Guide to becoming a Plain Language Organisation

This guide will help you adopt the principles on plain language in your organization. There are nine steps involved. 

1. Get Management Support

The first is to get the support from the management. Once you have this support, its easier to overcome any obstacles or internal resistance. If you don’t have this support, all your endeavours could be in vain.

Resistance will come from all departments. For example, some colleagues may feel threatened or see this exercise as a nuisance and waste-of-time - "Aren't things fine as they are?"

2. Establish a plain language committee

To overcome this, setup a plain language committee with the staff members who will ultimately manage the documents. 

Get a senior manager onboard (i.e. someone with the authority to get things done) as this will speed up the process and show that the organisation is serious about plain language.

3 Consider Using Consultants

You could also bring in a plain language consultant (if you've got the budget) and get them to examine your current material. They can also help with the writing, layout and presentation, and oversee the final document testing. 

4 Training

You can raise awareness of plain language techniques by holding workshops and offer training in these new writing skills.

5 Plan Ahead

Create short and long-term plans. Develop a long-term plan covering all your organisation's documents. Start with those that are most frequently used or which need the most attention. Look at your documents and ask:

• What is their purpose?

• Can I use one brochure instead of several?

• What other forms of communication could be used?

Plan the implementation of the new documents and then train staff to use them.

6 Revise

Sometimes the writing process highlights problems or bottlenecks in your company’s operations. You can examine these before you start writing.

7 Testing

Don’t just ask your colleagues (or best friends) what they think of the new documents. Test your documents on target users, such as your clients or members of the public. Capture the feedback and revise the documents accordingly.

8 Good design

Enhance the documents with an attractive design. Explain to the graphic designer/layout artist that you want clear, easy-to-read documents. 

Give him or her samples that they can refer to when designing.

9 Getting Approval

Be careful: jargon and terminology can creep back during revisions.

Don't let your plain language writing be compromised during the final approval stages.