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?

I have found some excellent techniques to help gain senior level support through my work with change leaders over the past ten years. I have also seen more than one attempt flop. I decided to talk directly with several senior level leaders both in corporate and public organizations in order to discover best practices in presentations to senior management.

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. Many pitches fail because executives don’t have the time or interest to delve into every aspect of an initiative. 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.

Here are three proven strategies to have a presentation to senior management that will limit the presentation to the most important details.

1. Use PowerPoint to summarize your main points.

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.

I recently saw one team leader list every activity his team planned to work on in 2009 in his pitch to executives. Instead of strengthening his case, all of the details turned off the executives he was trying to influence. One leader even spoke up to tell the team leader that they didnt want to know all of the team’s tasks. They just wanted to know the priorities.

One helpful strategy I like to use is to categorize your goals and objectives. For instance, you may want to state in your presentation that your teams three main areas of focus in the coming year will be cost savings, process efficiencies, and developing bench strength. The remainder of your presentation will be to provide specific examples in each of these categories as to how you intend to be successful. Senior management will then be able to easily identify your core goals and the impact they will have on the whole organization, as well as determine if the areas important to you will be areas they would like to emphasize in the coming year.

3. Concisely summarize what you need from the executive team in order to move forward.

Too many presentations to executive teams are informational in tone. The team or project leader provides an update and asks for any questions. They hope (and pray) that the executives will somehow jump to offering funding and support, which almost never happens.

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.

Are these activities Processes, Functions, Mechanisms or Procedures?

The answer is “all of the above”. Does this mean that these terms are synonyms? No they are not. All of these activities are carried out by the business but they are not all the same thing.

The trouble is that too many people who see themselves as “experts” in business analysis and modeling, especially those in the world of business process modeling, “know” so much that they cannot be bothered with “trivia”, such as boring fundamental definitions.

For those of us who still have open minds and are willing to learn and grow, here are some useful definitions.

The core activities of every business, those that define WHAT a business OUGHT to be doing, are Business Functions.

When you need to know the order in which Business Functions need to be carried out in order to arrive at a specified outcome in a response to a specific trigger that you build a Business Process. Each step in a process will be a function. So, without functions there would be no processes! A good reason to start by modeling the functions!

Functions can can be carried out by various means using different systems, forms, etc. These different means are called Mechanisms. So Functions are the “What” and Mechanisms are the “How”.

As Mechanism is to Function, so Procedure is to Process, in that procedure describes the means by which Process are performed. A single Process can be carried out by various Procedures.

Another major error in business systems modeling terminology is referring to a Department within a business as a Function! A Function is a core business activity and NOT a department.

The “Finance Function” is NOT the Finance Department!! Rather, it is that set of ACTIVITIES needed to be carried out in order to enable a business to comply with its financial commitments.

All true experts know that real expertise comes from knowing and practicing the basics.

The Integrated Modeling Method solves the above-mentioned issues by defining the core elements simply and unambiguously and showing how power can be achieved through simplicity.

Management is almost all around, if you agrees with that or not. Managers in a variety of industries are taking on increasing responsibility while still ensuring the bottom line is met. The role is expanding but is often made more difficult through the lack of management training received. Some scientist says that management become a discipline of economy in 19th century and it begun in the United Kingdom. The next century brought many books about that issue for example ‘Science of management’ ‘Scientific management’. The first comprehensive theories of management appeared in the early 20th century. And the Master of Business Administration degree was invented back then. Till this time many other books were being written and special schools foundated. There is even a global Project Manager Institute that has it’s unites on the whole world. It has published a number of standards related to project management, and manages several levels of project management certification. It also has it’s unit in the UK (founded in 1995). For more information refer to business continuity management toolkit

Management is strictly connected with business, and it has also ‘built’ a different language structures like time management, money management, brand management, human resource management, financial management. Even public and educational sectors have been touched by management. Public and private sectors have different demands on managers, but it’s all about improvment, good communication and motivation. All of this makes the marketing of management trainings developing. Those companies who also provide such products like sales training, sales training course have many clients right now. The amount of people who take management training course, sales management training or want to learn about stress and time management is increasing. Management training consultants have a lot of work, cause the whole globe wants to gain wisdom how to manage well every task they are starting up �€“ from France to Japan. And probably the management training UK (as a sales training course London) don’t vary so much from Japanese management training and sales course which is taken in Tokyo. Management skills training is the same everywhere.

