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Central government masterclasses
Our masterclasses are focused on tips and tricks to help you improve the quality of your advice on a wide range of topics. These are designed for you to be able to distribute amongst your staff and use them as part of regular discussions about improving the quality of advice, or in-house training.
Brief 1 Communication with Aliens
Communication with Aliens: providing advice and writing for Ministers
Brief 2 Learning from other professions
How to improve advice skills and capabilities: learning from other professions
Brief 3 Executive summaries
The Golden page: improving your Executive summaries
Brief 4 Talking points
Talking about talking points: drafting talking points for your Minister to use
Brief 5 Risk analysis
Talking chances with risk: undertaking risk analyses and reporting on them in policy advice papers
Brief 6 Being brief and clear
Being brief and clear: hints from Sir Winston Churchill
Brief 7 What do other agencies do to lift quality
What do other agencies do to lift quality: the theory and practical steps that can be taken
Brief 8 Peer review
Thriving on peer review: practical advice on effective peer review
Brief 9 Introducing the 11 key papers
Introducing the first eleven: the eleven main types of policy advice papers
Brief 10 Thinking through the 11 key papers
Writing the only eleven papers that matter: fleshing out the requirements, tips and tricks for effective papers of each type
Brief 11 The theory of advising
What's in the theory of advising, and how does it help in producing great policy advice?
Brief 12 Going electronic
Going electronic: considerations for drafting papers which are being dealt with electronically, and not in paper form
Brief 13 Good better best
Good, better, best: turning a decent paper into a great paper – adding value
Brief 14 Finishing with a bang
Finishing with a bang: drawing the key elements of the advice together in a conclusion
Brief 15 Making papers pop
Making papers pop: better headings and subheadings
Brief 16 Frameworks
What are policy frameworks: the theory behind analytical frameworks, and why they improve the quality of policy advice
Brief 18 Polishing your message
Polishing your message: lessons from Henry Kissinger
Brief 20 Assessing the quality of evidence
Presenting evidence: assessing the quality of evidence used in policy advice
Brief 21 - superceded by Brief 39
Brief 22 Tactical advice
Tactical advice: providing support for Ministers to help them settle into their jobs alongside policy advice
Brief 23 Experimenting with PowerPoint reports
Experimenting with PowerPoint reports: a different way of presenting information and analysis
Brief 24 QA – practical ideas
Quality Assurance (QA): getting the basics right
Brief 25 Dealing with attachments
Dealing with attachments: making sure covering papers summarise, advice on, and support Ministerial decisions on substantial reports
Brief 26 Te Reo Māori
Using Te Reo Māori in your papers and more: incorporating Treaty and te ao Māori analysis in your policy advice
Brief 27 Options analysis
Options analysis: moving beyond a simple assessment to do a systematic options analysis
Brief 28 Recommendations
Writing recommendations: recording decisions and setting up for implementation
Brief 29 Mark Twain
Tips and writing from Mark Twain: some lessons for your papers
Brief 30 Celebrating things that go well
Learning from things that go well: capturing good practice
Brief 32 Turbo peer review
Turbo peer review: doing peer review when time is short
Brief 33 Access to knowledge
Access to knowledge: practical tips on finding data to support your analysis
Brief 34 Joint papers
Joint papers: working effectively with other agencies and presenting joint papers
Brief 35 Second opinion advice
Making second opinion advice count: tips and tricks on presenting credible advice in response to the proposals of others
Brief 36 Peer review vs QA
The trees and the wood: the difference between quality assurance (QA) and peer review
Brief 38 Series of papers
Dealing with a series of papers - integrating the advice
Brief 39 Election special 2020
Election 2020: Getting a new Minister and building good working relationships
Brief 40 Long march to quality
The long march to quality: improving organisational capability
Brief 41 Key points
Effective key points: an alternative approach to a traditional Executive summary
Brief 42 Plain English
Say it in plain English: writing clearly and effectively
Brief 43 Giving Ministers an armchair ride
Giving Ministers an armchair ride: providing support as well as advice
Brief 44 Lessons from speechwriting
Lessons from speechwriting: improving the impact and effectiveness of policy advice papers
Brief 45 - superceded by Brief 60
Brief 46 Intervention logic
Intervention logic: strengthening analysis by explicitly using logic
Brief 47 Infographics
A picture paints 1000 words: using visuals to explain the analysis effectively
Brief 48 Types of papers
Different types of policy advice mean that papers need different approaches: some practical tips
Brief 49 Presenting your paper
Getting your key points across: verbally presenting your paper
Brief 50 Dealing with uncertainty
Dealing with uncertainty and associated risk in policy advice papers
Brief 51 Advocacy or advice
Advocacy or advice: the key characteristics which differentiate robust advice from advocacy and opinion
Brief 52 Purpose statements
Being precise and clear upfront: writing effective purpose statements
Brief 53 Fifty-fifty rule
The "Fifty-Fifty" Rule: getting the balance right between analysis and presentation
Brief 54 One-page papers
One-page briefings: making supershort briefings effective
Brief 55 Structuring papers
Structuring papers to make them easier to read and do their job: titles, templates, and headings structures
Brief 56 Fresh set of eyes
The value of a fresh set of eyes: using peer review to improve the quality of policy advice
Brief 57 2023 election special
Election 2023: Getting a new Minister and other possible changes
Brief 58 Short, shorter, shortest
Short, shorter, shortist: some practical tips for shortening your papers
Brief 59 Choosing the right type of peer review
Choosing the right type of peer review: going beyond standard peer review
Brief 60 Implementation matters – even more so
Implementation matters: building implementation considerations into policy analysis and advice
Brief 61 Briefings with a Cabinet paper: a checklist
Briefings with a Cabinet paper: a checklist
Brief 62 Framing and frameworks
Framing and frameworks: another way of thinking about analytical frameworks
Brief 63 Short cut thinking – two examples
Short cut thinking: two examples: some simple tools which can help to understand complex issues
Brief 65 Trade-offs
Trade-offs: the nub of a lot of policy advice: identifying them and building them into advice papers
Brief 66 Ministerial preferences
Ministerial preferences: providing advice in a way which best suits
Brief 67 Templates for policy advice
Templates for policy advice: their importance, and their downsides
Brief 68 Starting a new year
2025 "Delivering significant substantive change" what it means for the policy advisor
Brief 69 Free and frank advice
Free and frank advice: how to present free and frank advice using standard policy techniques
Brief 70 Incorporating financial advice
Understanding the costs: incorporating financial analysis into policy advice papers
Brief 71 Using evidence properly
Evidence-based policy advice: tips on using evidence properly
Brief 72 Technical aspects of equity
Concepts of fairness and equity: vital, but technically tricky
Brief 73 Policy under pressure
Policy under pressure: delivering policy advice in an election year