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Nearly every business team leader has experienced it at one time or another. You have just 15 minutes to make a presentation to upper management about an initiative your feel deeply about. You work hard to prepare the perfect presentation, only to met by the executives with stony silence after you are through. What happened?
My work over the past decade with change leaders has allowed me to hear some great tips for making successful presentations to senior management. I have also seen the flip side with more than one 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.
One thing nearly every executive noted was that team leaders eager to pitch a proposal for support, be it money or otherwise have a consistent tendency to offer far too much information in their presentations. Many proposals never make it past the proposal stage because the executives were too busy and consumed with their current projects to learn every detail of a new proposal. Most senior managers dont care to be involved in every detail that makes up the project your team is working on. They trust you to a number of decisions related to that proposal and dont want to have to be part of that process.
The following are three best practices for making a case to the senior leadership team.
1. Summarize your main points in a Power Point presentation.
Power point is so powerful in this type of presentation because it forces you to organize your key points into short and to the point statements. The Power Point Presentation should be high level key points, and you should be prepared with illustrative stories and anecdotes to bring those points alive. The goal will be to stay on any one Power Point screen no more than three minutes during your presentation. Make sure you have the details to back up your presentation, but only as a resource if you receive specific questions about a key issue.
2. Categorize the key activities and objectives into subgroups.
In a presentation I witnessed recently, the team leader included every detail of the tasks his team intended for 2009. 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. The only thing important to them was the key highlights.
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. This helps the executive team quickly focus on the strategic impact of your team's work and enables them to weigh in on whether they believe these are the right areas of emphasis.
3. Summarize in a few words what you would like senior management to provide to move your initiative forward.
A great number of presentations to senior management take on an informational tone. The team leader will update the executives on status of the project and then ask for questions. Their expectation is that senior management will take the initiative and suggest a plan for funding and support of the project, which unfortunately is rarely the case.
A better approach is to end the presentation with a visual that describes what you are looking to senior management to support. Perhaps this will be a financial commitment, a key decision only they can make, or additional resources to complete the 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 1990s 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 proposal is about . . . * It is very important to the company because . . .* What this means for the companys administration is . . . .* This is the help we need from you. .
This approach will work both in informal individual conversations with senior management staff as well as in your formal group presentations. And, as you become more proficient at answering those four key questions, your ability to get your proposals approve will increase.
Short and crisp presentations give you the ability to focus on your goals and strategies rather than day to day activities. Clarity in your presentation as to what your team needs to be successful will help senior management readily understand what it is you are proposing, what you need from them to be successful, and how your initiative will have a positive impact on company operations.
My work over the past decade with change leaders has allowed me to hear some great tips for making successful presentations to senior management. I have also seen the flip side with more than one 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.
One thing nearly every executive noted was that team leaders eager to pitch a proposal for support, be it money or otherwise have a consistent tendency to offer far too much information in their presentations. Many proposals never make it past the proposal stage because the executives were too busy and consumed with their current projects to learn every detail of a new proposal. Most senior managers dont care to be involved in every detail that makes up the project your team is working on. They trust you to a number of decisions related to that proposal and dont want to have to be part of that process.
The following are three best practices for making a case to the senior leadership team.
1. Summarize your main points in a Power Point presentation.
Power point is so powerful in this type of presentation because it forces you to organize your key points into short and to the point statements. The Power Point Presentation should be high level key points, and you should be prepared with illustrative stories and anecdotes to bring those points alive. The goal will be to stay on any one Power Point screen no more than three minutes during your presentation. Make sure you have the details to back up your presentation, but only as a resource if you receive specific questions about a key issue.
2. Categorize the key activities and objectives into subgroups.
In a presentation I witnessed recently, the team leader included every detail of the tasks his team intended for 2009. 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. The only thing important to them was the key highlights.
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. This helps the executive team quickly focus on the strategic impact of your team's work and enables them to weigh in on whether they believe these are the right areas of emphasis.
3. Summarize in a few words what you would like senior management to provide to move your initiative forward.
A great number of presentations to senior management take on an informational tone. The team leader will update the executives on status of the project and then ask for questions. Their expectation is that senior management will take the initiative and suggest a plan for funding and support of the project, which unfortunately is rarely the case.
A better approach is to end the presentation with a visual that describes what you are looking to senior management to support. Perhaps this will be a financial commitment, a key decision only they can make, or additional resources to complete the 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 1990s 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 proposal is about . . . * It is very important to the company because . . .* What this means for the companys administration is . . . .* This is the help we need from you. .
This approach will work both in informal individual conversations with senior management staff as well as in your formal group presentations. And, as you become more proficient at answering those four key questions, your ability to get your proposals approve will increase.
Short and crisp presentations give you the ability to focus on your goals and strategies rather than day to day activities. Clarity in your presentation as to what your team needs to be successful will help senior management readily understand what it is you are proposing, what you need from them to be successful, and how your initiative will have a positive impact on company operations.
About the Author:
Wendy Mack is a experienced advisor, trainer, and author with a focus in spearheading and communicating change. Contact Wendy at, or Download her free e-book, Transforming Anxiety into Energy at www.WendyMack.com.
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