Many years ago I was taught that managers are busy people and any report should recognise this. Since then my reports are structured to recognise this, i.e.:

1. Purpose

(Why has this report been written?)

2. Conclusions

(What are my conclusions from the information/evidence?)

3. Recommendations/Action plan

(Based on the above and my own expertise, what do I recommend that management do?)

4. (onwards)

(The body of the report with the information that has led to my conclusions and recommendations)

With this structure a busy manager can quickly assess the situation and decide whether they can accept the conclusions and recommendations or whether they need to take the time to delve into the body of the report. You would be surprised how often they then simply don’t bother to read the report but act on the first three sections. Incidentally, these should never cover more than one side of an A4 sheet of paper, as that is about the attention span you will often get!

Chris

Chris Packham

FRSPH, FIIRSM, FInstSMM, MCMI, RSP, MBICSc

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