The board pack goes on recap, not on decisions
I rebuild the board pack on one source of truth and a fixed structure that ends in one to three priorities for the quarter, so the meeting is spent deciding.
What it looks like
- The pack spends its time on the situation instead of the complication and the decision.
- The same unresolved question comes back every quarter.
- Two people in the room quote different numbers.
- There is no clean view of actuals against forecast.
Who it is for
CEOs, CFOs and boards who get a monthly pack full of tables and still have to ask what it means.
What I do
- A pack built on situation, complication, question and answer. It opens with what changed and what needs a decision, with the detail behind it for those who want it.
- One source of truth. One set of numbers for the whole room, with a clean view of actuals against forecast, so the discussion starts at the cause and not at the table.
- One to three priorities. The pack ends in the priorities for the quarter, not in a scattered list of actions.
- A fixed shape every month. Members learn where to look and notice what moved. The repetitive assembly is automated, so your team spends its time on the message.
What I am seeing
A company pulled in too many directions, opening new revenue streams while the core one was broken. The fix was to cut the noise down to one KPI.
How it works
The work starts before the pack is written. I talk to the executives and the board members about how past meetings actually landed, and I help the executive team agree on the real situation. That is the hard part, and the rest follows from it. The pack then goes out without me.
Questions I often get
What should a monthly management report contain?
What changed since last month, why it changed, and what needs a decision. The detail sits behind that for those who want it. The first page should be readable in two minutes.
What belongs in a board pack?
A fixed structure each month: headline figures against plan, the forecast, cash, the main risks and the decisions asked of the board. A fixed shape lets members see what moved without hunting for it.