Open with your conclusion or the decision you need, give the two or three facts that support it, and finish with a clear ask. Senior leaders want to know what's happened, why it matters and what you need from them. Everything else can wait until they ask.
What do senior leaders want from a briefing?
Three things, usually. They want the headline, they want to know whether it affects anything they're responsible for, and they want to know if they need to do something. If your briefing answers those three questions quickly, it's done its job.
What they don't want is the story of how you got there. The background, the meetings, the options you ruled out: all of that matters to you because you lived through it. To a busy director with ten minutes between meetings, it's a delay before the part they need.
Senior people also tend to interrupt. That isn't rudeness. It's how they check they've understood and test whether you know your subject. A briefing that leads with the point copes with interruptions far better than one that builds slowly towards it.
How do you structure a two-minute briefing?
- Open with one sentence that gives the conclusion, the problem or the decision needed.
- Say why it matters to them, in terms of cost, risk, timing or reputation.
- Give two or three supporting facts. Pick the strongest, not all of them.
- Say what you recommend, if you have a recommendation.
- State the ask clearly, whether that's a decision, a sign-off, awareness or nothing at all.
Two minutes is longer than it sounds once you strip out the preamble. It's enough for a clear point, some evidence and an ask. If you can't fit it in, the problem is usually that you haven't yet decided what the point is.
What should you leave out of a briefing?
Most of the process. Leave out the chronology unless the timing is the point. Leave out acronyms and internal shorthand the leader might not share. Leave out caveats that don't change the recommendation; keep the ones that do, and state them plainly.
Here's a useful test. For every sentence, ask whether the leader would notice if it were missing. If not, cut it. You can keep the detail in your back pocket for questions.
How do you answer questions from senior leaders?
Answer the question they asked, directly, and then stop. If they ask "Will it be late?", the first word of your answer should be yes, no or probably. Then give the reason.
If you don't know, say so and say when you'll find out. "I'll confirm that by Thursday" is a far safer answer than a guess that turns out to be wrong. And if a question takes you away from your main point, answer it briefly and bring the conversation back to the decision you need.
How do you brief a senior leader with no notice?
It happens more than any of us would like. A director stops you in the corridor, or turns to you in a meeting, and asks where things are. You have seconds, not hours.
The same structure still works, which is the reason for having one. Pause, decide on your headline, give a reason or two, say what you need. Think on Your Feet® is built for these unplanned moments. It teaches structured techniques for organising your thoughts and answering clearly with zero preparation, whether you've got 30 seconds in a lift or 3 minutes in front of the board.
Delegates practise on real situations from their own work, so if briefing senior leaders is part of your job, that's what you'd rehearse.
Briefing ministers and senior officials is routine work for many civil servants. Civil Service teams can book Think on Your Feet® through Government Campus.