A Board paper should allow a director to understand the issue, the options and the recommended decision within five minutes.

In many organisations, board packs have grown steadily longer while becoming less useful. Papers run to dozens of pages, key conclusions are buried, and non-executives and regulators must work too hard to identify the decision required.

None of this is intentional. It is usually the result of good people who have never been shown how to write effectively for Boards, and AI with attendant concerns over security, hallucinations and de-skilling, doesn’t help.

I have spent much of my career working with governments, senior leadership teams and boards of complex, often regulated, organisations in banking, in mutuals, insurance and asset management, in professional services and others, to train their staff in fast, effective Board paper writing.

I provide Board paper writing training for organisations that want to improve the quality, clarity and usefulness of their board packs.

The training focuses on practical improvements that can be implemented immediately.

Participants learn how to:

• Write much faster

• Write shorter, clearer board papers

• Present the decision required upfront

• Structure papers so directors can absorb them quickly

• Distinguish analysis from narrative

• Present risks, options and recommendations clearly

The emphasis is on clarity, structure and judgement, not templates.

Training is normally delivered as a half-day workshop, using actual (redacted or out-of-date) Board documents. All training is conducted under strict confidentiality and no client materials are reused or shared.

The objective is simple: participants leave able to write significantly better board papers, faster.

Chris also advises firms and individuals in marketing communications on how to Start, Grow, Manage and Sell their businesses. A link to that website can be found here.