Support Your Ideas with Good Reasons

Imagine yourself in this situation. You are the HR and training manager for an IT company that employs 125 people. Work has been heavy and everyone is adjusting to new processes recently put into place, so morale is low. You decide that the best way to motivate and re-energize everyone is to conduct a two-day off-site teambuilding program.

To get the budget you need, you’ll have to present your idea to management. Your job is to convince them that teambuilding will be a long-lasting, cost-effective way to boost morale and increase productivity.

So, you structure your presentation around three main ideas: One, teambuilding boosts morale. Two, teambuilding is long-lasting. And three, teambuilding is cost-effective. Now, how do you build these ideas into a convincing presentation?

Well, you could just get up there and say, “Everybody knows that teambuilding builds morale. That’s why we have teambuilding to begin with!” But unfortunately, although this is easy, it’s not very convincing. To support each of these ideas, you’re going to have to come up with some hard evidence. What works? Examples, research, statistics, case studies and expert testimonials.

Let’s see how this works on your three main ideas. One: "An August 2008 report from the Malaysian Ministry of Labor has shown that 85% of all companies running teambuilding programs for their employees at least once every two years show consistency or an increase in staff morale compared to companies that do not run programs."

Two: "To illustrate the long-lasting effects of teambuilding, let’s examine data from three companies similar to our own that ran teambuilding programs in June 2007 and then surveyed their employees on the key learnings two years later in May 2009."

Three: "The cost of the last teambuilding program we ran in 2005 cost the company RM24,000.00. However, a subsequent 15% rise in employee productivity offset that cost in just four months. Productivity levels remained consistent, resulting in an overall 18% increase in profitability, for the next eleven months."

In short, to be convincing, you must be believable. To be believable, provide your audience with good reasons to believe.