David Swanagon is the Head of People Analytics, North America for Ericsson. He is an award-winning data scientist and HR professional.
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The executive one-pager is a universal deliverable. Regardless of the company’s size, leaders are required to master this deliverable as part of securing sponsorship. Despite the importance, the principles that help define an effective one-pager are largely undocumented. Typically, leaders learn these concepts through trial and error. For example, each of us has attended a meeting where the presentation content was too large, poorly worded or lacking a cohesive message. The executive reaction is a powerful lesson.
To minimize this risk, it’s important to follow 10 principles. Though not bulletproof, these concepts help maximize your chances of conducting an effective executive meeting. In the end, it’s important to remember that messaging leads to sponsorship, which determines what projects get worked on. Therefore, every leader should understand what presentation methods are required for senior executives.
1. Executives care about one thing: their calendar.
A principle of the one-pager is that executive time is important. Each day, C-levels make decisions impacting thousands of employees. Nevertheless, their main concern is whether the current meeting is on schedule.
2. Create a compelling story without deviating from the facts.
In business, it’s important to understand the difference between professional storytelling and sensationalism. The former is focused on connecting initiatives to broader strategic objectives while keeping the content fact-based. The skill is learning how to create a compelling story without interjecting your personal opinions.
3. Pay attention to your headings and bylines.
These are strategic choices that help drive buy-in. Remember, the role of senior executives is to make decisions. If they’re involved in a meeting where no decision is made, then the analysis failed. For one-pagers, the goal is to drive decision-making. As part of this, be thoughtful in the byline name. Unless you are an industry expert, including your name reduces credibility. Instead, select the most powerful representation of your topic. If you’re discussing Diversity, list the key D&I strategy using the “In support of” phrase:
Example Headline and Byline [Diversity initiative]
The difference between first place and last is 50 Female Engineers
In support of the Gender Equity Initiative, Ms. Jane Doe | EVP, Diversity
4. Use one chart and three bullets.
The one-pager has a standard format. No matter how complex the topic, executive communications should include one chart and three bullets. For charts, it’s important to focus on the big five (line, bar, heat map, project timeline and quadrant). These are the formats that executives are familiar with.
5. No matter the chart, a maximum of three data points should be used.
These include actuals, benchmarks and forecasts. To this point, it’s important to emphasize external benchmarks versus the business plan. Intuitively, executives know that the latter is a political exercise.
6. Write like a Doberman, not like a poodle.
Active writing focuses on the subject performing the action. Comparatively, passive writing describes the action influencing the subject. For executives, it’s important to utilize an active voice: X did Y, which led to Z. To this point, the commentary should sprint off the page. Weak comments lead to weak reactions.
Passive voice: “According to McKinsey, engaged employees are more productive. In the past quarter, management has engaged in multiple focus groups, emphasizing belonging and co-creation, which has led to an assortment of ideas to improve the employee experience. This effort, combined with other techniques, has stabilized the decline in employee engagement to 2%.”
Active voice: “Profits increased 3%, engagement dropped 2%. This has increased the risk of voluntary attrition by 8%, which is 2 pts above the rolling average.”
7. Facts matter; your opinion doesn’t.
Executive one-pagers deal with facts. During the review process, key stakeholders are available to provide context. That said, a common mistake is for project owners to embed their personal opinions. Remember, executives do not care about your opinion here. They will review the facts, request clarification and decide. By adding subjective opinions, the credibility of the factual components diminishes.
8. Keep exaggerations to a minimum.
A fact-based analysis avoids hyperbole. Statements such as “drastic,” “extraordinary” and “unrivaled” are not useful. An executive one-pager focuses on the question of “did the issue increase, decrease or remain the same?”
9. Remember ‘3, 2, 1, launch.’
The review process is a critical step. Prior to distribution, it’s important to have three stakeholders, two leaders and your boss review. Often, analysts make the mistake of seeking too many opinions. This leads to more charts, additional bullets and a larger slide deck. No matter how much content you add, executives will spend the same amount of time on their review.
10. The appendix is required, but nobody reads the appendix.
To drive credibility, it’s important to include an appendix. This section will incorporate additional charts, external benchmarks, a project road map and survey results. Just remember, nobody reads the appendix.
Taken together, these 10 principles help leaders maximize their executive presentations. By creating compelling headlines, choosing the right byline and focusing on facts instead of opinions, the chances of an analysis receiving sponsorship increases. Over time, the more executives make decisions based on fact-based analysis, the easier it will be for organizations to decouple from unnecessary PowerPoints.
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