One of my clients had a communication problem. It wasn’t the usual “not enough” problem that so often comes up, it was an executive summary problem. The supply chain leader was doing beautiful, in-depth bid analyses with long spreadsheets and each supplier’s column in a different color. They looked like every bid analysis I’ve ever built. However, the operations leader couldn’t read them. To the operations VP, they were an ocean of numbers and he couldn’t distinguish which supplier the procurement team recommended. The communication problem was less about communication and more about translating the results into an executive summary. This article covers key components of a supply chain executive summary to improve your own communication skills.
Why
Why should you care about writing a good executive summary? Especially if you know your audience is not an executive? Executive summaries are a key skill to success, especially when climbing a corporate ladder. I have personally witnessed the “Who should we promote?” conversations consider (among other things) how well each candidate communicates with peers, supervisors, and customers. This includes their frequency and quantity of communication, but it also includes the quality of that communication. Was it clear, concise and understandable? Or did it leave the reader confused and feeling like they were swimming through an ocean of text? The ability to write a good executive summary builds a personal brand for excellent communication.
Brevity
An executive summary should be brief. If it is a written report, it should be no more than one page (size 12 standard fonts, in whatever font is your company’s preference). I had a mentor once tell me to never write an email to someone holding a VP or higher title of more than 250 words. For someone with a C-suite title or higher, think very carefully before sending an email longer than 100 words. The chances your recipient will read a long email are near zero. The same goes for any kind of executive summary. Right now you might be thinking, “But I can’t get all this information down to 100-250 words.” It does take extra time and effort to write short reports and truly consider whether each word adds value. Consider using AI to edit and shorten if this is particularly tricky, and use tables and bullets to cut extra words.
Format
Many large companies have set style guides on executive reports and communication. I’ve seen these with details like font and margins, but also all the way down to which words should be hyphenated and how wide table columns should be. Do not turn in an executive report with more than three colors – black and white are colors. Colorblindness is surprisingly common in our population, and many leaders will spend more time considering the meaning of multiple colors than absorbing the content. Similarly, do not add anything after a decimal point on any currency. Executives do not care about cents, and most companies would prefer monetary values in the thousands (be sure to label your table headers “000s” if you abbreviate to do this!). For example, a bid value of $7,456,231.67 is hard to read and the cents make it look like more money than it is. $7,456,000 is better and depending on the context $7.5m might be best. This applies to tables as well, just because the numbers are copied over from Excel doesn’t mean you need all those significant figures. If you are formatting your tables using Excel, the ROUND() function is your friend. To round cell A15 to the thousands, the formula is “=ROUND(A15,-3)”. You are not being more precise by adding colors and more numbers, you are adding confusion.
When
When to use an executive summary? Any report or writeup longer than about three pages should consider an executive summary. This includes project charters, category/commodity strategies, contract risk summaries, and similar documents. Ideally, the standard template for these reports includes the most important information summarized on the first page without then duplicating the information on subsequent pages. For example, the category strategy might have the spend, savings, and overall strategy writeup on the first page, with later pages going deeper into the global socioeconomic considerations, risks, and internal politics that informed the strategy.
Language
While this is true of any communication, consider the audience. Executives do not know or understand supply chain jargon unless they spent time in supply chain, and they’re not going to learn it. Even if they spent time in supply chain, the jargon may have been different. Spell out ANY acronyms, even those that are commonly used. Examples include Request for Proposal (RFP), On Time in Full (OTIF), and Product Price Variance (PPV). If the summary belongs to a category strategy, still consider spelling out any acronyms and avoiding jargon. While the audience is likely supply chain leadership, there is also a possibility the key internal customer for that category will see and need to understand the category strategy. Letting the internal customer see and understand the strategy can greatly improve buy-in and execution of that strategy.
Don’t fall into the trap of long emails, reports, and word salad. Keep your communication concise, well-formatted, applicable, and jargon-free. Taking the time to write strong executive summaries will pay dividends in your career and your results.