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Some people think creating a management report entails assembling a bunch of numbers and charts.
And boom! Your presentation is ready to serve the management.
Well, nothing could be further from the truth. There are tons of management report examples throughout the blog to refute the above claims.
People in management may seem very analytical, but they’re emotional beings just like anyone in a practical sense. You see, facts and figures served with no emotions wrapped are unlikely to move decision-makers.
And this is because people act on emotions and justify with logic.
Aristotle was the first person to notice that at the center of every persuasive presentation, there’s always a strategic combination of:
So if you combine these components strategically, you’ll move your audiences systematically to the action-taking part. In our case, it’s the top management.
We’re all emotional beings. If you want to move your audience your way, target emotions with a good story loaded with facts and visuals. Yes, visuals because they help in planting your ideas in the mind of the audience.
We’re sure you’ve come across lousy management reports. Those reports, once read, you’ll never hear back. Or report that no one acts on its recommendations despite the high stakes.
We’ve rounded some tips and lessons for you to create compelling reports that inspire the audiences irrespective of the position in the power pyramid. Some of these hacks have been drawn from Apple and Amazon.
You will get in this blog idea about chart library which can help you in creating wonderful visualization based on your data.
We’re very confident you’ll get immense value from the post. Enjoy.
In this blog, you’ll learn the following:
Before we delve into the management reports examples, let’s go through the definition.
Management reports aim to inform managers and leaders of different aspects of the business to make informed decisions. Data from various departments is collected to track and present key performance indicators (KPIs) understandably.
Reporting for management provides insights into how a business is doing. Besides, it empowers decision-makers to find the right path to increase operating efficiency and make pertinent decisions to remain competitive.
Management reporting is a source of business intelligence that can help you make more accurate, data-driven decisions.
These reports range in content and breadth. For instance, a management report may contain financial and operational statements on a small segment of the overall business. For example in the screenshot below you can see the portion of the business report which is illustrating the product manufactured in different years and how much percentage of those products came back to the company in under warranty claims. If you see the bars you will notice in 2018 maximum products were manufactured and if you look at the trend of product return, it shows over the year, the performance of product manufacturing increased due to the fewer warranty claims received.
The goal of management reporting is to:
In this blog post, we’ll showcase 3 examples of reports you need to ‘storify’ to get instant results.
Reports about company operations help the management team see how work is flowing and, most importantly, inefficiencies.
This report can contain essential information, such as time and materials used in producing each product versus the revenue generated. More so, figures about how much the workforce produces per hour to uncover weak points in the operational process.
If you want to compile this report, start by collecting operational data in your business.
Sales and marketing reports show your strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities relative to your different product lines and revenue streams.
Although this information isn’t required for tax forms, it’s critical to your management team. And especially when making decisions about where to invest marketing and operations resources.
This report can show where your products are the most successful, and at what times of the month of the year.
You must create financial reports, such as profit and loss statements and balance sheets, for tax reporting purposes.
However, these reports qualify as management reports because they show whether a business is earning or losing money. For instance, the income statement provides the most precise synopsis of your business activity during the time frame it covers.
We’re talking about how much revenue your company has taken in, how much is spent and how much is left over at the end of the day.
Your balance sheet shows how much your business owns versus how much it owes at a specific point in time. And this provides an overview of debt and equity at hand, which is a crucial report to attract additional investment.
The cash flow statement shows how you manage the money available to you over time, how much you spend on operations, how much you dedicate toward paying off debt, and how much flexibility your budget allows.
Now that you know about management reports and examples: let’s head to the ‘how to write’ section for more insights.
When you watch an exciting film, you’ve experienced the magic of a story.
A compelling story grabs your attention and takes you on a journey, evoking an emotional response. And in the middle of it, you find yourself not wanting to turn away or put it down. After finishing it, you could easily describe it to a friend.
Wouldn’t it be great if you could ignite such energy and emotion in your audiences?
Ever since the first humans sat around a fire, stories have been powerful mediums of explaining phenomena among generations.
So, stories sell.
Management reports should be storified with data narratives to make them persuasive and exciting. Below is a story template that has been used for centuries.
Actually, you should try it in your forthcoming presentation to the management.
The first section introduces the protagonist and antagonist, their relationships, and the world in which they live. After this setup, the lead character is confronted with an incident.
The attempt to deal with this incident typically leads to a more dramatic situation. And this is known as the first turning point. The first turning point ensures that life will never be the same for the main character. And it raises the dramatic question—framed in terms of the main character’s call to action—to be answered in the climax of the story.
