Tool 3 · 2.00 to 3.15 pm

Claude: Long Reports, Hard Questions and Board Papers

You will produce: a stress-tested proposal and a draft board paper.

What Claude gives a manager

Long documents

Reads long reports and board packs in one go and keeps track of the detail.

Careful writing

Drafts formal papers in plain, measured English.

Projects

A workspace that holds your background documents and instructions across chats.

Artifacts

Turns an answer into a document, table or simple dashboard beside the chat.

Free accounts have usage limits, and some features need a paid plan.

Four questions to put to any long report

Read the AI's answer first, then go to the pages it points to. You are reading with a guide, which is different from skipping the reading.

What must I decide?

“What decision is this report asking of me? Quote the sentence.”

What has changed?

“Compare this with last quarter's report. List what moved and by how much.”

Which figures matter?

“Which numbers carry the argument? Give the page for each.”

What is missing?

“What would I need to know that this report leaves out or plays down?”

A quarterly report in ten minutes

Work on a sample Training Operations Report with invented figures. Never a real one.

List the five points a deputy director must know. Give the page for each.

Which programmes missed their enrolment target, and by how much? Show a table.

What does this report not tell me that I need before approving its recommendations?

Watch how each question narrows the reading. Note where Claude gives a page number and where it does not, then open the report and check one figure yourself.

Stress-testing before sign-off

Pre-mortem

“Assume this proposal failed after 12 months. Give the most likely reasons, in order.”

Assumptions

“List every assumption in this proposal. Mark the ones with no evidence behind them.”

Opposing view

“Argue against this as a board member who is sceptical about the cost.”

Stakeholders

“How would trainees, instructors, industry members and finance each see this?”

The AI does not decide. It helps you arrive at the meeting having heard the objections already.

Your turn

Activity · 20 min

Scenario A: a new programme proposal

A head of programme proposes an Electric Vehicle Maintenance certificate at a branch campus. Start-up cost is RM1.2 million. Projected intake is 60 trainees a year. Two industry members have shown interest. This is a fictional case.

1In pairs, run the pre-mortem and assumptions prompts on the proposal.
2Agree on the questions you would send back before signing.
3Share your sharpest question with the room.

Who supplies what in a board paper

Section	You supply	The AI drafts
Purpose and decision sought	The decision and who makes it	A one-paragraph statement
Background	Facts, dates and earlier decisions	A tight narrative
Options	The real options and constraints	A comparison of pros and cons
Financial implications and risks	Verified figures	Layout and plain wording
Recommendation	Your judgement	Clear wording that matches the paper

Facts and judgement come from you. Structure and wording can come from the AI.

A board paper prompt you can reuse

You are helping me draft a paper for the Board of Directors of a TVET institution.
Decision sought: [ ]
Background facts: [paste]
Options considered: [ ]
Verified figures: [ ]

Write the paper under these headings: Purpose, Background, Options, Financial Implications, Risks, Recommendation.
Keep it under two pages. Use formal, plain English.
Do not invent figures. Where information is missing, write [TO CONFIRM].

Then write a 150-word summary that a busy board member can read in one minute.

Before you paste: remove names of trainees and staff, and use institutional accounts for anything marked internal.

Turn the board paper prompt into a skill

Skills work on Claude's free plan once code execution is on. The facts and the final check still come from you.

1
Turn on code execution
Settings, then Capabilities.
2
Create the skill
Open Customize, then Skills, and create a skill with Claude in chat.
3
Describe the format
Describe your board paper format and paste one good example.
4
Test it
Open a fresh chat and ask for a board paper to see Claude pick it up.

Board paper

In your own house format.

Memos and letters

Official correspondence in one voice.

Monthly enrolment summary

Same one-page format every month.

Sponsor replies

Routine enquiries answered consistently.

Preparing for the meeting

Here is my paper. Give me five talking points for a ten-minute slot. Lead with the decision I need from the board.

Act as one board member who worries about cost and another who worries about reputation. Ask me the six hardest questions on this paper, one at a time. After each answer, tell me where it was weak.

Ten minutes of rehearsal with an AI the night before is cheaper than one bad answer in the boardroom.

All tools

The verification habit

Figures

Every figure is traced to a source document.

Details

Every name, date and title has been checked.

References

Every quotation and reference has been opened and read.

Recommendations

Every recommendation is one you would defend without the AI in the room.

If you sign it, you own it.

Skills

Getting more from Claude Skills

A Skill is a saved folder of instructions, templates and examples that Claude loads automatically when a task matches. Think of it as a standard operating procedure Claude follows every time.

One job per Skill

A 'Board paper' Skill and a 'Minutes' Skill work better than one giant 'Writing' Skill.

Write a clear description

Claude decides when to use a Skill from its description. Say exactly when it applies: "Use when drafting board or management papers."

Include a good example

Attach one approved past report as a model. Claude copies structure and tone far better from examples than from rules.

Add your templates and checklists

Upload your letterhead structure, house style guide and review checklist so every output matches.

Test, then refine

Run it on three real tasks. Where the output misses, add one line to the instructions rather than rewriting everything.

Share across the team

Once a Skill works, share it so the whole division produces consistent reports. Review it every six months.

Enable Skills under Settings → Capabilities. You can ask Claude itself: "Help me create a Skill for our monthly divisional report" and it will draft the instructions for you.

Prompt library

Report writing Skills you can set up

Paste one of these into Claude and ask it to turn it into a Skill, or use it directly as a prompt.

Name: Board paper writer
Use when: drafting papers for the board or management committee.
Structure: Purpose (2 lines) → Background → Issues/Analysis → Options with cost, benefit, risk → Recommendation → Decision sought.
Rules: max 4 pages, British English, every figure cites its source, flag assumptions in [brackets], no jargon.

Name: Monthly divisional report
Use when: I share monthly figures or updates.
Output: headline (1 sentence), KPIs table vs target with RAG status, 3 highlights, 3 issues with owner and next step, asks for management.
Rules: compare with last month and same month last year; never invent numbers.

Name: Executive summary
Use when: summarising any report over 5 pages.
Output: one page — context, three key findings, implications, recommendation.
Rules: lead with the conclusion, quote page numbers, list anything unclear as 'Questions for the author'.

Name: Report reviewer
Use when: I ask you to review a draft.
Check: logic gaps, unsupported claims, missing risks, inconsistent figures, tone, length.
Output: top five fixes in priority order, then line-level suggestions. Do not rewrite the whole report.

Name: Minutes and action log
Use when: I share meeting notes or a transcript.
Output: attendees, decisions, discussion summary per agenda item, action table (action, owner, due date).
Rules: neutral tone, no opinions, flag unclear decisions.

Name: Funding proposal
Use when: preparing proposals to ministries or funders.
Structure: problem, objectives, activities, timeline, budget summary, outcomes and KPIs, sustainability, risks.
Rules: align language with the funder's criteria I provide; highlight any criterion not yet addressed.