Board Paper Bootcamp
4.9 (12)
10 Days
·Cohort-based Course
Learn to crystallize the messaging for papers and presentations with minimal rework for you and your team.
Board Paper Bootcamp
4.9 (12)
10 Days
·Cohort-based Course
Learn to crystallize the messaging for papers and presentations with minimal rework for you and your team.
Course overview
Write papers that lead to better, faster decisions
Is this familiar?
>> Writing papers and presentations feels like a chore that burdens your nights and weekends.
It might also feel like an unavoidable waste of time. It goes like this ...
You are sitting down to review another round of edits on your latest Senior Leadership Team (SLT) or Board paper.
This is the fourth round of minutiae you have received.
There are minor comments and tweaks in track changes throughout. The draft is a sea of red and you can’t work out what is wrong.
You referred to examples your predecessor left you. You and the team have thoroughly addressed every issue the template raises, so this paper should deliver what is needed.
On top of this, you urgently need leadership support if the project is to go ahead.
But your stakeholders’ continuous focus on minutiae is driving you nuts. They are muddying the message which you have worked toward.
What on earth is going on?
Seemingly endless rounds of minor edits are getting in the way of a project that will make a real difference to meeting key performance indicators.
You settle in for a long night as your days are full moving the project forward and the last thing you want is for your manager to rewrite your paper again.
Many executives tell me they draft multiple iterations of every paper and that it is not uncommon to present to leadership multiple times before getting a decision.
They think this is a normal part of professional life.
It doesn't have to be.
I have seen many executives turn this around and look forward to helping you do the same.
>> Wouldn’t it be amazing if you consistently got better, faster decisions from papers and presentations that are (mostly!) written within regular working hours?
Board Paper Bootcamp teaches you how.
For executives preparing papers and presentations for senior leaders and Boards
01
Leaders, PMs and experts who want to set up better conversations that lead to better, faster decisions from their leaders.
02
Finance leaders wanting strategies to make it faster and easier to review business cases drafted by divisional teams.
03
Company secretaries, chiefs of staff and communication experts wanting to help their teams deliver crisper and more valuable insights.
04
Independent consultants who need greater buy-in from their clients when sharing their insights and recommendations.
You'll leave the Board Paper Bootcamp with ...
A strategy to get clarity around the brief really quickly
My Elevate framework sets up a simple strategy for clarifying the desired outcome for your paper. It works for business cases, recommendations, updates and all other forms of formal engagement with your top decision makers.
A technique for mapping and 'nailing' your messaging
A major challenge in preparing papers and presentations is crystalising the message. Our one-page message maps help structure your thinking to drive both clarity and insight.
A toolkit for implementing the ideas for future papers
Leverage story patterns, templates and guides to lift the value you deliver in each and every paper. Spark off our extensive library of real-life examples too.
A finished paper you can be proud of
The main 'exercise' during the program is to prepare your own paper. I will take you through the process step by step so you can progress it between sessions.
6 months of opportunities to keep asking questions
Program participants enjoy 6 months access of my Clarity Hub. This offers tools, templates, MasterClasses and the opportunity to grow alongside other members, with contributions from me also.
An even better experience if you come with a colleague or two
Joining with at least one colleague helps you embed the approach more effectively in your work. You can not only collaborate in breakouts on your own material, you can help each other afterwards.
What’s included
Live sessions
Learn directly from Davina Stanley in a real-time, interactive format.
Lifetime access
Go back to course content and recordings whenever you need to.
Community of peers
Stay accountable and share insights with like-minded professionals.
Certificate of completion
Share your new skills with your employer or on LinkedIn.
Maven Guarantee
This course is backed by the Maven Guarantee. Students are eligible for a full refund up until the halfway point of the course.
Board Paper Bootcamp
Course syllabus
4 live sessions • 28 lessons
Week 1
B1 PRE-WORK - 90 MINS - ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY
May
6
B1 - Develop your engagement strategy
B2 PRE-WORK - 30 MINS - STRUCTURE YOUR MESSAGE
May
8
B2 - Structure your message
Week 2
B3 PRE-WORK - 40 MINS - PREPARE YOUR PAPER
May
13
B3 - Prepare your paper (or presentation)
May
15
B4 - Consolidate
Post-course
STRETCH YOUR SKILLS
SCHEDULE A COACHING CALL (OPTIONAL - EXTRA FEE)
PARTICIPATE IN CLARITY HUB (INCLUDED)
Bonus
'Hacking' Templates
Interview: How to get a great brief
4.9 (12 ratings)
What students are saying
Meet your instructor
Davina Stanley
Clarity First Program
I love what I do.
I help senior leaders and their teams prepare high-quality papers and presentations in a fraction of the time.
This involves 'nailing' the message that will quickly engage decision makers in the required outcome.
I leverage 25+ years' experience including
- learning structured thinking techniques at McKinsey in Hong Kong in the mid 1990s before coaching and training their teams globally as a freelancer for a further 15 years
- being approved to teach the Pyramid Principle by Barbara Minto in 2009
- helping CEOs, C-suite leaders and their reports deeply understand their stakeholder needs and communicate accordingly
- seeing leaders cut the number of times they review major papers by ~30% and teams cut the amount of time they take to prepare major papers by ~20%*
- watching senior meetings focus on substantive discussions and better decisions rather than trying to clarify the issue
My approach helps anyone who needs to engage senior leaders and Boards.
Recent clients include 7Eleven, KPMG, Mercer, Meta, Woolworths.
Learn more at www.clarityfirstprogram.com or get a taste of how I think about communication by completing my free mini course, Better Emails in 10 Minutes.
(*) Numbers are based on client benchmarking
Schedule
6+ hrs / week for 2 wks + 6 mths support
Start learning immediately
Receive pre-work as soon as you register
The workshops build on the knowledge from the preparatory modules. The more you know, and the more experimentation you undertake before hand ... the more you will get out of the workshops.
Learn online, stretch in class
4 workshops over 2 weeks
These two-hour workshops are highly interactive. They mix group work, individual work and breakouts as you each prepare your own paper step by step. Build on what you have learned in our short powerful online modules.
Write a paper while you learn
2 hours per week to apply concepts
Each workshop introduces a step in the paper preparation process. You will want to progress the paper further outside class. You will also have ~1 hour of short online modules to complete between each session.
Receive 6 months' extra support
Clarity Hub access
Continue learning with your cohort and others also seeking to lift the quality of their team's thinking. Join monthly MasterClasses, share ideas, ask questions and complete challenges. Access extensive library of sample papers.
Write Better Emails
When you are thinking about improving your Board Paper writing skills, you might not immediately go to improving your emails.
This is, however, a wonderful place to practice some important structured thinking skills without burning lots of time.
In 10 minutes, you will get useful ideas that you can apply more broadly.
You will also get to know more about how I can help.
Elevate your skills today
Learning is better with cohorts
Active hands-on learning
This course builds on live workshops and hands-on projects
Interactive and project-based
You’ll be interacting with other learners through breakout rooms and project teams
Learn with a cohort of peers
Join a community of like-minded people who want to learn and grow alongside you
Frequently Asked Questions
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