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The Art of the Executive Briefing

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The Point: There are many external circumstances that can affect your executive briefing to senior leaders. While you may have compiled the best statistics, computations, and relevant facts for an Executive Briefing, this “science” part of an Executive Briefing could very well be undermined if you don’t pay attention to the “art” of conducting one. Be prepared to communicate your points under pressure by knowing the interpersonal dynamics in play. What are the leaders’ tells – the most effective way to brief them? How do they prefer to interact with their briefings? Who do they turn to for endorsement? These key aspects of the executive briefing will allow you to respond effectively to executive concerns/pushbacks and then pivot when needed while you are briefing. So, in this article we explore the art of the executive briefing… Enjoy!

The Art of the Executive Briefing

The Case for Executive Briefings

I’ve been consulting with organizational senior leadership for nearly three decades. At the beginning of my consulting career, I literally stumbled upon the Executive Briefing. In my mind, the Executive Briefing is a skill that consultants should be skilled at, even under stressful circumstances. Briefing senior executives is a difficult task. They are skilled at compressing the right information in the right time. These skills are applicable to briefing any executive at the C-suite.

There are many tips on how to brief senior leaders: Keep it short, keep the message front-loaded, etc. These are great tips, but they don’t take into account the interpersonal aspects that are crucial to a successful executive briefing. You can make or break your presentation before it starts. Your chances of success are even worse if you neglect the personal aspects of who it is you’re briefing.

These tips were developed from my experiences as a consultant and as a teacher of briefing skills at seminars across the country. These tips are important, regardless of whether briefings are held in person or online. Let’s dig in and look at the art of the Executive Briefing in two sections — Executive Briefing Preparation and Conducting the Executive Briefing.

Executive Briefing Preparation

When it comes to successful Executive Briefings, the adage ‘Failing to plan is planning to fail’ should be forefront in your mind. In other words, you’re going to have to plan!

Identify the “Crucial Ally.” Picture in your mind that you are conducting the Executive Briefing with an organization’s president and a few of their senior leadership team members. At some point during the executive briefing, the president will look for a facial expression from a member of their senior leadership team that affirms what you are saying at a crucial moment during the briefing. The boss needs that person to say “Yes.” This is a calm gesture that shows the boss that they are confident in your idea and that all the relevant people have been consulted. Without such supportive nod, as the presenter of the executive briefing you will be asked questions and reasons for doubt could arise. I’ve been both presenter and receiver of executive briefings, and I can honestly say that a non-confirming glance from a Crucial Ally is seen as non-endorsement which can be worse than death.

Before you present your idea, identify the Crucial Ally who will be in the briefing (It may vary depending on the issue, ranging from a single Crucial Ally or multiple people). Consult with the Crucial Ally in advance. Although the executive you are briefing might not have a Crucial Ally, there is a good chance they have trust in certain people more so than others. The Crucial Ally is essential to your Executive Briefing success.

Know Your Leaders’ “Tells.” If you spend a lot time with the leader, you need to be able to recognize the nonverbal cues such as “go deeper on this point” or “speed up.” Ask the leader what you should look out for in order to tell if he is upset and if there are any ways to determine if it is related to something you have said. Ask how to react to negative signals in order to change the mood. Understanding your leaders’ body language will allow you to keep cool and steer in the right direction during briefings.

Learn How Your Leader Interacts with the Material. Different people react differently to information. One senior leader whom I briefed would ask questions and push back hard on any point in any executive briefing, no matter how small or large (Perhaps because they were trained as an attorney – Fill in your favorite lawyer joke here!) This made some colleagues feel intimidated and they eventually became “Yes” people, losing his respect. Others jumped into fights every time, which made him appear closed-minded and agitated. This leader was respected by his colleagues who chose their battles well. They chose to accept the “Yes” when they could, and then pushed back when it was most important. This showed flexibility, but also confidence in their opinions. You’ll be more prepared to communicate information effectively and respond to criticism if you are aware of the leader’s style.

Plan for Both Success and Failure. Before you walk in the door, it is important to identify what you want from a meeting. Here’s an interesting twist. Don’t view it in terms of success or failure. Bring your “ask,” but also contingency plans to cover multiple outcomes, such as success or failure. You can offer a reduced version of your proposal if the conversation is moving toward “No.” If your idea is proving successful, you can offer additional ideas or ways to speed up the timeline. Think of how you can win a small victory rather than a complete defeat, keep your idea alive for another day, or go faster and bigger in implementation.

