STEP TWO: CREATE A DRAFT ON PAPER
(OR ON YOUR COMPUTER)
Once you’re armed with knowledge about what you need to accomplish
and how you’ll achieve it, you’re ready to prepare a draft. In order to create
a first draft, you need to select an organizational structure.
EXERCISE 29: Select an Organizational Structure
Of the nine organizational structures detailed in Chapter Two (see page
26), five are useful to convey positive information. Given that Brad had
stated that his recommendation is good news, he knew that he would
select one of those five. As you review them, remember your goal: to persuade
the executive committee to adopt your recommendation without
further analysis.
1. chronology
2. category
3. PAR (problem [or opportunity]/action/results)
4. Q&A
5. visual layout
Which structure do you think is best?
Each of the five structures would work; there is no one best solution.
Consider how each alternative might be used:
1. If past history would be a useful predictor of future risk, it might
make sense to use the chronology structure. However, given that
Brad said risk factors such as fraud and theft defy prediction,
this structure might be of limited value.
2. Listing the categories of risk might help Brad make his points.
3. PAR is always a good alternative when you need to be persuasive.
4. Q&A would allow Brad to highlight certain compelling points by
posing carefully phrased questions.
5. The data summary might well be displayed using a visual layout.
However, Brad wants his report to be only one page in length.
Based on the above analysis, most of us would have narrowed our
alternatives to category, PAR, and Q&A. Did you?