Given our recent appearance on the Top 100 HR Blogs list, we figured that there's only one thing to do. That is to add even more great content to the Blog so that you can access ever better content about how to up level your overall knowledge base in both an HR and a business context. To that end we've reached out to thought leaders in particular niches that will help you broaden your perspective as HR Professionals in a landscape where you are increasingly called on to contribute to overall business success, not just HR related outcomes. Our first guest Blogger is Stuart Findlay, a consultant with the Lighthouse Group in Sydney who has over 30 years' experience in business. He holds an accounting degree, MBA and is an internationally accredited executive coach. Stuart is an accomplished facilitator of Building Business Acumen and has great success in mentoring and coaching a range of leaders, aspiring leaders and sales people. In today's post, Stuart distills decades of knowledge and experience into the fundamentals of building business acumen and winning over decision makers.
Winning Over Your Decision Makers
Have you ever put weeks of work into a project and a set of brilliant recommendations only to have the final presentation to the Executive Team miss the mark? Despite a superb deck of slides and an information pack that would make a Harvard thesis look second rate, the CEO spends the whole time flicking through the handouts to find something that grabs their attention.Don’t worry, I’ve been there and I’d like to pass on some lessons from those past mistakes. Ideas that will assist you to put yourself in the best position possible prior to each presentation. This is not another post on communication skills. I’m presuming that as the Head of IT looking to install new software or the HR Director pitching a new EVP that you can speak with conviction on your subject matter.The key to having your recommendations approved is to demonstrate business acumen, which is the language of decision makers, be it;
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The Board of Directors,
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The CEO,
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The CFO,
or a combination of the above.
Why 'Business Acumen'?
When I talk about business acumen (which is often loosely defined or not defined at all in the organisation’s capability framework), I mean understanding the way a business makes money and utilising that knowledge to make good strategic and commercial decisions.As Ram Charan noted, it doesn’t matter whether you’re the CEO of a multinational corporation or a street vendor in Mumbai, the way you think about the drivers of business success will be very similar.Functional experts from departments such as HR, IT, Marketing, Legal and Operations will often struggle to articulate their case in a compelling manner.Why?
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Because they may not have a good handle on the organisation big picture,
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They lack confidence or capability when it comes to the financials, or
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The business case lacks financial firepower.
This is when business acumen can assist you to speak the language that Boards, CEO’s and Senior Management understand and make decisions with.
Preparing Your Presentation
There are three things you need to consider before pitching the recommendations of your project.
1. What is the key decision maker like?
It’s highly likely you’ll need to convince the CEO and CFO to gain approval of a major investment. The classic profiles of these people, based on my experience and the research of the companies behind DiSC and similar methodologies are reflected by the following descriptors;
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Strategic
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Decisive
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Analytical,
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Results oriented,
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Factual,
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Fast.
Hence, craft the presentation to your audience and make the business case crisp, clear, accurate and evidence based. Whilst the boss may appear domineering and bombastic, he or she will typically be open to a change of course in the face of a compelling alternative.
2. What’s the link to the strategy?
To enhance the credibility of the recommendations and demonstrate your own knowledge of the business, link each recommendation to a critical plank in the organisation’s strategy.For example, 'implementing a targeted sales coaching program in Asia Pacific will lift our market share by 5% across all segments.'
3. What’s the impact on the financials?
Have a compelling business case that quantifies the financial impact in 1 -2 pages. Link the findings of your project to measurable outcomes that will flow through to the key financial statements:
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Balance Sheet,
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P&L,
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Cash Flow Statement.
An Example
In a recent seminar, we considered the research and compelling strategic reasons for building a strong and sustainable leadership pipeline. Taking just 3 – 5 pieces of credible and pertinent research, you can build a compelling business case for an investment in a leadership development program. This is dependent on you understanding of:
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The company P&L: in particular the revenue, gross margin, personnel and operating expenses.
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Employee engagement: your current and a reasonable improvement target.
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Staff turnover: both your current rate of turnover and a realistic industry benchmark you should be achieving.
Armed with this information and assumptions from the research, you can estimate the cost of ineffective leadership – or putting it in a more positive frame – the potential benefits of improving the effectiveness of your leadership cohort.
Once you compare this to the investment in relevant training & development and ongoing coaching, it is a simple mathematics exercise to calculate either the Return on Investment (ROI) or payback period. This is what will grab the attention of your CEO or Board!
If you're interested in learning more about how you can enhance your leadership skills and business acumen so that you can win over the decision makers in your organisation, get in touch with Stuart at the Lighthouse Group. If you would like to explore how to build a Business Case for HR technology implementation, you can download our Free White Paper below.