Conducting the Executive Briefing

Pay Attention to the Audience — NOT your Notes. You must be able to understand body language and cues from the crowd assembled, regardless of whether the briefing takes place in person or virtually. This will ensure that you are not paying attention solely to your material by the end of the executive briefing. Your mental energy should be focused on the room, finding openings and avoiding pitfalls. This rule has a corollary: “Take cues, but not notes” — In fact, if you are able, ask someone to take notes for you so that you can be fully present in the moment.

Focus on Your Task. You can be distracted by competing interests or time pressure during Executive Briefings, but keep your eyes on the goal. You are there to ask the right questions and to make it a priority. Pre-plan multiple ways to redirect the conversation to get the information you need. It is a rare ability to be persistent and deft all at once. And you don’t want your colleagues to think that you are a stiff or a robot. Meetings can be interrupted or cut short in a fast-paced environment. To reduce the chances of a briefing being interrupted, avoid introducing unnecessary details or deviating from your request.

Learn to be Silent. Now you have either posed your question or floated an idea during the Executive Briefing. You’ve started the discussion and you now need to be extremely strategic about when and how to add your voice. An executive engages others in the room, or thinks aloud. You could upset your leader or cause confusion by speaking at the wrong time. You don’t have to unnecessarily confirm or display your knowledge – Now is not the time. If the conversation is trending against your side, you can take your best shot at trying to bring things back on track. Many times though, I have found NOT speaking at the wrong time can be just as important as speaking at a right time.

SUMMARY

In this post, we’ve explored the Art of the Executive Briefing, specifically looking at Executive Briefing Preparation and Conducting the Executive Briefing. Your Executive Briefing will be affected by circumstances outside your control. These could include a crisis unrelated to your presentation or the stress level of the leaders you brief. Although you can’t guarantee success, it is possible to focus on interpersonal dynamics and improve your situational awareness before you arrive in the Executive Briefing. It will make you more effective in communicating the right message when under pressure.

Sam Palazzolo, Managing Director @ Tip of the Spear Ventures

How to Build Capability to Power Business Transformation | Part 1

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The Point: A program that encourages productive behavior and skills in employees can be a powerful tool for boosting the organization’s productivity. It is also an important element of any successful business transformation. So why do so many leaders get it wrong? In this series, we’re going to explore building employee capabilities, or skills for business transformation… Enjoy!

Business Transformation_Zeroing Agency

Imagine this: An international manufacturing company employing thousands is separated from its parent. Within a year, the stock price of an international manufacturing corporation with thousands of workers drops by more than 80 percent. Morale plummets and the company’s health measures fall into the bottom quartile of its industry. Something is here… very wrong.

What you think is happening as a leader, versus what actually is happening is typically very different!

Sam Palazzolo, Managing Director @ Tip of the Spear Ventures

Four years later, the stock price of the company has increased sixfold. The corporation has moved from the bottom to the second quartile in terms of organizational health. Employees feel more connected and are invested in the company’s success. With increased discipline and better risk management, plant safety has been dramatically improved. Customers are astonished at the improvements and have celebrated them. One customer even called the CEO to tell him that the manufacturer would be his preferred vendor moving forward.

What changed? This real-life example shows how a manufacturing company transformed its performance and organizational health. It also changed the way it looked at “capabilities,” which are the hard and soft skills required to help organizations achieve and sustain their full potential.

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We know that many companies fail to meet their potential when it comes enterprise-wide transformations. Although most organizations understand the importance of having a motivated and skilled workforce, they don’t spend enough time or resources on developing them. It is easy to overlook an opportunity that could be irreplaceable, while the priorities are elsewhere. Others might find foundational capability building too easy. The CEO and organizational leadership might think that we already do this. However, we have found that what seems like common sense in an organization is not often practiced across the organization, which leaves room for better performance. In other words, common sense is NOT so common.

Capability building is more than just training employees. It’s about fundamentally changing the way work is done. It is also a great way to get people involved in supporting the transformation, from the top to the bottom. It is almost impossible to achieve and sustain a successful transformation without that energy. Companies can build the capability to achieve transformational gains. They also add to their gains over time by establishing an execution engine that will continuously improve value.

This article will discuss the key elements of a strong capability-building program. As the global manufacturing corporation went through a holistic transformation, we show that empowering employees with new skills can not only enable sustainable change at large scale, but also help the bottom line.

Sam Palazzolo

Business Entity Transformation – Why It’s Important?

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Business entity transformation is a term increasingly being used to refer to the merging and the resulting integration of a transformed organization to the corporate structure. A transformational change results from either internal or external pressure from the organizational community. The result is the invention of a new and potent business entity that efficiently takes over the role of the prior organization. This process can be very fast and dramatic one, but it can also be quite cluttered. But a true business may transform demand for a string of subtle steps that may yield far-reaching gains over the short-run and into the future.

