Reporting That Drives Action, Not Just Updates

Reporting loses impact when updates summarize activity but do not clarify what decisions are required from leadership.

Diagnose by checking whether reports answer what changed, why it matters, and what action is needed by whom.

Use a three-step report format: lead with outcome shifts, attach supporting metrics, and end with explicit decision requests.

The common failure mode is metric overload that hides priority signals; mitigate by limiting each report to the few metrics that trigger action.

Require at least two explicit decisions or actions per report, and redesign this week's reporting template around that standard.