7 Responses

1. ice breaker
   each grooup member makes 3 statements about themselves one is a lie
   object – to get people to think about the danger of making assumptions

   ji sinkinson

2. Ideas
   Hi

   I have a couple of ideas which may help get the buy in
   especially if like most managers they don’t think they need training – mail me mrob@misco.co.uk

3. Not exercises, business case!!
   So, a proposal to 12 senior managers about leadership development for line managers.

   Am I right in thinking that this is for a reasonable size organisation and you have but 20 minutes to do the sell?

   I’m curious – are you not certain enough about your business case that you feel the need for some kind of exercise first?

   If I was a senior manager (have been sat where you audience of 12 now sit) with time short on my hands the last thing I’d want to see is fun and games from the pink & fluffy training dept.

   The first thing I’d like to see is benefits – tangible, measurable ones, ones I can take to my customers, suppliers and shareholders.

   Get your business case sorted and you won’t need to worry about exercises to grab their attention.

   I’d be happy to help – done this a few times myself! Get me at martin@p-nrg.com

   Good luck.

4. Thanks for comments
   Thanks for the great comments martin. Firstly I am firmly convinced that the case more than stacks up.
   I did have reservations around using an introduction exercise and I guess you have helped answer that. But I also want to ensure that I grab their attention straight away as they will have been going all day with me on last thing….

5. Dare them!
   I appreciate your position Tom – there’s nothing like the graveyard shift to ensure you earn your pay!!

   You may be firmly convinced – will they be?

   To grab their attention, why not have them do some kind of stretch/breath exercise for 20-30 seconds max, then one of the activities mentioned earlier, and then say something like

   “I guess you expected that from the training/HR dept..”

   Before they can respond, throw up a slide or a big poster that says something like

   ” EVA = £400K
   ROI = 257%
   Customer Satisfaction up 24%
   Error rate down 36%

   Thanks to new leadership programme”

   And commentary along the lines of “I bet you WEREN’T expecting this though!”

   Now you have something unexpected, in their language, and you’ve primed them for a vigorous session. If they decide in your favour as a result of your pitch in their terms, they will be 110% behind you most likely.

   Oh yeah, in the numerical examples given above, insert your own figures you’ve gotten from your gap analysis, root cause analysis and customer survey. You won’t get it from your training needs analysis though. And your analysis methods better be watertight and credible because in taking this approach you are daring your audience to question what you are saying, and by association to question you!

   Lastly, if you don’t have credible figures along the lines outlined above, I would contend that you don’t have much of a business case – no matter how much you are convinced. Unless your audience can be swayed by passion and belief – not unheard of and not necessarily wrong (have done this myself more than once!). In which case, I hope you know your material and have plenty of passion!

6. Money Talks
   As you are presenting to senior managers, I have found that money and numbers get their attention.

   I would start the into with the numbers, from you benefits, as to how their investment in time and money will be returned in income for the company.

   This can be done with using “false” money, passing either the return or investment around to show the impact your programme will have.

7. Change
   You will be pleased to know that my slot has been shortened to 10 minutes, the meeting is tomorrow and I am now on first. Better get cracking!! Thanks for info on numbers and suggestion – but definately start with benefits.