Board documents must be clear and concise, accompanied by the highest level of understanding. Going into operational detail should only be done where it is required to make strategic decisions. Utilizing charts or graphs to summarise information or data trends is also a good method of presenting information at a lower level. In an appendix it is useful to provide a link to more technical information or statistics.
The paper should clearly state the reason for the paper (information or discussion, or seeking a resolution) and include a brief executive summary that outlines the recommendations. The executive summary should not exceed 4 to 5 lines.
The paper should outline the main risks and issues that are involved with the plan. If the risk is significant the mitigation plan and impact should be determined. Even if you think the risk is minimal, it’s important to consider the future risks that could occur if the plan is not implemented fully or is not achieved.
The paper should describe various alternatives that were considered during the decision making process. It should provide a summary of pros/cons or describe how the preferred option performed on the relevant decision criteria. Including an alternatives analysis is crucial as it gives the Board with a variety of alternative to consider when performing their governance duties and helps ensure that all possible outcomes were taken into consideration.