• The Human Side of Technical Roles

    Technical professionals who document investigations in lab or manufacturing environments receive internal training on problem solving and root cause analysis. For added support, companies request training from WD Communications on effective technical writing within investigation reports and related content. During WD training and coaching sessions, these professionals share challenges about varying aspects of their complex, […]

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  • Writing Brand Statements & Reading Between the Lines

    Brand statements are mini introductions intended to start conversations and connect with readers. Effective statements are more than lists of self-descriptive strengths posted on LinkedIn. Reading between the lines and behind initial wording of these statements often reveals more meaningful, human-interest content with benefits to readers. Writing about ourselves can be a tough task. While […]

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  • Hybrid Competence: Boosted ‘Soft Skills’ Hard at Work

    We are all navigating the nuances of post-pandemic workplaces. Changes in where and how we work require Hybrid Competence and more than just turning webcams on and off. Hybrid competence involves a thoughtful balance of in-person and virtual soft skills to hold our current jobs or step into new ones. Soft skills remain hard to […]

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  • Technical Writing & Editing Through the Readers’ Lens

    When technical writers say they get lost in their own content, imagine how readers see it! Blending technical details with readability helps readers—and writers—to see through content more clearly. All technical writing is not all-reader friendly; readers speak different technical languages. Not all readers are technical professionals. Readers’ eyes strain through undefined acronyms and abbreviations […]

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  • User Experience Design Helps Technical Writers Get to the Point

    WD Communications delivers effective writing programs for technical teams that author and approve regulatory and compliance documents in laboratory and manufacturing organizations. During these programs, we analyze on-the-job writing including Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), investigation reports, change controls, as well as teams’ daily emails. WD helps these writers blend highly technical details with readability by […]

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  • Changes Are Coming to Your Performance Documentation System. What Simple Modifications Should You Make Today?

    If you are in HR, or Talent Management, or are a manager yourself, surely you’ve noticed a trend in traditional press and in social media about the imminent dismantling of traditional performance management processes in large corporations. Every day it seems another article surfaces about how ratings demotivate, how there are better ways to track […]

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  • How Effective are Your Virtual Meetings?

    Transforming virtual meetings Do you dread bringing team members together for a virtual meeting? Are you looking for ways to transform this experience into an organized, productive platform for all participants? WD Communications understands this challenge and provides tools for ensuring successful virtual connections that support a professional company brand. Virtual meetings offer a convenient […]

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  • Why consider executive presence? Executive presence training and coaching is fast becoming one of the most popular requests from our Learning and Development clients. Does this mean volumes of executives are entering their roles lacking the emotional intelligence and presentation savvy for the next level of leadership? Not exactly. What is interesting though, is that […]

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  • Improving Technical Writing

    Resetting basic writing skills and good habits can bridge the consistency gap between technical writers and reviewers. Literally. During WD Communications’ writing seminars, we work with writers and reviewers focused on the gamut of technical documents. From clinical study and investigation reports to safety protocols, from users’ guides to regulatory responses and data-heavy emails — […]

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  • Field Coaching: Report Strategy

    How much time do you spend writing Field Coaching Reports? More importantly, how much time do you think your employees spend reading them? On average, medical sales representatives spend just under three minutes per document reading coaching reports from their managers. Based on a survey with over 300 pharmaceutical and medical device representatives across multiple […]

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  • Tips for Virtual Meeting Success

    Participation, meeting features, and human connections are the keys to turning boring, wasted time in virtual spaces into productive, successful experiences. Use the tips below to make professional impressions as a virtual meeting facilitator or attendee. Proactive Participation Distribute agendas and materials for pre-meeting reading (we recommend one-two days prior—not a week!) This approach saves […]

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  • Performance Management and Documentation

    Can you believe we’ll soon be heading into year-end reviews and 2017 goal-setting? Many of you will be supporting employees and leaders who struggle with both performance assessment and development discussions. As we hear in this brief video, WD Communications helps your talent think about, talk about, and write about performance in a clear, practical […]

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  • International Training Butterflies

    Something strange happens when I know I am going to be presenting to an international audience in a foreign country.  Although I have been doing this for many years and it is not unusual to have more than ten nationalities represented in my seminars, I always begin to have a feeling that I must label as […]

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  • Interview With Louis Carter, CEO of Best Practices Institute

    Louis Carter is the founder and CEO of the Best Practice Institute.  He recently discussed the importance of best practices and other topics with WD Communications. WD: Everywhere we go, we hear clients talking about best practices.  Is there a universal understanding of what this term means? LC: In the universal sense and definition, “best […]

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  • Short Minutes Without Long Hours

    Are you the lucky one who gets to write the minutes?  Or, are you perhaps the baffled reader who wonders, “Are these the right minutes for the meeting I attended last week?” With meetings taking more and more of our work time, concise, accurate records of important discussions, decisions, and action items are valuable work […]

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  • Story Time During Business Hours

    Long before the human race developed written forms of communication—certainly centuries before books, newspapers, e-mail, Twitter, and Facebook—storytelling was the primary way to deliver messages, preserve history, and entertain an audience. Few human behaviors are as universal as storytelling.  No matter what cultural group, no matter what historical period, no matter what country of residence, […]

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  • Vocal Fry: The Latest Vocal Pattern You Don’t Want to Copy

    You likely have heard speakers using vocal fry everrrywherrrre. Vocal fry is a tonal pattern recognized by low, elongated speech sounds typically occurring at the ends of sentences. The pattern is especially noticeable in young women. In the last few years, many women have reached these new “lows” by fluttering their vocal cards to produce […]

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