In our case, the protagonist or the hero of the story is the management. Make them recognize this by involving them actively throughout.
The second part makes up the bulk of the story. And it depicts the main character’s attempt to resolve the problem created through the first turning point.
Often, the protagonist lacks the skills to deal with the problem he faces and, as a result, finds himself encountering increasingly worsening situations. And this is known as the character arc, where the hero goes through significant changes in life due to what is happening.
The protagonist may have to learn new skills or reach a higher sense of awareness of who he is. And what he is capable of to deal with his situation.
The third section resolves the story and its subplots. And it includes a climax, where the tensions of the story reach the highest point of intensity.
Climax: the dramatic question introduced in the first act is answered, leaving the hero and other characters with a new sense of life.
In our case, the presentation is the turning point for the hero (management). Yes, the hero will use insights from your report to overcome the imbalance caused by the antagonist or the enemy. And this can be the problem you’re trying to solve.
Now, let’s delve into the best practices. It’s a section you can’t afford to miss.
One of the characteristics of a compelling management report is easy-to-read charts. Yes, graphs that are free from clutter. Clutter is one of the biggest enemies of persuasive communication.
You may be tempted to cram tons of information in your charts to appear informative.
Please don’t because it won’t help your case.
The reason we use visual charts in management reports is to condense pools of data into insights. So charts are incredibly crucial in reports to increase the credibility and, most importantly, appeal to the logos (logic) of the audience.
Identifying and removing chart clutter reduces visual “noise,” allowing the audience to focus on the key takeaway.
So what is noise in management reports?
In his book “The Visual Display of Quantitative Information,” Edward Tufte defines such noise as elements in charts that are not necessary to comprehend the information represented in the graph.
In other words, anything that’s not helping you to communicate the BIG IDEA is noise and should be done away with.
Some of the common clutter items in management reports include:
Like we said earlier, facts and numbers mean little to people if they’re not wrapped in ethos (emotions) and pathos (credibility and personality). Besides, numbers cannot speak for themselves without an accompanying story to web everything together.
So, we can safely conclude that tables and charts answer the ‘What’ while a story answers the ‘Why.’ Any company management wants to hear not only the ‘What,’ but also the ‘Why.’
This is where the concept of data storytelling comes in management reports.
In this blog post, we zoom out of hard data and figures to focus more on the style and how to present your raw content compellingly. We’re primarily persuaded through 3 different types of information:
When the above components are fused strategically, they result in a compelling story that inspires action-taking. No doubt, storytelling is challenging. However, we’ve rounded up some simple hacks to overcome this.
Stories follow a beginning, middle, and end pattern. And through the use of showing a data trend over time, you can achieve something similar. For example, you could compare the revenue in Q1 this year to revenue in Q1 last year.
This strategy entails taking the audience on an imaginary journey. Essentially, you want to create ‘what is’ and ‘what could be’ scenarios and plant them in your audience’s mind.
For example, show a target revenue number versus the actual number this quarter.
Use this strategy to: highlight a problem, back it up with data insights, tell the audience what’s at stake, and propose choices for management to take.
To make things easier, use a stack ranking method or weighted index to rank the recommended choices based on their efficacy.
There are many different graphs and other types of visual displays of information. But only a handful will work for the majority of your management reports.
Choosing the best chart possible to embody your data story boils down to your big idea (key takeaway).
Let’s admit it. We’ve all been victims of boring, long, and disorganized presentations and meetings. One of the biggest fails in storytelling with data in management reports is the random use of charts.
Different charts come with different uses. So your choice of data is influenced by multiple factors, such as audience type, nature of the data, and most importantly, the main goal.
The big idea is that one key message you want to communicate. And it contains the impetus that compels the audience to set a new course with a new compass heading.
It’s also called: gist, take-away, thesis statement, or the single unifying message.
Remember, people came to hear you speak. Since they want to know your perspective on the subject, you should give it to them.
For example, the fate of the glaciers is merely a topic; it’s not a big idea. Conversely, worldwide pollution is melting glaciers and filling the oceans is a big idea with a worldview.
The critical takeaway doesn’t have to be so unusual that no one in the management has ever heard of it. It just needs to be your point of view on the subject rather than a generalization.
Besides, it should articulate why the audience should care enough to adopt your point of view.
For instance, your idea is to Replenish trees through new Legislation. Compare that to without better legislation, the destruction of the forest will cost the Florida economy $70 billion by 2025.
