Helpful Tips, Tricks & Techniques

This page provides helpful writing and productivity techniques, including minute-taking, writing guides and time management. Below, you’ll find a wealth of useful tips, tricks and techniques. Be sure to check back as we will periodically add more!

We also offer webinars on topics such as: Storytelling and Presentation Skills, Personal and Professional Development and Artificial Intelligence.
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Generative AI

Why has everyone suddenly gone wild for AI? The answer is twofold:

  • Non-technical people can suddenly interact with this technology using normal language
  • The birth of ‘generative AI’ – computers that can create human-like content

Heather Murray, Founder of AI for Non-Techies, runs a webinar series for JGA to help you better understand the potential, the uses and the limits of artificial intelligence technology. See upcoming webinar dates.

How do you keep up with it? Heather recommends that you dedicate time, follow experts and not just ‘creators’ and find 1 or 2 solid sources. See the list of her favourite people and companies to follow/listen to/watch/read.

What does it mean for your studies and assignments? See our AI page for do’s and don’ts to help you understand how you can and can’t use generative AI as part of your apprenticeship or course.

Learning Methods That Work

During your apprenticeship, you will engage in a variety of learning activities both within your seminars and in your role. Learning activities and off-the-job training can take many forms and may not always be in a classroom environment. Below are some activities you may come across. Try to identify which ones you enjoy most and use them to prepare and revise for your End Point Assessment.

  • Watching
  • Listening
  • Imitating
  • Listening, transcribing and remembering
  • Trial and error; experimentation or discovery
  • Deliberate practice
  • Drafting and sketching
  • Assessment for learning
  • Teaching and helping
  • Conversation
  • Reflecting
  • Being coached and mentored
  • Real-world problem solving
  • Making
  • Individual or collaborative enquiry
  • Thinking critically and producing knowledge
  • Competing and games
  • Simulation and role play
  • Virtual environments and VR

Tips for Drafting Business Documents

Knowing how to draft effective business documents is essential for several reasons. First, it enhances communication both within and outside the organisation, ensuring clarity and professionalism. Well-crafted documents—whether reports, proposals or emails—help maintain a positive corporate image. Furthermore, precision in language and structure minimises misunderstandings and aids informed decision-making. Competence in drafting business documents also reflects the organisation’s professionalism and attention to detail. Ultimately, this skill is crucial for building strong professional relationships, influencing stakeholders and contributing to the overall efficiency and success of business operations.

Tips for Taking Minutes

Minute-taking is crucial in a professional setting as it provides a documented record of meetings, promoting clarity, accountability and efficient communication among team members. These records serve as valuable references for future planning, making meticulous minute-taking essential for organised and successful business operations. Mastering effective minute-taking is beneficial for anyone, as it enhances communication skills, demonstrates professionalism and contributes to overall meeting efficiency.

Useful Guides

Online course

Tips & Tricks

Walk & Talk

Conducting walking business meetings offers several benefits. It encourages physical activity, which can improve health and wellbeing while potentially boosting creativity and problem-solving. The change in environment can stimulate fresh perspectives, fostering innovation and reducing monotony. Walking meetings can also be less formal, promoting open conversation and idea exchange. Moreover, the increased oxygen flow to the brain during physical activity may enhance cognitive function. Additionally, the informality of walking meetings can break down hierarchical barriers, creating a more collaborative and inclusive work environment. Overall, incorporating movement into meetings can lead to greater engagement, creativity and wellbeing.

In her TED talk, Nilofer Merchant introduces a small idea that could have a big impact on your life and health: the next time you have a one-on-one meeting, turn it into a ‘walking meeting’ – and let ideas flow as you walk and talk.

The Pomodoro Technique

The secret to effective time management is…thinking in tomatoes rather than hours. It may seem silly initially, but millions of people swear by the life-changing power of the Pomodoro Technique. (Pomodoro is Italian for tomato 🍅). This popular time management method asks you to alternate pomodoros — focused work sessions — with frequent short breaks, helping to maintain sustained concentration and prevent mental fatigue.

Guide to Using Priority Matrices

A priority matrix, also known as an Eisenhower matrix, is a time management tool that helps individuals categorise tasks based on their urgency and importance. This tool aids in prioritizing and managing workloads more effectively by focusing on tasks that align with one’s goals and deadlines. The matrix consists of a four-quadrant grid, with tasks classified into four categories:

Image showing priority matrix

  • 1. Urgent and Important (Do First)
    Tasks requiring immediate attention and significant importance

  • 2. Important, but Not Urgent (Schedule)
    Tasks that are essential but can be scheduled for later

  • 3. Urgent, but Not Important (Delegate)
    Tasks needing immediate action but of lower overall significance; these can be delegated to others

  • 4. Not Urgent and Not Important (Eliminate/Postpone)
    Low-priority tasks that can be postponed or eliminated

How to Write a STARE Account

As part of your apprenticeship, you are expected to collate a portfolio of evidence. A good way to do this is to produce a ‘STARE’ account to accompany a large piece, or collection of pieces, of evidence. This stands for:

Situation – set the scene. What was the context for this piece of work being developed? Is this part of an ongoing project, a one-off task or something else?

