Smarter Board Reporting

Course Introduction

Exacerbating the impact on Board time devoted to regulatory/mandatory topics, Directors’ complain about the information they receive in reports, from regular updates to unique business propositions.. Too often reporting is repetitive, inward- and backward-looking, and overly detailed. This obstructs and hinders effective decision making.

Rather, Board reports should contain accurate, timely and relevant information with expert qualitative perspective and recommendations. Translated into succinct, well-argued and well-constructed reports, whose purpose is to:

• Provide easily and rapidly digestible evidence for oversight,
• Enable informed discussion
• Equip high-performing Boards to form judgements and make good decisions.

Great Board packs are made up of great Board reports that serve these purposes yet do so efficiently and reflect the needs of individual readers. This web delivered workshop explores the key elements alongside practical tips on how to get your written message across to the different stakeholders. The foundation though is the Board communicating clear and unambiguous statements of what it expects and how it must be delivered. This sets the tone for a culture of guided continuous improvement.

The aim is to produce structured reports which flow and gives meaning to the person reading it, and a common understanding and language of what “good looks like” . Boards may complain, but when you ask them whether they have told their report writers what they want, or whether they have given them any feedback, there is often an embarrassed silence……This is for the Board AND the writers.

Course Objectives

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Outline the common frustrations and criticisms of Board reports and presentations
• Explore how an effective Board will use MI, reports and presentations for smarter strategic and risk-based decision making
• Introduce the elements that create a good “Board Pack”
• Adopt and adapt a sample template to construct a good Board report
• Apply the principles of effective written communication: articulating a clear objective, writing for your reader and following the POWER writing process
• Construct persuasive business propositions that present the risks and opportunities
• Use language to capture and hold your reader
• Identify the practical tips for verbal presentation that supports your written report

Course Contents

• Smarter Board Reporting
  • Board reporting: the main criticisms. Not just too long…..
  • The needs of the Board: reports should be designed to enable strategy, risk and assurance
  • How can we aid decision making: using expert recommendations?
• A Smarter Board Pack?
  • MI: satisfying the internal and external demands
  • Data v narrative: getting the balance right
  • The start point: a best practice standardised Board Pack
  • Positioning with the agenda: “objective centric”
• Constructing the Board paper
  • Application: a template Board paper with a flexible structure
  • The key questions: your aim and your reader(s) needs
  • The structure and the writing sequence, plus the vital role for the executive summary and appendices
  • Case study
• Persuasive Writing
  • ABC and the POWER process
  • The psychology of persuasion on paper: rhetoric
  • Using language: some of the techniques that journalists use, with some practice. E.g:
    • Signpost paragraphs/ Sidebars and soundbites/Topic sentences
  • Grammar …..and some writing myths: if Cpt James Tiberius Kirk can “boldly go”, you too can split an infinitive
• Now, present your paper: verbal persuasion
  • They’ve read your paper already…… Your verbal Executive Summary
  • Replace “death by Powerpoint”. It’s Q and A that persuades