Nail your Exec Summary and get the Decision you Want.
Do you think about your reader when you’re writing an Executive Summary? Structuring it to make life easier for your reader can help them to take the decision.
Here’s how Exec Summaries can turn your readers off.
[this is not a real example].
The upshot is a reader who does not know what is expected of them and is probably confused or exasperated already.
Here’s how to restructure your Exec Summary to make it easier for the reader to take the decision. Try this:
- Ask for what you want upfront. (red)
- Explain the problem. (green)
- Show where more information is. (blue)
- Put it in context. (orange)
[I made this example up too].
If you’re writing an Executive Summary for a decision, you know your stuff. You know what to say. But successful communication has equal parts what we write, why we’re writing it (the reader) and therefore, how we write it (structure).
Get the result you want by changing your structure and giving your reader the confidence in you to take the decision.
Send me your Exec Summary and I’ll give you feedback (2 pages tops). Plus there’s more on why and how here - http://www.prsavvy.co.uk/the-how-why-of-words/.
I've read (and probably written) an awful lot of these that begin with the "background yawn" structure :P.
Useful to have it pointed out this way.
:-) Thank you
Good seeing you here Kate!
:-) Bit daunting, but ok so far!
Under what circumstances do you usually see executive summaries are best suited?
I usually see exec summaries in internal documents that will be read by a senior team/committee in order to make a decision. They can help to structure the rest of the document and give you a chance to explain the decision and why it is needed before you get into the detail.
They’re obviously used in all sorts of documents (research, grant applications, reports on progress etc.), but I mostly see them in decision-making documents and this is where I think these tips are probably most useful.