Task – what were you asked to do?

Action – what did you do?

Result – what was produced? What changed because of what you did?

Evaluate – what did you learn from this work? How might you do things differently next time?

Ensure that all evidence submitted includes sufficient context, either within the document itself or as a separate attachment. The assessor may not be familiar with your organisation or role, so it’s important to provide context for each example, explaining what it is and how it fits within your wider work. This will help ensure that your portfolio is assessed correctly.

A STARE account can be brief (e.g. a sentence or two under each section) or more detailed. For complex or long-term pieces of work, some learners use the STARE format as a framework, providing a step-by-step walkthrough of the work they did, with relevant work examples attached throughout the document.

That said, for many pieces of evidence, you may not need to write an accompanying STARE account, as the evidence itself will provide sufficient context. For example, a detailed project plan outlines the project’s objectives and timelines, offering the assessor a clear understanding of the work.

If you’re unsure whether any specific piece of evidence would benefit from a STARE account, speak to your Skills Coach.

Resources for Better Writing

Writing Guides

The Plain English Campaign has a great set of guides to help your writing on all kinds of topics including how to use apostrophes.

See: https://www.plainenglish.co.uk/free-guides.html

If you work in government you might find the following helpful:

Software

Grammarly is a useful software tool that can help you improve your writing skills. It provides real-time grammar and spelling checks, suggests improvements in sentence structure and offers vocabulary enhancements. It can help refine your writing style, ensuring clarity and assist with language and tone. The full features carry a cost but there is a free version available.

See: https://www.grammarly.com

Getting software to read your documents back to you may be useful for proofing work and fixing errors. Microsoft Word has a built in ‘read aloud’ option (accessed from the review tab).

ClaroRead from TextHelp is text-to-speech software designed to neurodiverse students to achieve more with reading and writing. It can help you be more confident, independent and productive learners by providing an effective suite of reading, writing and study tools.

See: https://www.texthelp.com/en-gb/solutions/dsa/claroread

Perfect Your Writing Style

If you find it difficult to begin writing or aren’t sure which writing style to use, here are some helpful tips to get you started. First, take a moment to brainstorm and outline your ideas before diving into the actual writing process. This will provide you with a clear roadmap and structure for your piece. Additionally, consider your target audience and the purpose of your writing, as this will help guide your choice of tone and language.

Tips & Tricks

Experiment with different writing styles to find what best suits your voice and the message you wish to convey. Don’t be afraid to revise and edit—your first draft is just the beginning. Seek feedback from others to gain valuable insights and refine your work. Finally, remember that writing is a skill that improves with practice, so keep honing your craft by writing regularly.

More information is available via the following articles/pages.

Tips for Better Reading

Get the most out of any reading activity by following Functional Skills coach, Sarah Taylor Cross’ hints and tips to reading success.

1. Think about the purpose of the reading task
2. Think about the most appropriate strategy for the reading task
3. To get the most out of the reading activity by becoming a more active reader

Guide for Reading Purpose

Video focus – Researching, revealing and revising new and/or specific knowledge information.

Guide for Reading Approach/Strategy

Video focus – Detailed reading, scan reading, skim reading.

Guide for Becoming an Active Reader

Video focus – Being involved, optimising reading outcomes- timing, taking and making notes.

Referencing Your Work

As part of your apprenticeship, you may have been told to use Harvard Referencing. But what is it? Simply put, it’s a method of acknowledging where your references have come from. The style follows a specific order, placing the author and year within the text. At the end of your work, you’ll provide a full list of references, including details such as the author, year, title of the book or journal, edition or volume and the publisher’s location and name. There are also free online tools available that can help generate these references automatically.

Find our more from:

Throughout your apprenticeship, you’ll encounter a wide range of resources, such as books, journals, online articles, or even TED Talks that are relevant or interesting to your course. It’s a good idea to log these resources into a database so you can easily refer back to them when needed, for example, when preparing for your EPA. By categorising them in this way, you can quickly find them later without the need to search through past assignments or projects.

Critical Analysis

Your ability to critically analyse theories, ideas, concepts and texts will not only help you produce your best work but also significantly contribute to achieving a distinction.

In the video below, you can learn how to supercharge your critical analytical skills with the DIE Method: describe, interpret, evaluate.