Good day good people!  I hope my blog post finds you well as we continue our journey to success in business.  Today I will be talking about how to ensure that your business report does not go to waste.  Many a time I have seen firms seeking solutions to their problems and not finding them even though they might have the information at hand in the form of a business report and/raw data.  The business report then goes to waste as its not used to create action plans that can improve the business.  Issues that create this problem range from failing to understand what the targets of the business report are to not submitting the business report on time.  Let me talk about how to ensure that your business report does not go to waste.

To create a useful business report you should ensure that you extract the right information from your sources whether they are primary or secondary sources. An example is a questionnaire for a customer survey.   Putting the wrong questions on the questionnaire will lead to you extracting the wrong information.  After this stage ensure that you combine the right elements in order to turn the data into useful information.  Always remember that there is more to a report than the graphs and sentences.  Try combining different variables from different parts of the report to ensure that you reveal valuable insights that will be of use to your stakeholders making them more interested in it.

The second thing that one has to do is to ensure that the report is understood by the custodians of the report i.e. the people that will use the report.  This will ensure that there is buy-in from your stakeholders.  Before you create a template for your report ensure that you engage your stakeholders and get to know what they would like to see in your report.  For example ask them how long they would like it to be or the key issues that they would want to be attended to in the report.  From a psychological point of view being involved will make them feel like they own the report increasing the chances of them reading the report.

A report should be submitted on time.  This is because the main use of a report is to be a barometer that will be used to make alterations to factors that will be at play in real time.  There is no use submitting a report after the window in which the issues could have been attended to has passed.  The general rule of reporting is The Earlier the Better.  A common trap is that of over-emphasis.  In the bid to please your stakeholders you might get caught up in a spiral of adding features that might not end up being used and before you know it your report is late.  You should remember that most people are not as adept at using or creating reports as you are so keep it simple.  Stick to the facts and get to the point as quickly as possible and you will submit your report on time every time.

Another issue that I have noted is that most report writers do not orient their users on how to use their report.  Reports are usually written by juniors who assume that their bosses who have MBAs etc are able to understand what is in the report.  The truth is most people do not learn to know, they learn to pass and as such you should always make sure people understand what you are writing about regardless of your perception of their level of education.  This will make you avoid a situation where people are not reading your report because they are too embarrassed to ask you what certain terms mean.  Your emails will most probably end up in the archives.

Last but not least you should ensure that your reports give birth to action plans.  These action plans will ensure that people benefit from the report as remedial action will be taken with people being made responsible to championing the implementation of these remedies.  Many a time people jump from report to report with no action being taken.  Action plans also keep the report relevant as the fact that people know that they are being followed up on will ensure that they read the report and act.  Not having an action plan is similar to making dinner and then not eating it.

As one can see there are ways of ensuring that your hard labour does not go to waste and more importantly your business makes progress.  Reports are a critical tool that can be used to great effect but using them in the wrong way will ensure that they will go to waste.  Make sure people know what you are reporting about and put checks and balances to ensure that the reports are being read.  What tips do you have that will ensure that your reports are used effectively and do not go to waste

Cheers

RM