During my time in the Fortune 100 world, I was tasked to create a report that helped everyone know where the business was at. I was given no further structure or parameters, and I had no idea what each reader would consider important. The only thing I knew was that the report had to be useful for the reader or it would just be shoved into a stack of unread papers.

I actually knew one other thing—the development of the right report would take creativity.

Since Leonardo Da Vinci popped into my mind as a great creative, I decided to use one of his techniques to brainstorm a palatable solution. Da Vinci made a chart that included a number of variations to play with the possibilities, hoping to find the right combination of choices. The key parameters were written down like column headings and all related ideas that flowed from each one were placed in its column.

Within a few minutes, I had a chart worthy of exploring. It looked something like this:

My Boss	Her Boss	The Team	The Division
Objective 1	Budget	Weekly Objective	Monthly Objective
Objective 2	Bonus Criteria	Monthly Objective	Quarterly Objective
Stretch Goal	Stretch Goal	Quarterly Objective	Yearly Objective
Personal Goal	Head Count	Resources	Budget
Bonus Criteria		Back Office Support

I next randomly circled variations and considered each for inclusion in my report. It looked something like these:

I also played with the idea of using two from one column and three from another, but to keep the report simple I settled on selecting only one factor from each column.

It didn’t take long to figure out that my boss’ bonus criteria matched her boss’ stretch goal, which immediately became an entry in my report. I also learned from experimenting with the potential selections and a calculator that the Team’s weekly objective was 2% of the boss’ bonus criteria and her boss’ stretch goal. In other words, one measurement could let everyone know exactly where they stood once a week.

Here is the dashboard report that I created to be on everyone’s desk when they got in each Monday morning:

The above report diagram was colored in each week so the reader would know at a glance where they stood. The 100% Goal represented the boss’ bonus criteria, her boss’ stretch goal, and the accomplishment of all the team’s weekly objectives.

Since everyone could read the report within three seconds, it was referenced daily. This new reading activity shifted the perspective of every employee on the team and drove obtainment over the 100% threshold year after year. All thanks to Da Vinci’s creative exercise of randomly selecting variations from a table of possibilities.

Maybe it’s time to use creativity and rethink your reports.

© 2019 by CJ Powers

Did you have a cup of coffee while reading this article? If so, would you mind buying me one too since I shared in your experience?