Leadership Documents

Creating Leadership Documents

In business, documents usually fall into broad types: (1) correspondence (e-mails, memos, and letters) and (2) reports (including proposals, progress reviews performance reports, and chart packs). Leadership documents are correspondence and reports by which managers and executives assert their influence in a wide range of organizational settings.

Selecting the Most effective Communication Medium
As with any effective leadership communication, you need to clarify your purpose, analyze your audience, and develop a communication strategy before you put pen to paper or fingers to the keyboard to create a document.
These followings are written mediums:
- Text Message
- E-Mail
- Memo
- Letter
- Discussion Outline
- Chart Pack or Deck
- Reports
Each of these written mediums has advantages and disadvantages as well.

Creating Individual and Team Documents
Whether you are creating document alone or in collaboration with a team or other group, having some plan will help you be more productive and streamline the document creation process considerably.

Creating Individual Documents
Every person has own approach of creating documents. For example, some people work best from an outline, while others feel more comfortable using the idea mapping or brainstorming techniques. You should find the approach that works for you, but realize that you will be more productive if you follow some sort of step-by-step plan. Following exhibit provides a phased approach you might follow if working alone, from the first step to the final.
Individual Document Creation Process
Phase 1:
Analyzing and Planning
1. Clarify your purpose
2. Develop your 3. Analyze your audience strategy
4. Select your medium
5. Determine your key messages

Phase 2:
Creating and Developing
6. Decide on the best organization
7. Generate ideas
8. Gather data
9. Check for completeness
10. Double check your logic
11. Write a complete draft with headings

Phase 3:
Refining and Proofing
12. Reorganize, if necessary
13. Revise, cutting excess
14. Read the document aloud to check tone and flow
15. Print out and proofread the final version

Creating Team Documents
Leaders must often manage the process of document creation within a team setting. Without a plan, team document creation can involve extra work and result in a lower quality document.
Teams use one of two ways to divide the tasks: (1) on person on the team does all of the writing with others providing the content to the scribe (the single-scribe approach), or (2) the team divides the writing among the team members according to the sections for which they have provided most of the content (the multiple-writer approach).

Organizing the Content Coherently
To “cohere” means to hold together, which is what you want your documents to do. You want the pieces – paragraphs and sections – to conform to a systematic arrangement or plan that is logical and apparent to readers.

Organizing and Content
The logic of entire document, as that of each section, should be obvious to your readers. You want the logic to be so clear and the organization so tight that no one wonders, “Where did that come from?” Although they are useful references, too frequent use of the following expressions in a report may signal that the organization may need to be stronger: “As mentioned or discussed earlier,” “Returning to point A again,” or “In the previous section.”

Opening with Power
In your opening, most of the time you should begin strongly by quickly stating your main message, but let your analysis of your audience guide you.

Developing with Reason
You should aim for the same directness and brevity in the discussion or development section of your document as you do in your introduction.

Closing with Grace
Once you have taken your audience through your decision, you should end as quickly and directly as you began. A conclusion in a letter, memo, or e-mail should call for action, mention contact information or follow-up arrangements, anticipate any problems, and offer a courtesy closing.