Writes and wrongs

BRW, Management Update, March 4–10 2010

Many writers of proposals and reports to company boards regard the task as a chore and a distraction from doing their real jobs. With such an attitude, it's not surprising that boards reject inadequate board papers without explanation – which in turn reaffirms the spurned author's conviction that writing board papers is a thankless task. In her book Write to Govern (The M Factor, 2009), Mary Morel argues that disgruntled writers of board papers often lack an understanding of the board's role. "They fail to appreciate the board's role or to realise that if they wrote more effective board papers they would have a better chance of having their projects approved," Morel writes. That does not mean that boards will always agree, she continues, but "they are more likely to agree … if proposals are based on quality information aligned with the organisation's strategy".