What makes a good recommendation in a council paper?

Strong recommendations

Even with the best analysis in the world, and a well-structured and written paper, there’s a chance your recommendations may fall short unless they are well presented. So, it’s worth paying close attention to this aspect of your work.

Most importantly, good recommendations should indicate very clearly exactly what you’re asking your decision maker to do. This is expecially true in the local government context. Are they agreeing to a course of action? Approving a sum of money to pursue an initiative? Whatever you’re asking must be action oriented. If you have a paper with lots of noting recommendations, it’s worth considering whether you’re using the appropriate channel of communication. Your message might be better relayed another way – verbally or less informally.

Recommendations should make sense separately

Decision makers are almost always dealing with a heavy load of information on multiple issues at the same time. They need to be able to read the recommendations as a standalone item – both to introduce themselves to the topic, and then also to refresh their memories before meetings. Before submitting your paper, try and get a fresh pair of eyes to look over your recommendations to ensure they make sense.

Recommendations should follow the same logic as the detailed advice

It can be difficult for a reader to navigate an issue if recommendations don’t closely follow the advice and the order of the paper. To avoid ambiguity, you should also seek agreement on every element of a decision separately, rather than wrapping several issues into one recommendation. Otherwise, you risk causing confusion at meetings, or worse, decisions that don’t reflect the intention of the advice.

Good recommendations:

  • are clear and actionable
  • make sense when read alone
  • are presented in the same order as the analysis in the paper
  • deal with only one issue at a time
  • in the case of either/or options, indicate clearly the outcome most supported by analysis
  • clearly outline the next steps.