As chief correspondence officer, Shirley Staggs says BPA began to get serious about clearer writing and use of plain language starting five years ago. “The push to communicate better with the public came with competition,” she says.

“It started in 1994,” Staggs says, “when the account executives said the one big thing they heard from customers was that it’s got to be simpler to deal with BPA.” Then the regional review came along, she says, “and we heard the same thing again.”

Staggs says that was BPA’s wake-up call, “so we began several efforts to streamline our communication.” In 1994, a task group rewrote BPA’s correspondence manual and cut its size in half. In 1996 BPA added training classes for business writing, taught by outside contractors.

Different work groups went to work on their documents. The Power Business Line greatly simplified BPA’s power contract. What used to fill a complete loose-leaf binder was reduced to a 17-page document. And BPA has had other specific efforts to cut wordiness and make documents easier to understand.

Last year BPA offered a training course, Rapid Grammar Review, aimed at management support and administrative staff. Last fall BPA began a Power Writing course that is open to all employees. Annette Guarreillo of human resources leads the two-hour workshop that focuses on clear and concise writing. She said participants have made many positive comments.

“We got a lot of feedback to expand the workshop to three hours,” Guarreillo said. “So beginning in March it will be a three-hour workshop. Another human resources specialist, Rene-Marc Mangin, will lead a course in presentation skills that BPA will offer soon.

So even before the administration announced its plan to reinvent government, BPA had its foot in the door. And when the government picked BPA to be a pilot reinvention agency, Staggs said “We got a green light to try many things to improve our operations.”

She said Secretary Bill Richardson sent a memo to Dept. of Energy agencies last fall to reaffirm DOE’s efforts for plain language. Staggs said she sees that as a further help to BPA, “because we have so many dealings with DOE.”

As chief correspondence officer, Shirley Staggs says BPA began efforts to improve our writing well before the current government-wide effort to use plain language. “The push to communicate better with the public came with competition,” she says.

Staggs says, “It started in 1994 when the account executives said the one big thing they heard from customers was that it’s got to be simpler to deal with BPA.” Then the regional review came along, “and we heard the same thing again,” she says.

Those gave BPA a wake-up call, Staggs says, “so we began several efforts to streamline our communication.” In 1994, a task group rewrote BPA’s correspondence manual and cut its size in half. In the next two years, BPA added classes to train people in business writing, taught by outside instructors.

Different work groups went to work on their documents. The Power Business Line greatly simplified BPA’s power contract. PBL reduced what used to fill a complete loose-leaf binder to a 17-page document.

Last year BPA offered a training course, Rapid Grammar Review, for support and administrative staff. Last fall human resources began a Power Writing course that’s open to all employees. Annette Guarreillo leads the two-hour workshop that focuses on clear and concise writing. She said participants have had many positive comments.

“We got a lot of feedback to expand the workshop to three hours,” Guarreillo says. So beginning in March the workshop will expand to three hours. And Rene-Marc Mangin of human resources will lead a course in presentation skills that BPA will offer soon.

Staggs says that when the administration picked BPA as a government reinvention pilot, “we got a green light to try many different ways to improve.” Better communication was one important field, she says.

Staggs says that Secy. Bill Richardson sent a memo to Dept. of Energy agencies last fall to get all of DOE behind the plain language effort. She says that can only help BPA more, “since we have so many dealings with DOE.”

Shirley Staggs is BPA’s chief correspondence officer. She says BPA began efforts to improve our writing well before the current government effort for plain language. “The push to communicate better with the public came with competition,” she says.

“It started in 1994,” Staggs says, “when the account executives said the one big thing they heard from customers was that it’s got to be simpler to deal with BPA.” Then the regional review came along, “and we heard the same thing again,” she says.

That gave BPA a wake-up call, Staggs says, “so we went to work to improve our communication.” In 1994, a task group rewrote BPA’s correspondence manual and cut its size about in half. In the next two years, BPA added hired outside instructors to train people in business writing.

Different work groups worked on their documents. The Power Business Line greatly simplified BPA’s power contract. PBL reduced what used to fill a complete loose-leaf binder to a 17-page contract.

Last year BPA offered a Rapid Grammar Review course for support and admin staff. Last fall human resources began a Power Writing course that’s open to all employees. Annette Guarreillo leads the two-hour workshop. It focuses on clear and concise writing and many participants have had positive comments.

“We got a lot of feedback to expand the workshop,” Guarreillo says. So beginning in March it will go to three hours. And HR will soon offer a course in presentation skills to be led by Rene-Marc Mangin.

Staggs says that when the administration picked BPA as a government reinvention pilot, “we got a green light to try many different things to improve.” Better communication was an urgent area, she says.

Staggs says that Secy. Bill Richardson sent a memo throughout the Dept. of Energy last fall. He wants all of DOE to begin using language. Staggs says that can only help BPA more since we have so many dealings with DOE.