Challenge Report Template

Once the ideas have been concluded, you’re ready to provide reporting and tell the story of your challenge. People learn through stories, so consider:

  • Who are the heroes of the challenge?
  • What were the highlights that would interest others?
  • What was the key insight gained that should be shared across the organization?


Once the ideas have been concluded, you’re ready to provide reporting. 


You will need to explain in simple terms the context and story of your challenge, and we’ve provided a simple template to accomplish that along with this walk through. ConcludeReportCloseTemplate.pptx (click to download)


Table of Contents

These contents are a core set of points to cover, and you can feel free to add to this if desired. They key is to make sure that the story is told and not just facts and figures. Innovation is about people and change, so it is helpful to share a broad perspective. 



Results

Impact to the business such as ROI really isn’t feasible at this point. And yet, we’ve learned the sooner the sponsors see the link between challenges and achieving business results, the more quickly your program will be adopted and expanded. Focus more on the potential of ideas, the customer impact of ideas and the increased or improved collaboration rather than tangible dollars at this early stage. Engagement and activity are also important. Many sponsors are hoping to engage employees in solving tough problems and finding creative solutions, so these numbers will be important to them.


Top Ideas

This is provocative on purpose. Sharing this information sends the signal that they are important and you only want them to see the top ideas coming out of the challenge. A brief description of the process to choose these ideas may be helpful for context. 


We find that most sponsors want to understand the full scope of who was involved and what was done to vet the ideas before bringing it to their attention as a strong recommendation to move forward and allocate resources to doing this work.


Learning

Every challenge provides an opportunity for learning. Make sure you share the lessons of what worked and what didn’t, as well as what you will do differently next time to generate even greater results.  Only you can give them the right information to ensure they have full visibility into progress and all results of this work.


Next Steps

This is a chance for you to outline the rest of your plans coming out of this challenge for implementation as well as new challenge topics. It is also an opportunity for a specific ask. If you have done this well and have shown the value of doing this work, then an ask may get you to the next step on your way to a successful program.