A briefing note exists to help someone decide or act. Many fail because they are written to show how much work has been done, so the executive has to read four pages to find out what they are being asked. A good one puts the ask on the first line, gives only the context the decision needs, and makes it easy to say yes, no or "not yet".
Know which kind of brief you are writing
"Briefing" covers several different documents. Decide which one you need before you write a word.
- A decision note. The executive needs to choose between options or approve a recommendation. Use the Executive Briefing Note, which puts purpose and recommendation before background.
- A meeting brief. The executive is about to meet someone and needs to know who they are, what they want and what to say. Use the Pre-Meeting Briefing Pack.
- A situation brief. Something has happened and the executive needs to understand it fast. For anything serious, a Crisis Response Brief gives the right structure.
- A daily orientation. What is happening today and what needs them. That is the Daily Morning Brief.
Mixing these is the most common mistake. A meeting brief that drifts into a decision paper, or a decision note padded with relationship history, makes the executive work out which parts matter.
The structure of a decision note
Purpose: one sentence
Why this note exists. Not the topic, but the reason it has reached the executive now.
To ask you to approve the renewal of the cleaning contract before the current one expires on 31 March.
Recommendation: what you want them to do
State it plainly, as an action they can take. If the note is from you on behalf of a team, say whose recommendation it is.
Facilities recommend renewing with the current supplier for two years at the revised rate of £48,000 a year, a 6% increase. Please reply "approved" or let me know if you would like to discuss.
Background: five bullets at most
Only the facts the decision depends on. If you cannot fit the background into five bullets, either the decision is not ready or the note is trying to do two jobs.
Considerations: opportunity, risk, cost
One short paragraph each. Be honest about the risks of the recommended option. An executive who discovers a risk you did not mention will trust the next note less.
Options
Usually two or three, including "do nothing" where that is a real option. For each, a line on the main advantage and the main drawback. Mark the recommended one.
Next steps if approved
What happens the moment they say yes, and who does it. This reassures the executive that approval leads somewhere, and it often surfaces a missing step.
Contacts and appendices
Who to ask for more detail, and links to supporting documents. Appendices are for reference; the argument must stand without them.
Decision rules for writing
- Front-load the ask. If the executive reads only the first three lines, they should know what you want and by when.
- One decision per note. Two decisions in one note tend to get one answer. Split them.
- Say when you need an answer, and why. "By Thursday, because the supplier's quote expires on Friday" gets a faster response than "at your earliest convenience".
- Use numbers, not adjectives. "Costs have risen significantly" is less use than "costs have risen from £45,000 to £48,000".
- Keep it to two pages. If it is longer, move material to an appendix or ask whether the decision belongs in a meeting instead.
- Write for the executive's level of knowledge. Do not explain what they already know, and do not assume knowledge of the project's internal acronyms.
Writing a meeting brief
Meeting briefs have a different job: to help the executive walk into a room prepared. The sections in the Pre-Meeting Briefing Pack work in this order for a reason.
- The ask in one sentence. What the executive needs to leave with. "Agreement in principle to a joint pilot in the North West" is a useful ask; "relationship building" usually is not.
- Who they are meeting. Names, roles and why each person matters. If the executive has met someone before, say when and what was discussed.
- Context. What has changed since the last contact, what the other side wants, and what we want.
- Talking points in order. Three or four, with an opening and a close.
- Watchouts. Topics to avoid, sensitivities, names that are easily confused.
- After the meeting. What follow-up is expected and by when.
For client visits and negotiations, there are specialist versions: the Client Visit Brief and the Vendor Negotiation Brief, which adds positions, walk-away points and concessions.
Sample watchout wording:
Their Chief Operating Officer was previously at the supplier we ended our contract with last year. She may raise it; the agreed line is that the decision was about capacity, not quality.
A worked example
The executive is asked by the Head of People whether to extend hybrid working pilot arrangements for another six months. A weak brief opens with three paragraphs on the history of the pilot. A stronger one reads:
Purpose: To ask you to decide whether to extend the hybrid working pilot beyond 30 June.
Recommendation: The Head of People recommends extending for six months with the current two-day office minimum, and reviewing in December. A decision by 15 May lets us tell staff with a month's notice.
Background:
- Pilot started in January for three teams, about 120 people.
- Office desk occupancy on pilot days averages 70% against a 60% target.
- Two team leads have asked for more flexibility; one has asked for less.
- No change to the formal contractual policy is proposed; HR has confirmed this.
Options: (A) Extend as is, recommended. (B) Extend with a three-day minimum. (C) End the pilot and revert.
The executive can decide from the first two paragraphs. Everything below supports a question they might ask.
Notice that the example says HR has confirmed the contractual position. Where a decision has legal, HR or financial implications, the briefing note should say who has advised and what they said, rather than offering a view of its own.
A final check before you send
Read the note once more as the executive will, ideally on a phone, and ask:
- Could they act on the first three lines alone?
- Is the deadline real, and is the reason for it stated?
- Is every figure sourced, and do figures that appear twice match?
- Has anyone named in the note seen what is said about their team or their advice?
- Is anything in it confidential, and if so, is it marked and sent only to the people who should see it?
If any answer is no, fix it now. It takes far less time than the follow-up questions it prevents.
When things go wrong
The facts change after you send it
Send a short update headed with the change, rather than a new version of the full note: "Update to Tuesday's note on the cleaning contract: the supplier has revised their offer to £46,500." If the change affects the recommendation, say so explicitly.
The executive does not read it
Look at the format before the content. Is it too long? Sent at the wrong time? Some executives read briefs on the way to a meeting and need the first three lines to carry everything; others want them the evening before. Ask which works, then adjust. If time is very short, a two-line version in a message, with the full note attached, is better than nothing.
The executive disagrees with the recommendation
That is a perfectly good outcome; the note did its job. Record the decision and the reasoning, in a Decision Tracker if you keep one, and let the people who wrote the recommendation know quickly.
You are asked to write a brief on something you do not understand
Ask the subject expert for twenty minutes and three things: what the decision is, what they recommend, and what the risks are. Write the note from those answers and send it back to them for a factual check before it goes to the executive.
What good looks like
- The ask, the recommendation and the deadline are all visible without scrolling.
- The note is under two pages, with appendices for anything else.
- Risks are stated as plainly as benefits.
- The executive can reply with a single word, and often does.
- Decisions are made faster, and the same question does not come back a week later.
Templates for this workflow
- Executive Briefing Note: the decision note, with purpose and recommendation first.
- Pre-Meeting Briefing Pack: prepare the executive for a specific meeting and its follow-up.
- Client Visit Brief: for visits to or from a client, with account context.
- Vendor Negotiation Brief: positions, walk-away points and concessions for a negotiation.
- Crisis Response Brief: a fast situation brief when something serious has happened.
- Daily Morning Brief: a one-page orientation to the day and what needs the executive.
- Decision Tracker: record what was decided once the brief has done its job.