The Challenge

The board of FTSE 100 engineering organization Rolls-Royce wanted papers that were more consistent, better-structured, and presented with greater impact. The directors had noticed an overly technical focus in the board materials. Papers were often lengthy and dense, focusing on the nuts and bolts of a subject, which would make it difficult for the board to consider issues from a strategic, high-level viewpoint.

To summarize, the board wanted the papers that better highlighted key issues and enabled strategic debate. Board Intelligence was challenged to support the secretariat team in meeting this brief.

The Solution

We worked together with the Rolls-Royce secretariat team to deliver a two-part solution.

Firstly, we provided training to upskill the organization’s regular report writers. We trained 100 people over six workshops focused on three key areas:

• How to write an impactful executive summary with the key messages up front.
• How to structure reports with a logical flow of information that covers all the bases.
• How to produce reports clear, concise of a consistent style. 

Secondly, we introduced a tailored version of Write, our Reporting Toolkit, to embed the training principles throughout the organization. Write’s suite of report templates reflects reporting best practice, giving report writers continuous support and training tips. The templates are designed to challenge and channel the writers’ thinking, ensuring that all information included in reports is relevant.

The Outcome

For the board: A step-change improvement in the information provided to them. The board reports that the new papers highlight the key issues much more clearly, allowing for more productive conversation in the boardroom.

For the report writers and the secretariat: Significant time savings. The bespoke reporting templates make it easier to write reports, and the secretariat team spends less time reviewing papers as first drafts are of a much higher quality.

For the organization: Improved reporting across several levels. Many of those who received the training have become strong advocates for using Board Intelligence’s recommendations in their own meetings and papers. This means that the training principles have been adopted beyond the initial team we trained.

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