Sometimes called status updates, status reports can help bring calm to the chaos of a busy team. They keep everyone updated on new developments, upcoming deadlines and action items, and they may involve people both within and outside of your organization. While your current process may work just fine, you can make your status reports even more valuable by following a few best practices.

Amy Rigby, a contributor to the Trello blog, has put together a list of ways you can master your project status reports. We share her insight in this issue of Promotional Consultant Today.

Identify the stakeholders. Who needs to hear the status report? Consider if it involves a client, project team or leadership. Rigby says you may want to create a separate status report for each audience.

Set a delivery schedule. With ongoing status reports, it’s important to keep a regular cadence. However, don’t hold status updates just for the sake of getting the group together. If a weekly status report looks the same week after week, Rigby suggests moving it to a monthly report.

Cover the important elements. Stakeholders may need to know about upcoming deadlines or spending updates. For example, if you may go over budget on a project, bring this up in your status report.

Call attention to accomplishments. Take a moment in your status updates to highlight milestones or wins. When possible, try to show the positive impact these achievements have already had for your team, project or client, Rigby says.

Highlight challenges. Rigby calls them blockers, and they might be anything from supply chain issues to a team member who hasn’t completed a task they own. You should always mention any holdups or obstacles in your status report so that everyone has a realistic view of the project.

Assess the overall project status. If your overall project status is on track, give it a green light. If it’s at risk with some roadblocks, give it a yellow. And if it’s off track when it comes to budget, timing or some other factor, give it a red light. If a project status isn’t green, it doesn’t mean the team is failing, Rigby says. It simply gives you an opportunity to correct course.

Determine next steps. When stakeholders are done reading a project status report, they should have no doubt as to what the next steps are and if they need to take any actions, Rigby says. Be sure to outline responsibilities and when everyone should have their portion complete.

Stay flexible. There’s no hard and fast rule when it comes to creating status reports. Do what works for you and your team. Your status updates may change depending on the project type. For example, Rigby says that if you don’t need to quantify using percentages, just leave it out.

Status reports are among the best ways to keep everyone on a project on the same page. Instead of hearing, “Hey, where are we on the ABC account?” or “What’s the latest with XYZ?” you can help your team stay in the loop by following the status reporting best practices mentioned above.

Compiled by Audrey Sellers

Source: Amy Rigby is a writer and marketing consultant who contributes to the Trello blog.