What team leader hasnt had the frightful experience of proposing an important team project to senior management, only to come out of the presentation feeling like the executives hadnt fully understood the importance of the initiative?

Passion for their work is a key element to most successful team leaders and group managers. Therefore, it is usually quite obvious to you that your groups work adds value to the overall organization. The sad truth: it is often not quite so clear to the very people you need to convince to support a proposal for additional resources. While difficult for all group leaders, it is unfortunately even more true for those teams in an organization that spend more in their budget than they make.

My work over the past 10 years has included work with a great deal of change leaders in various organizations. I repeatedly hear that finding support from the senior levels is a universal concern, and for this reason I spoke with senior executives in private and public organizations to find out what they need to support an initiative. Most of these senior executives stated that in many cases, the person making the proposal was unable to communicate to them how taking action on their proposal will result in a positive return on their investment.

Frequently, I see team managers fail to assess, describe and explain the ways in which the teams projects positively impact the overall profitability of the organization. And yet, many have no idea why their proposals for additional funding or support are turned down again and again.

It is key to your success to be able to give senior management the reasons why they should invest in your groups initiative over all of the other proposals they are considering, regardless of whether you are seeking funding, resources, or some other support. I talked to one executive who indicated that he weighs the benefits a groups initiative will bring to the organization over all other proposals he hears before recommending funding support. You must be able to describe what the company will get out of their investment in a clear and concise manner.

Stumped about how to demonstrate a return on investment? You can start by engaging your team to look at each of your major priorities or goals and identifying the impact that achieving those goals will have on the organizations:

Revenue Expenses Errors Production performance Client satisfaction Customer retention Talent recruitment Employee engagement Employee loyalty Brand familiarity Stakeholder support Shareholder confidence Ability to meet government requirements Ability to minimize risks

If you arent able to show a bottom line impact, interview some allies and advocates at executive levels to hear how they would describe the value your group brings. Keep pushing yourself and your team to hear and understand what your executives are looking for and be sure to describe impact in their terms. By focusing on this in your presentations, you will see much more support for your proposals from the executive team.