All effective managers pay attention to leadership and learning within organizations, alike working with the group for a good motivation. But being a good manager doesn’t always goes with being a good leadership. As Warren Bennis said ‘Managers are people who do things right (while leaders are people who do the right thing). Visit revive for more information.

So, why do we have 360 review? This concept has resulted from a need to increase both the frequency and quality of feedback to individual workers. It is more than the usual annual appraisal, where you visit the manager’s office to be told what you are doing well and how you can improve.

Throughout time it has been the job of the manager to give this feedback and as a result of increasing workloads, the feedback has not always been comprehensive. 360 degree feedback increases the circle of feedback and includes not only the manager’s comments, but also peer evaluation, self evaluation and direct reports. What results at the conclusion of this process is a comprehensive report that provides the individual with a comparison between how they perceive their performance and that of their associates. This report will then allow them to make any necessary changes through a targeted improvement plan.

There are a number of positive aspects to 360 degree feedback: the perspective that employees gain concerning their behavioural weaknesses gives them the ability to manage their careers effectively as they address interpersonal skills and leadership abilities and the business benefits from a productive workforce that has both a high level of skill and great experience.

What are the main components of a successful 360 degree feedback process?

There are six components.

1. Top management must have ownership of the process and support its implementation. Employees need to gain the skills necessary to provide constructive feedback. Most importantly, managers must be willing to use the skills that they have attained to provide any relevant ongoing coaching.

2. Each survey carried out should have a connection with the ethos of the business and any specific skills sought and considered necessary for the success of both the business and the individual.

3. All those involved in the rating process are required to attend a 360 orientation. This is where they will learn that 360 is to be used only as a developmental tool and not for performance appraisal. The confidentiality of responses and the process of surveys is to be stressed, reassuring both the “raters” and those being rated.

4. Questionnaires or surveys are filled in. Most of these surveys are filled in online where special encryption software can guarantee the security of the data collection.

5. Completed surveys are collated and placed into a report which includes verbatim comments and then given to the individual in question. The report should be easy to read. Senior management is presented with a summary of the group, in which the ratings are tallied numerically, indicating strengths and weaknesses as a group. Such information is useful to make decisions regarding training to coincide with the needs of the group.

6. Coaching that is considered necessary for improvements is then given to those requiring it. Impartiality is one of the best qualities of a good coach as is their ability to focus on realistic, useful goal setting. It is also appropriate for managers to adopt the role of coach as it will help to cement any skills gained and guarantee accountability.

How can this be successfully implemented in your business? The deciding factor is the amount of effort you are willing to put into the process. The level of improvement has a direct correlation with the amount of feedback and support that is provided. 360 degree feedback has the potential to be extremely powerful in generating feedback and consequently to make changes in your business.

Download your free report on 360 degree review Now.

George S May offers long term assistance through its World Class Client Care Department under its Client For Life Program. It plays a pivotal role in successful implementation of its recommendations. Within six months of the departure of the management consultants clients receive a free one day check up and continued contact even after the end of the project. It is thus not only an architect of success but also a partner in realizing it

One of the most conspicuous problems that surface throughout the various stages of a business is the mismatch between desired outcome and the outcome achieved. Business Management Consultants help companies to bridge the gap by helping them comprehend the reasons causing it. The vast client base served by George S May enables it to understand the industry wide best practices prevalent and helps companies to adopt and gain from these practices. Management Consultants also generate various insights from the already existing knowledge base of the company.

The core team of George S May is drawn from management consultants who are the authority in their respective industries. Strategy implementation, establishing control procedures, increasing operating efficiency are the basic functions of these experts before they embark upon dealing with the specifics. An increased emphasis on helping the companies to implement the solutions dished out to them, forms another pivotal feature of George S May as a management consultant.

George S May believes in long term commitment to ensure success in any business venture. It does not merely design the blueprint for success but also provides assistance in its implementation. As a part of its Client For Life Program the World Class Client care department of the firm carries out a free one day check up of the clients within six months of the departure of the consultant and maintains contact with the client even after completion of the project.

A common approach that organizations do is to get staffing for organization change projects using excess time. This approach is not effective. Employees are already starting to prioritize their tasks because they have so much to do but little time to do it. If these people are not focusing less on tasks that are at the bottom of their priority lists, what do think will happen with organization change tasks (which is usually considered a low priority)? It will be skipped altogether.

Another tactic that’s doomed for failure for staffing organization change tasks is to request people to work overtime. This strategy fails for two main reasons. First, people are already working hard; often to the point of over-commitment. The second has something to do with cultural change. The new generation of workers simply won’t tolerate demands for more effort or hours. Attempts to force the longer work hours result in higher turnover rather than higher output.

