It is becoming more and more important for senior management to support the projects, plans and goals of a group, and it is up to the team leader or department head to gain that support.  Yet, in my work in change management over the past ten years, I have found that persuading executives to support an initiative continues to be one of the biggest areas of concern for group managers.

To try to better understand what senior management needs to support a project, I asked a number of vice presidents and executive vice presidents from both the private and public sector for their advice.I learned there are two things often ignored by team leaders in their presentations.  By focusing on them, your chances of gaining executive support will be greatly improved.

Expecting Immediate Support

According to several executives I interviewed, team leaders and function heads often mistakenly conclude that one brilliant pitch is enough to gain agreement and buy-in.In truth, even when the initial proposal seems like a great idea, the support does not come instantaneously.

One government agency executive I spoke with mentioned that it has taken three to four years to build enough support to gain an increase in congressional funding.While we hope that all business does not take as long as the government can, the purpose of his telling me that was to highlight the fact that managers and project directors must see their programs with a strategic and long-term focus.  He suggested that managers looking for support should:

1.State clearly the ways that the entire organization will benefit from your plan.

2.Work with co-workers in other departments and groups.Find ways to combine priorities and goals into single initiatives in order the strengthen the benefit to the entire organization.

3.Talk in advance of your proposal to senior management and other stakeholders in the organization.Ask for their advice as to how you can best fit your ideas into the overall goals of the company.Be willing to change your proposal based on their feedback.

4.Be patient and make your proposal for resources only after you have created a strong enough case and have received informal support from executive management for your ideas.

Failing to Be Strategic

This is a crucial point when it comes to gaining support.Executives of most organizations have developed strategic goals for achieving the organization’s vision for the future.   You are much more likely to gain support when you show how your team’s plan will help to further the strategic goals.. To achieve this, you need to be proactive in finding out what the organization wants to achieve strategically rather than waiting for someone to tell you.

What does it mean to be strategic?  In my experience, executives want their directors to:

1.Understand the company’s main goals.

2.Give constructive suggestions how their group can help the company meet those objectives.

As Scott Eblin writes in “The Next Level”, you need to spend time with your senior executives up front to ensure that you understand what success means to them.  Remember, though, that at this level, you aren’t likely to get specific goals and metrics.Your goal is to listen to discover organization-wide priorities and constraints.Be a sponge in these conversations.Take the information to your managers to talk over some more.  Then come back to your executive with specific plans about what your group or function will do and how you will do it.  Be prepared to make adjustments based on input from your executive team at this point.

Executive support for a project you feel strongly about may seem as though it is out of your reach, but if you are patient you will be able to build a case that senior management will understand.The objective is to always keep in mind the overall goals of the organization and communicate clearly how your project will help to achieve those goals.  Before you know it, your project could become a key factor in the success of the entire company!

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 www.WendyMack.com