by Davina | - Business Case, - Finance, - Project Management, - Stakeholder Management
A client of mine once told us about her experience putting storylining into practice, and I thought you might find her experience useful.
The most important thing to note is not so much the techniques for getting funding – which might or might not interest you – but the way she thought about her communication strategy to engage the different stakeholders.
Read on to learn how she did it …
Getting out-of-cycle funding for new projects can be difficult, particularly if they won’t immediately add to your bottom line.
Elizabeth, a project manager with a large Australian finance house, recently proved how fully understanding each of your gatekeeper’s concerns and pitching them individually at their point of interest (not yours) increases your chances of getting the funding you need.
Upon receiving a ‘request’ from the industry regulator to improve the way her business was reporting on some of its activities, Elizabeth’s first reaction was to approach the finance team for the $10 million she needed to complete the work.
However, she realised that finance may well say ‘no’ as her division had a heavy balance sheet and a habit of running a budget surplus.
To solve this, she used three storylines to negotiate her way through a tailored, four-step communication strategy to manage the different stakeholder agendas.
Here are the steps she took:
Step 1: Mapped out the stories for her key stakeholders
First, Elizabeth worked with a colleague to map out the general architecture for the stories she needed to take to the leadership team and to Finance.
Step 2: Prepared a story about her communication strategy for her boss
Once these were bedded down – hand written on one A4 page – she prepared a story for her manager to gain his approval of both her strategy and the general content of her presentations to both audiences. The stories and a copy of her paper to the leadership team are available for download below.
It was a short meeting: In 10 minutes he agreed with her strategies and her presentation storylines and also to support her approach among the other leaders.
Step 3: Gained leadership team agreement
Once this was agreed, she arranged a slot in the next leadership team meeting to discuss the budget prioritisation that was needed. This meeting was predictably difficult with team leaders not wanting to give up their budgets, however with quite some negotiation she extracted $2 million seed funding for the project.
She then tweaked the Finance storyline to add in the details stemming from the leadership team meeting.
Step 4: Gained Finance team agreement
Finance was predictably reluctant to part with such a large sum and agreed to allow her to start the projects by running them in deficit, effectively over riding the leadership team’s protection of their budget numbers.
So there you go. That's how she did it.
You can download her storylines as a PDF or PPTX below.
I hope that helps. More next week.
Kind regards,
Davina
by Davina | - Business Case, - Patterns, 2 - Develop your storyline, Recommendations
I have been enjoying a terrific discussion with one of my corporate clients this week that has some insights for you also.
My client is head of strategy at a sovereign wealth fund who has asked me to work with some of her less experienced colleagues.
In reviewing one of the storylines we built in a coaching session she had a question for me that nails one of the biggest challenges I see in articulating recommendations and business cases.
She said: “It feels like the author told his readers about the model but did not explain why this is a good model.“
This is a common trap when preparing recommendations and I want to share some thoughts on how to avoid it.
The ‘Pitch Pattern' provides a useful frame to explain what I mean and illustrate how to avoid this trap.
I have worked through the pattern here point by point, italicising the reasoning elements to help you see what I mean.
Point 1 – We understand the problem / opportunity. This point demonstrates that you have defined the problem accurately and insightfully. For example, you might say:
Our project is behind schedule and puts our ability to meet our quarterly goals at risk. Here is why:
- Half the team has been away ill over the past two weeks, seriously affecting our ability to deliver on A, B and C
- If we do not deliver A, B and C before month end, Team Z won't be able to start their program of work.
Note that I did not just say “half the team has been away ill” without explaining why that matters. Likewise, I explained why it mattered that ABC may not be delivered by month end, rather than just stating that they may not be delivered.
Point 2 – We have a great solution. It is tempting here to describe the solution without explaining why it is the right solution. This is where my client came unstuck. For example he said something like this:
We suggest ‘borrowing' two people from Team Z to help us get back on track.
- Mary has the right skills to complement Fred's work and is currently under utilised
- Bill can quickly fill hole X, and is currently working on tasks that are not time sensitive
Note that I did not just say ‘We suggest ‘borrowing' two people from Team Z' without explaining why and then support with further evidence. I have used the same pattern for the supporting points and in illustrating the following two points.
Point 3 – We can deliver. This point offers an opportunity to explain your plan while also justifying why it is right.
If we ‘borrow' Mary and Bill for two weeks we will be able to get back on track within two weeks.
- The team is now back at full health and we are unlikely to see them take more time off. They have no annual leave planned, they and all their family members have had covid, and they are all motivated to get the program back on track
- Borrowing Mary and Bill for two weeks will be sufficient to reset our schedule (explain how each of the major the tasks Mary and Bill will undertake will fix the problem)
Point 4 – We can manage the risks. Again here, we need to offer reasons not just tasks.
We can manage the risks to our project and also other Team Z work. To achieve this we will
- Keep in close contact with Zahir who runs Team Z to minimise the likelihood that his work is not materially impacted by borrowing Mary and Bill
- Stick to our proposed work schedule and ensure no variations are indulged, which would put our schedule at risk
Note that I did not just list the risks, which is something I see being done a lot at this stage. Think hard about what worries you about this proposal and explain how you will counter each of these worries.
I hope that helps.
Kind regards,
Davina