Yet another approach that fails is by devoting workers exclusively to organization change responsibilities. This is usually done by getting them off the run the business projects, which is very disadvantageous too. Then they focus on the change tasks until the project is over or halted. This is good for organization change, but it presents a new problem. Since that worker is no longer working on run the business tasks, another person would be needed to fill in their vacated position, which presents a staffing problem still.

A method that will prove effective in addressing this staffing problem for organization change is to keep a smaller change headquarters. It can be filled out with OD staff or internal consultants with expertise in change. These are staff for upper managerial roles. The necessary skill set from project to project will change and the content experts can be assembled on a per-project basis. This can be made possible with some internal people, expert consultants from staffing firms, or both combined. Each situation has pros and cons that have to be evaluated based on the needs of the project.

For more information, please check out our website: Organization Change

Avoid the temptation to merge meetings about running the business and organization change. The reason this is tempting in the first place is that it seems like it should save time. This is rarely, if ever, the final result. Running the business brings about pressing matters and they usually are the ones with top priority.

Let’s say for example, a meeting is being held to discuss change endeavors. And then someone pipes up and tells the room that there’s an emergency in the store, there was an error in production. Immediate attention will be given to the problem at hand and everyone will forget that they were talking about organization change. So it’s a good idea to hold a different meeting to tackle organization change alone.

Try to avoid making getting organization change onto the agenda into a political game. This will just result in misuse of time and a waste of valuable resources.

The executive running the meeting needs to be disciplined enough to not allow the meeting to turn back to run the business matters when organization change is the focal point of the meeting. You might have to put your fist down and impose your authority to stick to the focal point of the meeting, but just remember that it’s for the greater good of the organization. It might not be an easy task, but it should be done.

If you can just avoid these roadblocks, the level of executive support should be far more consistent during organization change. And this would definitely lead to a successful organization change.

For more information, including tips, samples, and templates, please check out our website: Organization Change

Normally, what happens is a business change endeavor is presented. Top management give it approval and an executive is placed “in charge” of the project. That assigned executive will be the one to distribute appropriate funds, designate a manager for the project and then signs off the deal. The front office then knows that the initiative is supported, and doesn’t worry about it too much after.

From the perspective of the business change team, considerably more support than funds and approval are required. As with a lot of other projects, there are so many factors to take into consideration. These things often require the authority of top management to resolve. Although in our corporate world today, this kind of support is seldom given.

This happens because in the work environment, there are two conflicting needs. One is the drive to bring about business change to keep the business alive in a competitive world. Then, there is the need to run the business to keep it profitable now. Unless somebody is doing something to address the issue, running the business is often more important than business change.

Problems that arise when running the business are the most pressing ones. A flooded store needs to be repaired right now. The issues that come with running the business are demanding and difficult to brush off. All the same, for success to happen in business change, the higher management must think of a way to support change endeavors, while meeting the present needs of the business as well.

A great way to achieve this is by designating an executive to handle only the business change initiatives. The great thing is that this executive can handle all the change initiatives as well as the problems that go along with it, without having to be distracted with running the business. This way, he has the power to work directly with the top management to make business change a priority.

For more information, please see our website: Business Change Management

George S May International strongly believes in Respect, Responsibility and Results. Every employee strives to achieve complete customer satisfaction and high levels of excellence in services. Through its dedicated services the firm has managed to keep alive the futuristic vision of its founding father

The firm recognizes the uniqueness of every business problem. Hence once it is identified a consultant most suited to assist in eradicating the particular problem is chosen. After an examination of the problem the consultant gives advice on ways to remove it and suggests strategies to be implemented for long-term success of the business.

There are basically two approaches to the practice of management consultancy namely the expert approach and the facilitative approach. While the former – expert approach involves the business management consultant taking the mantle of an expert and assisting clients, the latter – facilitative approach requires fewer inputs from, and collaborations with, the clients. The focus of business management consultants under this approach is less on the expert and technical knowledge, and more on the process of consultation itself.

skilful management of resources is the key to success in business. George S May International collaborates with the management in order to make sure that all resources are utilized optimally to yield maximum profits for the enterprise. To ensure continued profits and a sustainable process of development performance management techniques are employed.

The firm treats every business problem as an individual one. Following its identification the firm handpicks the business consultant most qualified to address its specific needs. The consultant points out areas which need immediate careful attention and strategies that need to be implemented for long term development