Drafting memos and circulars
Listen to this lesson
Nigerian voice narration
Fictional training case. You must announce a change of office resumption time to 120 staff across three departments without sounding inconsistent between departments. This lesson shows how to give AI structured facts so it drafts a consistent, properly toned memo. Work through the example, identify the evidence needed and practise the method with cleared or synthetic inputs. Any additional figures in the explanation are separate practice examples, not claimed rows in a downloadable file.
Worked example
Grace lists the bare facts first: new resumption time 8am (from 9am), effective next Monday, reason is the new biometric attendance policy, approved by the Permanent Secretary. She feeds these facts to AI and asks for a formal internal memo in Nigerian civil service style with Ref No, Date, From, To and Subject lines. The draft comes back polished but addressed to 'All Staff' generically; Grace edits it to name the three specific departments as required by her office's distribution convention. She then asks the same AI to shrink the memo into a 40-word WhatsApp version for the staff group, reusing the same approved facts rather than retyping anything.
The method
Supply facts as a clean bullet list before asking for a draft — new value, effective date, reason, approving authority — since AI writes accurately when given substance, not just a topic. Specify tone explicitly: 'formal, courteous, Nigerian civil service style, no slang'. Reuse one fact set to generate multiple formats (full memo, WhatsApp version) instead of rewriting from scratch each time.
Worked practice and common mistakes
Generate both the official memo and WhatsApp update from one approved fact table. Compare old time, new time, effective date, approver and recipients between versions. A shorter message must not change a date or turn a proposal into policy. Keep reference numbers as placeholders until the registry confirms them; do not allow AI to create an official identifier.
Review before using the result
Give AI the facts in bullets, not just a vague topic, and specify your required tone explicitly. One approved fact set can generate both the official memo and a shorter broadcast version. Always confirm names, dates and approving authority before circulation.
Your workplace practice
Use the recommended free assistant with this lesson's fictional example. Turn these facts into a formal internal memo in Nigerian civil service style, with Ref No, Date, From, To and Subject lines: [paste facts] Keep a copy of the input and draft. Compare the result with the verification steps above, record any correction, and retain placeholders where evidence is missing. The expected result is a checked draft for human review, not an automatically approved decision. Course examples and practice responses are fictional; amounts, dates, rules and thresholds are not official guidance or supplier quotations.
Open Claude (free tier) and paste this prompt there. Claude's formal, measured writing suits official memos and circulars.
Turn these facts into a formal internal memo in Nigerian civil service style, with Ref No, Date, From, To and Subject lines: [paste facts]
Why this tool: Claude's formal, measured writing suits official memos and circulars.
Hit a free limit? Switch to ChatGPT or Gemini and continue — the prompt works in any assistant.