Business assessment outline
An assessment should distinguish evidence, interpretation, and unanswered questions. The structure below is a reusable starting point.
- Scope: business area, review period, stakeholders, and exclusions.
- Evidence reviewed: records, interviews, observations, and limitations.
- Finding: the current situation and the evidence supporting it.
- Implication: why it may matter and what remains uncertain.
- Priority: rationale based on impact, urgency, effort, and dependencies.
- Recommended next step: owner, decision required, and a review date.
Improvement roadmap
Illustrative example only: if quotation follow-up lacks clear ownership, a first action could be to assign an owner to each open quotation and test a shared follow-up log. No improvement is assumed until the pilot is reviewed.
- Priority and evidence: what problem does this address?
- Action and owner: what will change, and who is responsible?
- Dependency and due date: what must happen first, and when is review realistic?
- Acceptance criteria: what would count as the action being complete?
- Outcome measure: how will you assess whether the change helped?
One-page SOP structure
Write for the person doing the task. A useful procedure covers the normal workflow and what to do when it cannot be followed.
- Purpose, trigger, scope, and process owner.
- Required inputs, access, and tools.
- Steps, responsible roles, and quality checks.
- Exceptions and escalation: who decides when the normal route does not work?
- Records to retain, version, review date, and document owner.
KPI definition sheet
Before designing a dashboard, define each measure consistently. For example, “quotation conversion” needs a clear cohort and period, not simply two totals from different months.
- Measure name and the decision it should support.
- Definition, calculation, units, period, and exclusions.
- Data source, owner, refresh frequency, and known limitations.
- Baseline and target: leave blank until agreed from evidence.
- Review trigger and action owner when the measure changes.
Coaching action plan
Illustrative example only: a leader who routinely takes back delegated work might test one clearly bounded delegation before the next session.
- Development goal and the situation you want to handle differently.
- Action or experiment, intended learning, and completion date.
- Support needed and obstacles to anticipate.
- Evidence to bring to the next session.
- Reflection: what happened, what did you learn, and what will you adjust?
