. This was one of the
key documents we changed. It worked well and this year we had a smooth
process. We had fewer questions and confusion. Both managers and executives
provided feedback that things were better with the new documents.”
Artis also noticed improved results with their updated suite of communications
with prospective hires providing acknowledgment and next steps
after candidates submitted resumes. Morgan stated, “We’ve made hires
who have complimented us on the communications. They said we offered a
personal touch that kept them informed and left a great impression.”
Marie reports part of the success of the project came because there was buy-in
from the top down for it. She reported that, “Everyone in the department was
actively involved.” The HR department has moved on to a final stage with
the program, re-organizing all of their documentation. This was in part inspired
by Eclectic’s process. “Going through the process forced us to re-evaluate our
organization structure for documents and files,” Morgan reported.
“We would absolutely work with Eclectic again,” Morgan states. “Marie just gets it.
She is effective and efficient at providing training and consulting solutions. She
delivers in a way that suits your schedule and the objectives you are trying to achieve.”
Morgan also says she can “Confidently recommend this or a different Eclectic
program as a result of the improvements we’ve seen and the results we achieved.”
The Challenge
To create consistent templates and documentation to improve results and reduce questions.
Eclectic Communications created a writing and editing workshop to improve the communication skills of all human resources employees
Artis conducted an internal review and rewrite of all major templates and documents based on workshop content.
Eclectic provided an outside perspective and review before the new documents were launched across the organization.
Managers and executives reported faster processing and fewer questions during the annual bonus process due to updated documentation.
New hires reported part of their reasoning for accepting jobs with Artis due to positive and effective written communication during the hiring process.
