Leadership does not want a 12-slide innovation deck every quarter. They want to know three things: is this program working, what did we get out of it, and what happens next. The template below answers all three on a single page. It is designed to take you under an hour to fill in once you have the underlying data, and under five minutes to read.
Use it for quarterly leadership updates, board reporting, and annual program reviews. If you are running your program well, filling in this template should feel easy. If it is hard to fill in, that is useful diagnostic information about where the program needs work.
The One-Page Template
Program name and reporting period
[Program name] | [Quarter / Year] | Prepared by [name]
What we did this period
Campaigns run: [number]
Total participants invited: [number]
Total submissions received: [number]
Overall participation rate: [percentage]
One sentence about what these numbers mean in context: [e.g., Participation rate is up 8 points versus last quarter, driven by stronger challenge framing and personal outreach to three departments that were previously underrepresented.]
What we decided
Ideas advanced to implementation: [number] out of [total reviewed]
Ideas parked for future cycles: [number]
Ideas declined: [number]
Average time from submission to decision: [days]
One sentence about the quality of what we received: [e.g., Submission quality was notably higher this cycle. The clearer challenge brief resulted in more specific, actionable ideas and fewer vague suggestions.]
What we implemented
[Idea 1 name]: [One sentence on what changed and what early outcome or indicator we have.]
[Idea 2 name]: [One sentence on what changed and what early outcome or indicator we have.]
[Idea 3 name]: [One sentence on status if not yet complete, and expected completion.]
Value generated (where we can estimate it)
[If you have quantifiable outcomes, put them here. Be honest about confidence level. Example: The shift handover checklist digitization is estimated to save approximately 2 hours of supervisor time per week across 3 shifts. We will confirm this figure at the 90-day mark.]
[If you do not have quantifiable outcomes yet, say so and explain when you will. Example: The two ideas implemented this cycle are too recent to measure impact. We will report on both at the end of next quarter.]
What is not working and what we are doing about it
This section is the one most people leave blank. Do not leave it blank. One honest sentence about something that is not working and one sentence about what you are changing is more valuable to leadership than three paragraphs about things that went well. It also builds far more trust in your credibility as a program manager.
[Example: Evaluation turnaround is still too slow. We averaged 28 days from campaign close to outcome communication this quarter, against a target of 14. We are trialing a faster triage process starting next campaign and will report on whether it closes the gap.]
What is coming next
Planned campaigns next period: [brief description of 1 to 3 campaigns and their focus areas]
Process changes we are making: [1 to 2 changes based on what we learned this cycle]
What we need from leadership: [Be specific. Budget approval for a pilot? A decision on whether to expand to a new site? A conversation about resourcing an idea that needs cross-departmental support? Ask for the specific thing you need, not a general endorsement.]
How to Use This Template Well
Fill in the hard sections first. Most people start with what we did (easy numbers) and leave the value generated and what is not working sections for last, then run out of time or motivation. Do it the other way. The honest sections are the ones that matter most.
Keep it to one page. Leadership attention is finite. A longer report does not communicate more. It dilutes the most important information in a pile of less important information. If you need to include supporting data, put it in an appendix and reference it from the main page. The main page stays one page.
Send it before the meeting, not at the start of it. The point of a good leadership report is to replace a slide-by-slide walk-through with a real conversation. If they have read it before the meeting, you can spend the time discussing implications and next steps rather than narrating data.