One such step that many businesses are missing due to their adoption of a”quick-fix” approach is an analysis of the way the new organizational structure will probably impact key stakeholders. Normally, this analysis is done by a business coach or an advisor hired within the transformation effort. The objective is two-fold. First, the coach or adviser will help a company identify which portions of the business have to be transferred or replaced. The next component of the analysis is to assess the impact that the new regulatory demands will have to the various stakeholders. These demands may vary widely and may even be changing based on the state of the market.

The new regulatory demands impacting key stakeholders may include new technological developments, new managerial functions, new fiscal obligations and lack of control. For instance, if the new technological demands result from the creation of a cheaper and much more efficient product, the general earnings might actually increase instead of decrease. In addition, a business facing new regulatory conditions may be forced to consider altering the scope of its product offering so as to remain competitive. This may lead to the creation of a new product which is much better suited to the new regulatory conditions. However, the new technological merchandise may also lead to increased costs for the company, which the CEO may not be willing to absorb in the face of a declining revenue stream.

The next significant element of business entity transformation requires the effect that the new technological requirements will have on the manner in which the business does business. The results of the study can be highly detrimental to the long-term viability of the organization in the event the new technological needs do not encourage the organizational objectives. The chief benefit from this component is that the transformation can provide a competitive edge for a company that is already mature enough to capitalize on the new technological opportunities, without needing to invest substantial amounts of funds into training and recruitment efforts that may not prove to be fruitful.

Additionally, the results of the study will serve as the foundation for assessing the impact that any changes that are made will have on employees and the operational processes that employees currently work. Frequently, companies which are undergoing a company change will create significant structural modifications to their work environment and worker arrangements, in order to make room for the new technological inventions. In this situation, the modification of this organizational structure will frequently result in a decrease in employee numbers, with a corresponding decline in the potential employment benefits for the employees. These implications need to be weighed carefully before making any changes to the organizational workforce.

This analysis must also address the question of whether the implementation of the new regulatory demands will have a material effect on the organization’s ability to continue operations. If the new technological demands are implemented and there is a requirement for elevated levels of automation, the greater level of regulation or oversight will likely have an influence on the expense of operating the business. This growth in regulation and supervision could lower the sustainability of the company and the company might be forced to shut its operations. On the other hand, the majority of businesses which can adapt quickly and mitigate the impact of the regulations and oversight, will be the firms which will continue to function in the current period. The new regulation changes and the associated costs will likely force some businesses to seek a reexamination of their organizational structure and how they handle their companies, but those that can accommodate will continue to flourish.

The greatest effects of the business entity transformation is a question that has to be addressed from the company and its management. The extent to which the new regulatory requirements and the resulting efficiencies and cost savings are absorbed into the organization’s revenue stream is going to have an immediate effect on the type of profits the organization can understand. Although the amount of the profits realized may diminish slightly, it’s very likely that the pace of return on the capital invested in the new organizational structure and the surgeries will outweigh the losses in the adoption of new technology and improved efficiencies.

It’s important for the organization to comprehend all of the ramifications of the business entity transformation process and the consequences that will occur over time. All these have to be assessed and examined in the context of the company’s overall financial health and the kind of growth or decline that’s anticipated later on. It is also important for the organization to have a successful succession planning process in place to address any issues that arise because of the company entity transformation. The best solution to dealing with these issues is to implement a change management process in place to ensure all changes are properly recorded, monitored and controlled. This includes the involvement of senior management, that’s designated to create sure the aims of the transformation are fulfilled and are being preserved. The higher competitiveness and potential for enhanced functionality also require the organization to acquire extra skills and expertise so as to remain at the forefront of the industry and meet the changing demands of consumers.

5 Ways Coronavirus has Changed Mergers and Acquisitions

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The Point: The COVID-19 pandemic has altered our expectations of mergers and acquisitions. If speed kills deals, and the coronavirus impact on mergers and acquisitions was not spared, the swiftness of doubt and uncertainty inflicted has shifted business values. As a result, we’re seeing mergers and acquisitions in a new light. So in this post, we present 5 ways coronavirus has changed mergers and acquisitions… Enjoy!

