Using Effective Presentations to Gain Senior Support
If you have experienced the following scenario, you are not alone.With only a few minutes to present to senior management, you must communicate a proposed project on behalf of your team.You labor until you perfect the delivery, only to see that the executives were unmoved by your proposal.What caused the unenthusiastic response?
In my work with change leaders over the past decade, I’ve seen some great examples of what works when it comes to gaining executive support.I have also seen more than one attempt flop.I went straight to the source and asked leaders in both public and private industry what they wanted to see from their mid level managers when hearing presentations.
The executives agreed that when mid-level leaders attempt to make a case for funding or other support, they often provide far too much information.A lot of proposals they hear fail because the executives don’t have time or interest to digest every nuance of the proposed project. Most executives don’t want or need to know each and every task your team is working on. They don’t want to have to weigh in on every decision.
The following are three best practices for making a case to the senior leadership team.
1.Use visual aids such as PowerPoint to give a summary of your main goals and objectives.
A PowerPoint deck is a great briefing tool because it requires you to summarize your points into brief bullets. Keep your points at a high level and mentally prepare stories, anecdotes, and illustrations to bring depth to the words on the page.The goal will be to stay on any one Power Point screen no more than three minutes during your presentation.Yes, have the information to back up your main points, but use it only if you are asked a specific question about that issue.
2.Organize your main objectives and goals into relevant groups.
I recently saw one team leader list every activity his team planned to work on in 2009 in his pitch to executives.While he had hoped to strengthen his case with a lot of details, it really just irritated the executives instead.One senior manager even spoke up and told the presenter that they had no interested in hearing what activities the team intended to undertake. They just wanted to know the priorities.
I find it helpful to group goals or activities into categories. For example, you might say that in 2009, your team will focus on cutting costs, streamlining processes, and developing bench strength. You could then list examples of goals in each of the three categories.Using this approach will help senior management to focus on how the proposals you suggest for your team will impact the entire company, and allow them to decide if these are the areas that they want to stress in the coming year.
3.Briefly describe what you need from senior management to press forward.
Too many presentations to executive teams are informational in tone. The team or project leader provides an update and asks for any questions.Their hope with this approach is that the executive team will be so impressed that they offer funding and support to the project without being asked, which is rarely the case.
Instead, conclude your pitch with a slide that summarizes specifically what you need.Maybe it is a specific amount of money earmarked in the budget, or a critical decision by senior management, or even more company resources dedicated to your project.True, there is always the possibility that what you ask for will be denied, it is a much better situation to understand right away if what you need to be successful is a possibility.
In the 1990’s a team of external consultants worked with General Electric to develop a change acceleration process. The team came up with a four-step formula for effective elevator speeches:
* Our project or initiative is about . . .
* It is very important to the company because . . . . .
* What this means for senior management is . . . . . . .
* Here is what we need from you. . . . .
Use this approach both in one-on-one conversations with stakeholders and in your formal pitches and presentations.And, as you become more proficient at answering those four key questions, your ability to get your proposals approve will increase.
By keeping your pitches to senior management short and crisp you will be able to focus on strategy, not tasks.. Being very specific and clear about what you need will help senior management to know right away what you are proposing, what you would like from them to help you succeed, and, most important, how it will positively impact the entire organization.
Wendy Mack is a professional advisor, trainer, and author with a focus in leading
and communicating change. Contact Wendy at, or Download her free e-book, Transforming Anxiety into Energy at http://www.WendyMack.com
