How to Write Effective Board Decision Papers

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Board papers should be concise and clear with high-level understanding. Going into operational detail should only be done when it is necessary to make strategic decisions. Utilize charts or graphs to help you summarize information or to show trends in data. In an appendix it is important to include a hyperlink for more technical information or statistics.

The paper should define the purpose (information or discussion or seeking an agreement) and include an executive summary that outlines the recommendations. The executive summary should not exceed 4 to five lines.

The document should describe the most important issues and risks that are involved with the plan. If the risk is a major one the mitigation process and the likely impact must be identified. It is important to consider the possibility of future risks if the plan is not implemented in full or if it is not achieved even it is thought to be minimal.

The document should provide a description of the different alternatives that were considered during the decision-making process and give a brief summary of the pros and cons or highlight how the preferred option scored on the relevant decision criteria. It is important to include an alternative analysis since it provides the Board more than one option for them to consider when performing their governance responsibilities. This ensures that they have considered all possible outcomes.

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