Conveying what’s at stake helps the audience recognize the need to participate and become heroes. Without a compelling reason to move, the big idea cannot motivate change.
Stating the big idea in sentence form forces it to have a noun and a verb.
When asked the question, “What’s your presentation about?” Most people respond with something like, “It’s about new training.” This is not a big idea.
It has to be a complete sentence: “This training will make your team increase productivity by 70% in the next two years.”
After establishing the BIG IDEA and defining the destination, it’s time to map out the journey.
Note, persuasion requires that you ask the audience to change in some way. And most change compels people to move from one form of being or doing and move to a new way.
Many times there’s an internal, emotional change that must occur before they show signs of external change through their behavior.
We go to the movies to see the change that happens in the main character. This carefully planned change is called the character arc. And it’s the identifiable internal and external change that the hero endures.
To plan an audience journey, identify where both from and to you want to move the audience.
If you change them on the inside, you can usually observe that through their actions. This outward change is proof that they understood and believed the big idea. Changing beliefs changes actions.
Numbers and facts without context cannot inspire change or action-taking by the management. Context is king in data storytelling. So you have to answer three questions, namely What (recommendations), Who (audience), Why (the big idea). When the aforementioned come together, they provide your management report with a water-tight context.
Success in data storytelling does not start with data visualization. Yes, you heard that right. The context in a data story is equally essential because it helps the audience know what you’re up to.
To create a compelling management report that inspires change, do homework on your audience. Again, you don’t want to present ideas people are not interested in.
You need to do a background check on them to know their interests. Ask questions such as:
People will only pay attention to something they really care about. So the more you resonate with the management, the more they’re likely to take action.
Highlighting key insights allow your audience to cherry-pick insights with ease. And that’s what a compelling data story is all about.
Take a look at the chart below. It’s visualizing the relationship between the Cost per Mile and miles driven.
Now compare it with this one below:
By simply highlighting the average (denoted as AVG) and all the dots above it, the target audience will get insights instantly.
The dots above the AVG line shows: cost per mile decreases with miles up to around 3,000-mile point. After the 3000-mile mark, costs rise with miles traveled.
Take a look at the diagram below:
The chart above shows the relationship between long-tail and short-tail keywords with respect to cost per click (CPC) and volume (traffic).
The shaded part is the point of interest for the audience.
Insights have little value if you don’t recommend action, such as whether to invest or divest.
Imagine you’ve already explained what your data story is about and why it matters in some detail. But what should your audience do with this information? Providing actionable information is, after all, the goal of good data visualization and storytelling.
Now that you know the Dos and DON’Ts of creating a compelling management report: Let’s check out the importance of visuals.
To reduce the chances of the audience getting “lost in the data,” compelling data storytelling requires not only adhering to the best practices but also employing the right tool for visualization. Why?
The backbone of every persuasive communication is the strategic use of visual images to inspire imagination in the minds of the audiences.
So when you use a simple and easy-to-read chart, you make it easier for audiences to grasp insights.
Although there’s a time and place for all charts, some graphs are easier to understand than others.
How do you select the right chart?
It all boils down to the big idea. Or the insights you want to communicate to your audience. Sometimes, tables work better than charts.
Remember, our eyes interpret visual images 60,000 times faster than numbers and texts.
So your choice of visualization in a management report example matters immensely.
To select the BEST chart, test your management report with people that are similar to your audience. The feedback you’ll receive will help you nail the presentation. Besides, testing reports will provide you with insights into whether every detail is consumable with ease.
So you need to pay attention to the charts you aim to appeal to the logos (logic) of the audience. A miss in your visualization can BREAK your data story.
This is why selecting the RIGHT TOOL to visualize your data matters a lot. It can be the difference between the management taking action and dismissing your report altogether.
Below are the reasons why you need to pay extra attention to the charts you incorporate into your report.
With this in mind, you should always create management reports that condense critical insights into easy-to-read charts.
Remember, a picture is a great way to convey your message quickly to an audience.
And this brings us to the section where we’ll discuss the recommended tools to use to make your reports compelling.
Google Sheets is one of the popular tools of data handling and visualization.
Some of the reasons for the aforementioned are pretty obvious. The tool has a simple and friendly user interface and is free to access. Besides, it comes loaded with a handful of chart templates you can use for your management report.
However, the spreadsheet app is not a having all data visualization tool to create a compelling report.
Yes, a report that compels the management to take action with the urgency you’ve stipulated.
Keep reading.
