In a virtual working world, can we make reporting easier?

by Claire Bodanis, founder of Falcon Windsor and author of Trust me, I’m listed.

There’s no doubt that virtual working makes many aspects of reporting much harder. While there are all sorts of reasons why working on reports in the lockdown of 2020 was particularly difficult, reasons that had nothing to do with reporting, we found seven challenges specific to reporting that will come round again if some form of remote working becomes the new normal.

These challenges showed up in the reports themselves. One of our proof readers, who reviews reports for many different FTSE companies, told us that he had to make twice as many corrections as usual in some reports, and the copy was generally just a lot less sharp.

So what are these challenges, and how can we prepare for them?

1. Lack of technology. Managing multiple versions of long documents without introducing errors is almost impossible without good printing and scanning facilities. So make sure people have what they need.

2. Version control and file storage – these have always been a challenge, but remote working makes good discipline here even more critical because you can’t just pop into someone’s office and ask them who made that comment on page 142 and why.

3. Remote editorial reading and proof reading – before we tried it, we thought reading out loud to check a report over a zoom call wouldn’t work – but it does, surprisingly well.

4. Engaging and managing people you can’t see – this requires more communication, more empathy, more time.

5. Attention from the right people at the right time – it’s far harder to get senior people’s attention when you can’t see them. All the more reason to involve them early: the more convinced they are of the importance of reporting, the higher up their agenda it will go.

6. Keeping focused. For most people, this was the biggest challenge of all. It’s hard to concentrate for the long hours a report needs without the support of the office environment and colleagues around you. And so, things just take longer.

All these culminate in the final challenge:

7. Added costs. Everything takes longer. More time means more work, which inevitably means more money.

Knowing you’ll face these challenges means you’re half way to addressing them, because you can incorporate them into your reporting process for the coming year. You can find out more about how to develop the right reporting process for you in chapter 3 of Trust me, I’m listed, which also expands on the seven challenges above with more thoughts on how to plan for them.

In summary, however: prepare absolutely everything; plan your project in minute detail; and hope for the best.

Good luck.