The Money Files

We do a lot of our reporting in PowerPoint, which is a tool I like using. However, it does often involve recreating data from other sources on a slide so it can be included in a deck. Over the years, I’ve noticed a shift towards more visual forms of reporting, like dashboards and slides.

Slides lend themselves to graphical story telling far better than documents, and are good for the busy exec who wants to flick through the headlines without getting lost in the many pages of a PID or project plan. We all use a lot of words for our reporting, but if you’re trying to get your message across, making your reports more visual can make a difference.

Here are some advantages to consider.

Charts and graphs make your documents shorter

Charts, graphs and tables make your documents shorter because you can say more in a small space.

Visuals make your documents more concise and impactful, perfect for the busy senior manager who just wants to skim. Let’s face it, we all have information overload and busy brains, so the less work they have to do to understand the point, the better. Shorter documents reduce cognitive load and aid retention, so they might even remember the point next month!

Colours highlight status

You’re probably familiar with Red/Amber/Green colour coding for projects. The judicious use of colour makes it easy to see status at a glance. That means execs can focus in on the projects that need management attention.

Watch out for how you use colour though, to make sure your reports are accessible to all stakeholders: readers with colour deficiency or people who prefer to print content in black and white won’t automatically understand your statuses unless you use the words too.

Data presents the facts

Worried about how your sponsor might spin project status? If you present the facts in graphical format, that will support the narrative. Even if your sponsor says everything is wonderful, sharing (for example) the number of red/high risks or open issues is a way to draw attention to the fact not everything is going as well as it could. Data, in graphical format, leads to objective reporting.

Having said that, I’m sure you’ve heard people say that you can spin data in any way. So make sure your sources are clear and that you report like-for-like measures month-on-month for comparison. Links to drill down into the data will show that you value transparency.

If you want to get better at visual reporting, think about where the data is coming from and how you can present it. I got some amazing tips from the book Good Charts by Scott Berinato. It is an eye-opening look at how to position your data for maximum understandability and storytelling.

As well as the analytical thinking that you’ll want to do before you present any data, it’s also worth brushing up your technical skills, whether that’s a quick PowerPoint course or making sure you know how to use all the dashboarding and customisation features of your project management software, so you can get the data out in a format that makes it easy to share and talk about.

Lots of common project metrics lend themselves well to being presented visually: timelines, budget allocations, pie charts of risk ratings and so on. Why not experiment with what you can make more visual in your next project update?

Are you working with a new project team? Here are some tips for getting your team past Storming and Norming and into the zone of Performing.

Use a shared language

Use vocab and process names that are meaningful within the team, and make sure everyone uses the same terminology.

Chances are, if your project team members have been around a while they will know the in-house language of projects. However, you might have some specific project language that everyone needs to be onboard with. For example, is it Phase 2, Stage 2 or Tranche 2?

Build and share experience

Do you know the background of your colleagues? Can you recall the projects they have worked on? Take the time to call out and share the experience you have collectively. Celebrate successes and give everyone the chance to shine.

What you’re trying to do is build respect and understanding for what people bring so you can shortcut some of the ‘I don’t know if she’s ever done that before’ worries that the team might have about each other.

Foster an environment where trust is the norm

I know that trust isn’t always something you should assume, but in the workplace, trust people to do their jobs until they show you otherwise. Don’t make them jump through hoops just to do the roles they are hired to do.

Actively create resilience

Create resilience in the team by promoting wellbeing activities and encouraging the team to collaborate. You can also take practical steps like making sure project team members have a deputy who can step in when they are off, and that there is resilience in the resourcing plan in that you have enough people to do the job.

Build resilience into your solutions too, so you aren’t trying to run a network on a single server.

Share lessons learned

Make it normal to share lessons learned across the team. When you’re still learning how things work in this new environment, it can speed up adopting new (successful) ways of working but it also takes a bit of vulnerability.

If that’s a problem, focus on sharing the ‘this worked well so we’ll do it again’ lessons and keep the ‘what didn’t work’ conversations to your one-on-one chats.

Manage anxiety

Being in a new team is anxiety-provoking. Will they like us, what will they think of the way I do my work? Focus on psychological safety and setting expectations that are reasonable and manageable – for example, not expecting overtime, not emailing them on the weekends and giving people enough time to do tasks before you chase them.

Live the vision

Finally, make sure the team is aware of the common vision for the project. Talk about your hopes for the future and the goals you want to achieve together. OK, it takes more than a quick chat in a team meeting to create a genuine sense of wanting to work together to achieve a goal, but it sets the tone and gives people an understanding of the ‘why’ behind the project.

Tie your decisions back to the vision, reference it often and challenge activities that don’t lead you closer to it.

You can’t magically get to a performing team overnight, but these activities will help you start off on the right path so you reach a good standard of project performance together as quickly as possible.