Gaining C-Suite and Board Buy-In for Your Change Initiatives

Driving successful transformation initiatives demands carefully curated strategies. The first task at the top of that list? Begin to secure C-suite and board members' buy-in.

This executive brief discusses how to do that by effectively navigating the terrain, addressing diverse agendas, and ensuring alignments all while steering through internal politics, pushbacks, and resistances.

This roundtable was held on October 17th, 2024.

Roundtable Participants

Led by Nellie Wartoft, CEO of Tigerhall and Chair of the ECLC

• Alessandro Prieto, Analog Devices - Senior Director, HR North America Lead

• Andrew Spector, Paramount - Senior Director, Change Management

• Bill Munley, Customers Bank - SVP, People Experience Team (PXT), Shared Services

• Cenina Saxton, Global Payments - Senior Director, Talent Management

• Desiree Duarte, IQVIA - Communications & Change Lead

• Erica Howard, Managing Director, Office of the CAO - Head of Strategy Deployment & Governance

• Eva Rich, Deluxe - Enterprise Transformation Officer

• Ian Peter, St. Lucia Electricity Services - Chief Strategy Officer

• Jay Morrison, Morgan Stanley - COO and Head of Strategy

• Jennifer Asplund, RTX - Vice President Enterprise Services | Operational Excellence

• Julie Whitten, Upstate Niagara Cooperative - Vice President, Change Management and Communications

• Laureen Knudsen, Broadcom - Chief Transformation Officer

• Laurie Ditch, iMerit - Sr. Director, Organizational Strategy and Operations

• Marjorie Etter, Meta - Global Training, Knowledge & Change Management Leader

• Mary Fairchild, F5 - VP of Culture and Talent Development

• Michelle Weetman, ADP - Senior Director, Strategic Planning

• Nadine Hammer, Genentech - Sr. Organizational Change Lead - Product Development, Portfolio, Strategy, and Delivery

• Nicolas Becquet, Pernod Ricard - Transformation Senior Director

• Robert Leeds, WPP - Senior Director, People Operations and Transformation, Change and Communications

• Saumya Vardhan, Yahoo - Digital Transformation Office Leader

• Scott Namowicz, Wells Fargo - SVP, Head of Transformation - Consumer Banking

• Stacey Taylor, Visa - VP, Implementation & Change

• Subba Marellapudi, Consulting Partner

• Sundeep Thusoo, Philips - Director, Business Transformation

• Vanessa Hammett, Mars - Change Communications Lead

• Will Nolan, EveryLife Foundation for Rare Diseases - Chief Marketing & Communications Officer

• Yann Galand, BNP Paribas - VP Change and Transformation

Winning Over the C-Suite & Board Members: Key Strategies to Secure Buy-In

Step 1: Build a Strong Business Case

✔ Gather Information with Initial Research

Talk to stakeholders and collect important feedback on the transformation you are planning to embark on. Ask what they think is working well, the opportunities, what they like about the current approach, and if they would be okay with changing it.

“Don’t over-engineer the process. Take the pieces that have worked well in the past and build on them. What’s most important is to drive good behavior and identify roadmaps to get the basics right before diving deeper.”

Cenina Saxton - Senior Director, Talent Management | Global Payments

“Treat an executive pitch as a deck or memo to lay out a known business issue and propose a solution. It can be one to address issues such as gaps in tools and processes, identifying roadblocks that may be halting the company from achieving its strategic goals, or even issues related to workforce capabilities and culture.”

Stacey Taylor - VP, Implementation & Change | Visa

✔ Understand Priorities & WIIFM

Identify the organization’s priorities and find the WIIFM factors that influence the decisions of key stakeholders. Build your business case that aligns with these elements. No matter what transformation you do, what are the ultimate goals for the organization?

“The board is more concerned about the results than the methods. Try to seek approval on the overall change strategy rather than specific initiatives. This way, you will be able to take rein in the processes and methodology as long as the targets of the strategic objectives are achieved.”

Ian Peter - Chief Strategy Officer | St. Lucia Electricity Services

✔ Leverage Data-Backed Approach

While sentiment can be helpful, presenting hard data is essential in gaining approval. Show quantifiable data to demonstrate potential ROIs such as revenue and savings, on top of other goals including any operational improvement factors such as customer experience. Numbers build transparency and accountability.

Step 2: Engage Early & Often

✔ Find the Right Timing

Early engagement is important to provide ample time for you to make a solid case around the initiative. That early stage is also when advocacy or a well-established network can help see if the organization is ready for a new initiative. It is best to engage and get the C-suite and board members involved at least six weeks before the start of a program to get the whys of the change agreed upon across the board.

✔ Identify Change Maturity

When your organization has grown too quickly, you may end up with change leaders with different proficiencies or standards across the organization. Think about how you can standardize the change function across your company.

“For big-sized organizations, it is also possible that certain people have not yet been exposed to certain levels of change maturity within the company. This requires reeducation on green changes vs. mature changes to create better alignment.”

Marjorie Etter - Global Training, Knowledge & Change Management Leader | Meta

Green change refers to early-stage transformations that are still evolving and may require additional refinement or development in terms of processes, strategies, and leadership maturity.

Mature change is a well-established, fully developed transformation with proven processes, clear strategies, and experienced leadership that can be scaled and replicated.

