Excellent Time-Saving Idea for Leaders to Communicate

If you find there are too many long reports circulating among your team and wish you could find a way to shorten them without sacrificing critical information, this could be your solution.

Ever heard of the 5-15 report? I had not until I worked with the CEO of General Insulation, Frank Granara. Frank asks his 50 plus managers throughout North America to send a report in every week. He then consolidates the most important information and sends it in his own 5-15 report. This allows him to stay on top of what is going on in his organization, while sharing important ideas from his network with his managers.

The original idea for the report comes from Patagonia founder  Yvon Chouinard who implemented a weekly "5-15 report" to keep track of his employees and business while he enjoyed his adventurous life.

The 5-15 report is intended to take no more than five minutes to read and 15 minutes to write. Even better than the condensed time frame, it allows team members to communicate successes without feeling awkward, capture important lessons, demonstrate awareness of next steps, and alert you to setbacks without asking for support.

The structure:

• Name:
• Week ending:
• Accomplishments for the week: (List completed activities and notable accomplishments. In general, what is working? What is your current situation?)
• Challenges and resources needed to overcome
• Lessons Learned
• Priorities for next week: (Be specific)

 

 

Guidelines:

• The 5-15 report should not be longer than one page.
• It should be due on the same day each week
• Send it to one particular individual

That’s it. It’s short and simple, but effective and efficient. I’ve seen it in action. Ask Frank Granara of General Insulation who not only reads the reports, then shares them with his team. No wonder they’re successful