Google Sheets comes with a smaller library of charts. This is not enough because you need tons of diagrams to test for the best one to use in your report.
Testing is incredibly crucial before you settle for the BEST visualization to use for your storified management report. Earlier, we said using irrelevant charts is not recommended if you want a compelling report for the management.
Google Sheets does not grant you unlimited freedom to highlight the key insights through customization. Remember, to make a data story compelling; make insights low-hanging fruits for your audience to pick without struggles.
So you need a tool that allows you to customize your charts to align with the data story and comes with an expansive library of chart templates.
Keep reading to know the best tool to use.
The solution is not to do away with your Google Sheets app but rather to enhance it with ChartExpo Add-on.
Remember, you need visual diagrams that communicate insights effortlessly for you to create a compelling data story.
There’s a simple and easy-to-use data visualization tool you can use to create clear and compelling management reports. This library makes charts that you can customize and download easily.
ChartExpo is a highly affordable and easy-to-use Google Sheets Add-on that creates simple and easy-to-read visualizations for your management report.
So if you’re looking for a data visualization tool to create easy-to-interpret charts that seamlessly complements your report, check no further.
So how does ChartExpo help you to create persuasive data narratives?
This budget-friendly data visualization tool comes jam-packed with over 80 other chart templates just for YOU to select the BEST chart for your story.
Do you want to know more? Keep reading.
Besides, with ChartExpo, you have unlimited freedom to alter your charts to align with your management report. So you don’t have to sweat over highlighting the key insights that support the main idea.
To Get Started with ChartExpo for Google Sheets Add-on, follow the Simple and Easy Steps Below, once you installed that add-on.
Note: the chart used in this section has been generated using ChartExpo.
Imagine you’re the chief marketing officer (CMO) of a growing business.
The sales performance in the current period is down compared to the previous one. So you’ve decided to re-train the salespersons to be at par with the competition and changing marketing conditions. But you need the management to approve the training budget.
What’s your next course of action? Yes, you guessed right. Write a simple management report.
The big idea: Please approve the training budget because the sales contribution per person has decreased in the current period.
Note: we’re using the Parallel bar because it brings the element of comparison in the data story.
Call to action: So approve the training budget because it will help us achieve the 25k mark per person.
To Get Started with ChartExpo for Excel add-In, follow the Simple and Easy Steps Below.
More so, you can expand any group by clicking on it to see a list of available visualizations.
The product manager wants to know his customer’s opinion. So, he may know where room for improvement. For this purpose, he made a survey using the Likert Scale and sent it to customers. So customers can respond to questions. After a month, he got his survey results. He grabbed all the data.
| Question | Rating | Count |
| How do you rate our product? | 1 | 324 |
| How do you rate our product? | 2 | 176 |
| How do you rate our product? | 3 | 230 |
| How do you rate our product? | 4 | 270 |
| How do you rate our product? | 5 | 0 |
| How do you like services? | 1 | 138 |
| How do you like services? | 2 | 186 |
| How do you like services? | 3 | 176 |
| How do you like services? | 4 | 230 |
| How do you like services? | 5 | 270 |
| How do you rate your overall experience? | 1 | 0 |
| How do you rate your overall experience? | 2 | 138 |
| How do you rate your overall experience? | 3 | 186 |
| How do you rate your overall experience? | 4 | 176 |
| How do you rate your overall experience? | 5 | 500 |
| How do you rate the behavior of our staff? | 1 | 5 |
| How do you rate the behavior of our staff? | 2 | 100 |
| How do you rate the behavior of our staff? | 3 | 146 |
| How do you rate the behavior of our staff? | 4 | 116 |
| How do you rate the behavior of our staff? | 5 | 420 |
He opened Excel and fill the first column with Question heading, a second column with Rating, and a third column with Count.
Then, he opened ChartExpo.
First clicked on Survey and then clicked on Likert Chart. Clicked on columns and selected whole sheet i.e. Question, Rating, and Count. After that, he clicked on Create Chart From Sheet Data.
From this visualization, he can clearly see most of the people didn’t like his product much. He should made improvements in products so, people like his product. Most of the people like services, staff which is good. Customers overall had good experience.
There are many other visualizations available in this library. You can explore and use it for your data.
CEOs and alike may seem very analytical, but in a practical sense, they’re also emotional beings. So facts and figures served with no emotions wrapped are unlikely to move them.
ChartExpo library provides excellent visualizations swamped with emotions and facts to help the audience to understand the data and results in a better way.
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