I had the pleasure of conducting a workshop for the Society of General Internal Medicine with Dr. David L. Longworth, an infectious disease clinician and former President of Lahey Hospital and Medical Center. We wanted to share principles for influencing senior leaders based on our combined 60 years of experience working with c-suite executives.
The Goal
David and I outlined the goal whenever working with senior teams:
“Consciously cultivate and exercise power, utilize influence, and build relationships to ensure the overall success and long-term viability of the organization.”
The three guiding principles we shared were to a) offer solutions, not just ideas; b) communicate using the language of business; and c) build powerful coalitions.
Offer Solutions, Not Just Ideas.
The organization wins by adapting and adopting the successful practices of others. C-suite leaders are looking for ways to be successful now and position the company for future success. While ideas are helpful, they are often insufficient. Given the pace of business today, and the time and resources it takes to shepherd an idea from conception to implementation, leaders prefer to focus on solutions that have proven themselves elsewhere. Something that is plain as dirt in one industry or organization can transform another industry or company. Video conferencing, for example, has been around for decades, but the pandemic accelerated its use in the medical field via tele-medicine. It was not a novel idea.
To influence senior teams, be on the lookout for solutions that work at another company that you can adapt to fit your situation and culture. Focus on “how can I scale this solution for my organization?” Spend the time identifying industries that serve your customer base or have the same operational / logistical challenges. What value do they offer that you do not? How do they interact with their customers differently? Arrange a site visit to speak with their senior team. Answering these questions and seeing how other organizations solve problems will uncover solutions you can use.
Communicate in Business Language.
The organization wins by appreciating and learning how to communicate in the language of business. And the universal language of business is finance. To influence the c-suite, they must be confident you understand the financial implications of your solution. To make this complex topic easier, I love the framework by Nancy Duarte, a communication expert and author of Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences. Executives are focused on three areas:
- Money: how does your solution drive up revenue and profit, or drive down costs? Financial strength is critical to an organization’s ability to pay its bills, compensate staff well, and make financial bets to secure their future. Driving down costs is an effective way to generate profits.
- Market: how does your solution drive up market share, or drive down the time to market? Leaders must find ways to gain a competitive advantage that will lead to a dominant market position. Getting products and services to market first is a good strategy for beating the competition.
- Exposure: how does your solution drive up retention, or drive down risk? Keeping clients, employees, and partners happy increases retention, which boosts profits, lowers costs, and strengthens company culture. Solutions that reduce operational, legal, compliance, and other forms of risk mitigate threats and reputational damage.
To effectively influence the c-suite, first list all the benefits of your proposed solution. Then organize and prioritize those benefits into the money, market, or exposure buckets. Develop short stories and share data that describe your solution in financial terms.
Build Powerful Coalitions.
The organization wins by sharing the power of “we” over “me.” Powerful leaders tell compelling stories that are supported with data. The “lone wolf” in business is a myth. You need a team to get anything of significance done. Dr. Longworth shared his experience as a CEO and President of multiple organizations. He said they did not have the problem of “not enough” good ideas, but just the opposite, there were too many great ideas. The dilemma a senior team has is, “how do we pick among the numerous good ideas with limited resources?”
C-suite leaders look for solutions that benefit multiple departments and have cross-functional team support. They are more likely to allocate resources to solutions that are presented in a compelling manner. That means telling good stories. Humans evolved to create, understand, and remember stories. Stories are memorable, impactful, and personal. They are remembered around twenty-two times more than facts alone. Tell a good story. Then share how the story represents a larger problem that needs to be addressed.
Bottom Line
Offer solutions, communicate in the language of business, and build powerful coalitions. Focusing on these three principles will help you exercise power more effectively, increase your influence across the organization, and build the relationships needed for long-term career success.