The classic executive summary is used to summarise the key points at the start and end of a particular topic, proposal or piece of work. This can help people to quickly get to the heart of the matter.
Some people also, when appropriate, follow elements of the executive summary approach in other situations. They do this in a positive, professional and polite way.
Some individuals may start a meeting, for example, by communicating the outcomes to achieve. They keep returning to these to keep the meeting on track.
They may end the meeting by doing a kind executive summary that covers the goals to achieve and the actions going forwards. They may also describe the responsibilities of the various mission holders.
Some people speak in headlines. They get to the point quickly and, for example, position a discussion by describing the topics to explore and the outcomes to achieve. They may also invite people to add other items.
Such individuals may be good at encouraging others to share their ideas. They keep refocusing the conversation, however, to ensure that it leads to working together to achieve certain agreed goals.
Some writers follow elements of the executive summary approach. They may do this when creating a website, a marketing campaign or other pieces of work. They ask themselves the classic questions.
Who is the audience?
What do I want them to be saying after seeing this piece?
How can I increase the chances of them saying these things?
Such writers recognise one of the key challenges when producing a piece of work for certain people in a fast moving world. This is that:
Some people don’t read, they scan.
They then focus on the parts that are interesting and go into these in more depth.
Such writers use their imagination to focus on the reader’s world. They imagine the challenges that such people face and the goals they want to achieve. They then aim to:
Grab the reader’s attention … Keep things simple but profound … Give examples that resonate with the reader.
Different people follow elements of the executive summary approach in different situations. As mentioned earlier, when doing so they aim be positive, professional and polite.
Such people are encouraging but focus on the key points. When appropriate, they invite people to contribute their ideas This increases the chances of getting to the heart of the matter and achieving positive results.
Let’s return to your own life and work. Looking ahead, can you think of a situation where you may want to follow elements of this approach? How can you do this in your own way?
If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. This invites you to complete the following sentences.
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