HOW TO WRITE
POWERFUL BOARD REPORTS
Write board reports that help you get better, faster decisions.
Communicate
complex ideas
with clarity and insight
Writing board reports is a challenging task usually completed under pressure: pressure to submit a report on time (any report!) and pressure to do yourself and your messaging justice.
The challenge is further complicated by the reality of squeezing this ‘extra' task into a week loaded with other critical deliverables.
This user-friendly and practical handbook will help you clarify and present your report to your Board by helping you do three things:
1. UNDERSTAND YOUR BOARD'S REQUIREMENTS. Do you know what you really need from them now, and in the future regarding your issue? Who are the most critical people on the Board in relation to your issue.
2. SYNTHESISE YOUR MESSAGE CLEARLY AND CONCISELY. Learn the basics of structured thinking and then see it applied to 24 case studies covering six common types of board report: alerts, business cases, change stories, compliance stories, options stories and updates.
3. CONVERT YOUR MESSAGING INTO AN EFFECTIVE BOARD REPORT. You will often need to use a template, so I offer an extra case study three ways. A one-page message map, an annotated overview for a PowerPoint and a Word version of a Board Report (in a basic template).
How to Write Powerful Board Reports is prepared by Davina Stanley, author of 3 books: Elevate, Engage and The So What Strategy.
Davina has helped leaders globally to communicate so they get better, faster decisions. She has helped clients use structured thinking techniques over 25+ years.
She learned the core approach during her 15 years with McKinsey (on staff + freelance) and later helped BCG Australia design their structured thinking program while serving a wide range of other clients.
Clients range from startups to some of the world's largest companies across almost every sector. She loves helping you untangle complex situations to create great clarity and insight.
Barbara Minto approved her Minto Pyramid Principle (R) training in 2009.
How to Write Powerful Board Reports provides you with…
- A detailed walk-through of the three key steps…
1. Understand your Board
2. Create a powerful report
3. Synthesis your message
- 24 real-world case studies gleaned from thousands of coaching sessions across hundreds of companies over 25+ years
- Checklists to make sure you have ‘nailed it'
- All included in a handbook to download and keep
Learn from an expert
Top-tier experience
I began helping others clarify and communicate complex ideas professionally at McKinsey in the mid 1990s. I trained in the Minto Pyramid Principle® under some of the best and was approved to teach others by Barbara Minto in 2009.
Since then I helped Boston Consulting Group in Australia design and deliver their structured communication program and have helped thousands of people globally to communicate better at work.
I also love what I do ... it's actually great fun.
Mixed with education and business creds
My skill-building approach blends my corporate experience with my background as a professional communicator and educator who runs her own business.
Despite not practicing as a kindergarten teacher for long, the skills I learned are invaluable when helping adults.
Running my own business has given me greater understanding of leadership and its challenges, as well as greater business acumen. It has also given me opportunities to use structured thinking techniques in the real world.
To help executives engage decision makers in complex ideas
In thinking about where I can help the most, I consciously oriented my programs toward helping those who know a lot about something to engage others who know less.
This can be a tricky bridge to cross but worth doing if we think that truly good ideas only have real value when they are understood.
It is also incredibly satisfying to see experts not only succeed at their communication, but to lift their confidence in their professional abilities and in themselves.
It is also particularly gratifying to give busy executives not only greater satisfaction in what they do, but many nights and weekends back.
By thinking and working more strategically, work becomes enormously more satisfying.
FAQs –
Who is the Powerful Board Reports Handbook for?
How to Write Powerful Board Reports Handbook is for anyone who needs to communicate with senior leaders and boards.
What is structured thinking?
Structured thinking is a technique developed at McKinsey & Company during the 1960s by a team led by the Firm’s first female consultant, Barbara Minto.
The team leveraged universal thinking techniques to develop a highly structured way to distil the essence out of complex material and convey it clearly and convincingly.
The structure itself becomes a ‘thinking machine’ that helps not just tidy ideas so they are neatly organised, but to actually identify what they are.
By knowing the techniques, you can see when ideas don’t belong and then work out what to do about that. Do you move them, remove them or modify them to give the structure integrity?
Knowing the techniques enables you to make these decisions quickly and intelligently.
What do the case studies cover?
How to Write Powerful Board Reports includes 24 case studies derived from my consulting work over decades.
All have been recently refreshed and cover the most common stories leaders need to tell to their senior leaders and boards. They fall into six categories:
- Alerts
- Business cases
- Change stories
- Compliance stories
- Options stories
- Updates
They cover a range of industries and topics and all offer internally consistent ‘arguments'.
What happens if I lose the file?
Email us at contact@clarityfirstprogram.com and we will gladly provide you with another download link.
Please email us at contact@clarityfirstprogram.com if you have further questions. Large group discounts do apply.