5 Ways Coronavirus has Changed M&A

There are five important shifts in mergers and acquisitions as a result of the coronavirus, which will permanently change the business of merging and/or acquiring businesses:

Change in the Understanding of Employees

Businesses have realized the value of their front-line teams in getting stuff done. Together with the efforts of the team members — many of whom are often at the lower end of the pay scale — many companies could not have lasted through the pandemic. So, how are individual perceptions of meaningful work and a special calling in some specific jobs influenced by the Covid-19 pandemic? It’s only when a crisis hits that we can identify the attractiveness of some functions — while other functions tend to lose out to those identified as low or dull. Ask yourself, who’d be the Most Valuable Player (MVP) for you now — someone who produces the materials/tools/information which you require or your C-Suite leader who coordinates/reports on? Where exactly is the value now? The answers to these questions pose serious implications for M&A.

Shift in Culture Priorities

Being kept apart from friends or family has shown team members where their true priorities lie — and it’s not work. Our relationships to the jobs we conduct have changed as a result of the pandemic. If you asked any part of your team what matters today, it will almost surely be family and their health. That’s where people wish to spend the majority of their time. When you realize that you could lose the people you love most, you see what actually matters. M&A will need to take and work with the changed priorities of organizational culture and the team members because when it comes to a choice, work will not come out on the top.

Change in Empathy and Compassion Expectations

One of the biggest adjustments demands M&A adapt to the individual’s with empathy and compassion. Whether they are in the workplace or working from your home, M&A professionals will need to use their own emotional intelligence (EQ) to understand each person’s situation, pressures, priorities, and values. No longer can M&A think of the organization’s team as a single thing or object — and this can and will be hard. More than ever, M&A will need to reveal themselves as people and build relationships with their own folks. Honest, accurate discussions about work and life will improve connection. Empathy and compassion will solidify it.

Change in the Power of Leadership

Having remote teams has meant leaders needed to step back from the job and let their people manage themselves. The M&A firms who gave their teams some autonomy and decision-making are the ones who have had the best results. It makes sense. To retain power, M&A will be to increase agility and decrease costs for the company in the long run. When you have the right people in the M&A function, don’t be afraid to show your faith in them? It’s time to let go of control over the particulars of people’s work and instead, begin to support them. Be certain they have everything that they need to make the ideal choice and get the job done.

Change in Attention and Direction

If there is one thing we learned during this time, it is that plans can be shattered at the drop of a hat. While planning is still important — Since you have to understand where you’re headed — it’s the results leaders need to concentrate on instead of the journey. Your purpose in M&A is to act as a driver, and that’s what’s going to maintain mergers and acquisitions strategy leading to results — or lack thereof.

SUMMARY

I see a significant move from strategy or process-led mergers and acquisitions towards a more agile one. While we still value powerful and elastic M&A, there’s presently a heavy focus on agility at Tip of the Spear.

Understanding Mergers and Acquisitions Strategy

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The Point: When most people think about starting a business, they often think of starting from scratch — designing the business from scratch and making your own concepts and plans. But is this the right — or best — strategy for an entrepreneur? In this post, we’ll explore understanding mergers and acquisitions strategy… Enjoy!

Tip of the Spear Understanding Mergers and Acquisitions

This is actually easier than starting an entirely new company, as you have a known product to base your business around. However, buying an existing company can still help you get started on the right foot. Here is what you should know to get a lot out of your purchase. Read on for more information on mergers and acquisitions.

There are two ways to go about mergers and acquisitions (M&A). One way is through an all-cash transaction, which allows you to take over a majority of the assets of the other companies and you keep all of the equity. Another way to approach the process is by conducting a financial transaction, where you receive cash for a portion of the total equity. Both methods have different advantages and disadvantages, so it’s important that you carefully consider which option will be best for you.

The first thing to consider is whether or not there are synergies between the two companies. You want to be able to add to the strength of one company while keeping away from the weakness of the other. For example, buying a hospital that offers medical equipment to nursing homes could be a good move for both companies. However, buying a manufacturing company that makes products for the home repair industry could be a bad move for both companies. So the two mergers and acquisitions strategies have to be well thought out before you make a decision.

You also have to understand the benefits of the mergers and acquisitions. Some examples of these benefits include saving cash, leveling the corporate ladder, combining research and development, and better service to customers. In order for these benefits to be realized, you have to look at the costs of the transactions carefully. This means looking at both the direct and indirect costs involved with the transactions.

You should also determine the value of the acquired assets. You should compare the total assets acquired, including goodwill, to the total market value of the combined company. Remember that these purchases do not always result in absolute value. Sometimes, the actual net worth of the acquired business is less than the purchase price.

SUMMARY

In summary, the main goal of the acquisition and mergers and acquisitions strategies is to acquire a company that can provide a service or product that solves a problem for the buyer. One of the main downsides to acquisitions is the risk of acquiring weak companies that might not be able to support the obligations you have with them. Be sure to get all the facts before you decide on a strategy. Make sure you are familiar with all the terms before you enter into any agreements.