How to attract an executive sponsor?
Copyright by Stephan Klaschka 2010-2024
From my series on how to build a successful BRG.1
After you start building your BRG business case, it is crucial to find executive support to move on.
You want to make sure the BRG’s goals are not only aligned with the company’s business strategies but are measurable! Having clear and unambiguous success metrics at hand is the best basis for argumentation, checking your progress and finally documenting your success. It makes it so much easier to build credibility and trust as well as to communicate success clearly to get support throughout the organization. (Success metrics will certainly be a future topic here on OrgChanger!)
So look at the business areas, the company’s strategic goals, and high-visibility projects that your CEO and the executive team communicate. Consider thinking along those lines to flesh out the need for your BRG, to set goals, and to collect ideas for projects, initiatives, or supporting alliances that your BRG could take on in support of the business.
What you aim for is attracting a powerful executive sponsor that serves you and your BRG in several ways:
Support and promote the BRG’s activities actively
Help you navigate the deep and treacherous waters of corporate politics to keep you and your BRG out of trouble
Provide access to some basic funding to run the BRG
Build strong alliances
Point out opportunities and
Offer advice when you need it (or when you think you don’t need it but then find out you were blindsided and now are happy your sponsor picked up on it earlier!)
Look at your executive leadership team for a sponsor that has a vested interest in your BRG and its goals. Go out and talk to them, pitch your idea! Be creative in how to approach them (this is actually a nice future topic by itself!). - You may be surprised how willing executives listen to compelling business logic that you unfold in front of them.
What are the business needs of the executive sponsor? - Build their needs into your business plan. Consider synergistic BRG projects that will also help your sponsor achieve their goals. You may even ask what you could do for them and make sure to find out exactly what the sponsor’s expectations are.
Be very respectful of their valuable time. Make it easy for them to follow you; offer an informative summary, for example, and prepare for them what you want them to do, such as drafting an email you want them to send out to a larger audience.
Remember, from the executive sponsor down to each new recruit every person wants to know: “What’s in it for me?” – Prepare to deliver!
Let’s begin with what it takes to start a successful BRG on a high level and then drill down to real-life examples and practical advice.
What you cannot go without is a strategy that creates a business need before you drum up people which creates a buzz! You will have to make sure that you never run short of
Executive support for your BRG,
Recruiting members,
Showcasing your achievements, and
Communicating effectively to meet the above three goals.
My approach was to build a business case to prove the company’s need for having a business-focused BRG. (See my previous post: How to start building a business-focused ERG?)
To convince executives, explain to them what is in it for them, i.e. what the benefit is to the company and to them individually by supporting your BRG.
Address very basic questions as a first step:
Why does the company need this BRG?
How will the company benefit from it measurably?
What resources do you need to start and sustain the BRG?
Stay tuned for my next post on Q&A - Case study for founding a business-focused ERG
From my series on how to build a BRG (=Business Resource Group) group, i.e. a business-focused ERG (=Employee Resource Group) first published on OrgChanger.com.