Board Decision Prep Sheet

Write the one-page logic behind a decision you want a board, a steering group or an investor to make: the ask up front, honest options, risks in both directions and answers to the questions you least want.

Working craft, not research: no study shows that papers structured this way are approved more often. Boards' roles are set by governance codes, which are standards (Financial Reporting Council, 2024; Swedish Corporate Governance Board, 2024). Example numbers are illustrative; timings are rules of thumb.

Use it when:

• You will bring a proposal to a board, a steering group, an investment committee or a bank.
• A previous paper was deferred and you do not know why.
• You are helping a client or your own manager prepare a decision paper.

Skip it when:

• Your recommendation is not yet settled: use 2.11 Options & Recommendations first, and 8.13 SMART Recommendation Builder to sharpen it.
• You need to check governance fit first: use 8.15 Governance Impact Checklist.

Boards are part-time oversight bodies with limited meeting time and heavy reading. A paper competes for attention, and a buried ask loses. Their role is defined by norms: governance codes make a board responsible for long-term success, risk and oversight, not daily management (Financial Reporting Council, 2024; Swedish Corporate Governance Board, 2024). Boards therefore ask predictable questions about evidence, alternatives, risk in both directions, effects on stakeholders and accountability. The claim of this sheet is simply that predictable questions deserve prepared answers.

Work it in that spirit. The prepared answers are the heart: blanks there are your preparation list. The options must include doing nothing, with honest pros, because a straw man tells the board the analysis is advocacy. Risks of not proceeding count as much as risks of proceeding. Deferral is usually earned weeks earlier, in late papers and unconsulted stakeholders.

The issue or opportunity (two or three sentences):

Why the board needs to decide now (authority, material cost, strategy, legal duty, reputation or a deadline):

If the board takes no action, what happens:

Decision type (approve, approve in principle with conditions, note for information, delegate):

The exact motion or resolution:

Owner, budget and target completion:

Strong answer: (illustrative) "The board is asked to approve a 2.4 million SEK investment in a second packing line, to be delivered by October, owner: the plant manager. Without a decision by June, the Q4 order book cannot be met." Not: "The board is invited to consider options for capacity."

Illustrative example: the company, the roles and the numbers are invented.

The plant manager of a Swedish food producer asks the board to approve 2.4 million SEK for a second packing line. The ask sits on page one: approve, owner the plant manager, in operation by October. Evidence: line utilization of 94 percent over the past quarter from the production log; two lost orders. Options: A, the new line; B, a second shift on the old line; C, outsourcing; D, do nothing. Do nothing is argued honestly: it saves 2.4 million and no one learns a new machine, but the order book cannot be met.

Risks of proceeding: a delay in delivery (medium, medium; mitigation: milestone payments). Risks of not proceeding: losing the two largest customers' growth (high, high). The hardest question is "What is Plan B?" The plant manager's answer: "Option B, which we can start within six weeks at a higher unit cost." The paper goes out ten days before the meeting.