What is “reporting” in business? To explain this simply, consider the example of mountain climbing.

When climbing a mountain, ensuring safety is a top priority. The climbing group leader must be aware of everyone's health and progress and make appropriate decisions. To do this, the leader can ask members to report on the current status.

Now, let's say that whoever’s tasked with giving the report tells the group “Everyone’s doing well and working hard”. This report doesn’t contain any specific information and doesn’t convey if “working hard” means they’re making good process or if it means they’re pushing themselves to the limit. If it’s the latter, it could mean you’re in a potentially dangerous situation if you don’t take immediate action. However it’s impossible to determine based on this report alone.

Also, although this report mentions the climber’s condition, it doesn’t include important information like what the weather’s like, what the road conditions are, the temperature, or how slippery the footing is. To determine whether they should move on or turn back, they need to know how much longer it’ll take to get to the top and if conditions are likely to worsen. A vague report won’t help the leader make an appropriate decision.

Then, what kind of report do leaders require? A report that accurately conveys the current status and provides the necessary information to make decisions. If they’re lacking progress, the report should also include what the cause might be and how they can be improved. It’s not enough to just say, “this is the situation”, but it’s necessary to have a viewpoint that says, “if we do this, we can improve the situation”. 

In particular, if the reporter’s the manager, he/she shouldn’t just merely report the current situation; they should suggest measures on how to improve the situation before reporting it. A meaningful report identifies what the problem is and how they can solve it while communicating these to the leader.

In business, a report shouldn’t just be a list of facts, but rather an accurate description of the situation that leads to the next action. Simply saying, “we’re doing our best” is not a meaningful report.