One Size Doesn’t Fit All, Tailor Your Approach When Engaging Different CXOs

Divide & Conquer: Learn to Speak Their Languages

✔ Identify Goals & Agendas

Know your audience and evaluate how transformation initiatives can help the CxOs look good to their people and the rest of the C-suite and board members. Work on one particular leader at a time and create outputs that are aligned with their requirements and goals.

“Every C-level executive has a different personality and mindset. Figure out how to speak their language to understand their goals, agendas, and strategies. Identify which outcomes resonate with them the most. Is it data, technology, or people?”

Subba Marellapudi - Consulting Partner

“C-suite members are knowledgeable to the organization’s ins and outs and are usually more invested when you tie the transformation back to the business outcomes. For Board members, you might need to focus additionally on education so that they accurately understand the objectives and perspectives related to your transformation.”

Vanessa Hammett - Change Communication Lead | Mars

“Discern between individualistic agendas and differentiated perspectives that may come across as ‘political’ since there is a huge difference between the two of them.”
Eva Rich - Enterprise Transformation Officer | Deluxe

✔ Personalize the ROIs

Highlight the outputs in different ‘flavors’ to frame and personalize the appeal of change. Focus on technological gains when talking to the CTO or CIO. For example, application rationalization, minimizing maintenance, integration with the cloud, etc. Meanwhile, highlight the financial benefits of the transformation when appealing to the CFO.

“View it as translating messages differently for folks who speak different languages. When engaging individually, focus on the piece of their pie and present strong WIIFM in data terms.”

Marjorie Etter - Global Training, Knowledge & Change Management Leader | Meta

“Explanation should be tailored to each stakeholder, addressing what they care about, be it the financial outcomes, strategic alignment, long-term benefits, etc.”

Desiree Duarte - Communications & Change Lead | IQVIA

✔ Appeal with Emotions, Follow with Logic

Communicate your message in a way that you can gain buy-in by tapping into their emotions. Start with a convincing emotional pitch followed by a strong business case that outlines each item in more detail.

Politics in the Suite: Overcoming Roadblocks & Diverging Agendas

Internal politics can be disruptive to the progress of change. It is essential to build company cultures and hiring practices that cut through it. However, since existing political plays cannot be ignored, transformational leaders still need to understand them to push things through. There is always a secret agenda — so how can you make it work for you?

“It is easier to nip politics in the bud when the project is tied to enterprise transformation since you can illustrate the need to get to a specific outcome tied to the change.”

Stacey Taylor - VP, Implementation & Change | Visa

✔ Ensuring Transparency in Communication

Be transparent with C-suite and board members on how internal politics may threaten a transformation's progress and success.

“Translate and understand others' agendas to get you to where you need to be, both for the business and the impacted parties. This is much better and less complicated than having to experience pushback. The latter can be more paralyzing and stops you from accomplishing anything, which in turn causes more trouble for the impacted workers.”

Marjorie Etter - Global Training, Knowledge & Change Management Leader | Meta

✔ Call Out Bad Behaviors

Call out disruptive, passive-aggressive, or manipulative behavior and address them publicly to help shift the company culture and disable similar conduct in the future. Counter back with factual and informative challenges.

“If you incentivize drama, you will keep getting drama. You can’t make real change in the organization with stakeholders who are set on fighting and squabbling with each other.”

Laureen Knudsen - Chief Transformation Officer | Broadcom

“Politics happen when people get insecure or misalignment occurs. Some may think that it will be to their advantage to not cooperate. If the problem is insecurity, point it out. If it's a lack of understanding, simplify the message and make transformation easier to understand.”

Sundeep Thusoo - Director Business Transformation | Philips

✔ Understanding Values and Opinions

Some individuals are more prone to let their own values, beliefs, and goals serve as the guiding light when making decisions. It is important for them to understand that this is business and not personal.

“Everyone is influenced by their own values and mindset. We should not expect the C-suite or board members to be the exceptions to that.”

Vanessa Hammett - Change Communication Lead | Mars

“Sometimes, it is more about how an initiative matches up with their own values and beliefs instead of if it’s actually good or bad. It would be smart to approach and understand the different values at play when you are making your pitch.”

Ian Peter - Chief Strategy Officer | St. Lucia Electricity Services

✔ Breaking Barriers & Embracing Differences

Personal values can be generational. Embrace individual differences, break barriers, and understand different communication dynamics to make things work. That is how you bridge that gap.

“Older generations may have a different view of what leadership looks like compared to younger ones. They are more inclined towards values like respect, trust, and transparency. Meanwhile, younger employees sometimes struggle with handling direct, unfiltered feedback and how to act on it.”

Bill Munley - Head of HR Operations Solutions, Co-Head of Global HR Operations, Human Resources | Millennium Management

✔ Straightening Misalignments

It gets trickier to achieve true buy-in when different C-suite or board members are pushing different decisions for transformation and change. Differences in opinion may not even come out of bad intentions. It could just be people failing to connect the dots and waiting for change leaders to figure out the alignment part of it.

“Make them co-own the mess. Bring them into a room, make them see that they are not on the same page, and show them where the roadblocks are. While it may get intense, it is better to face it together, work it out, and create a path forward.”

Nadine Hammer - Sr. Organizational Change Lead - Product Development, Portfolio, Strategy, and Delivery | Genentech

Real-Life Tactics for Winning Over the C-Suite and Board

1. Communication is Everything

✔ Build Coalitions, Not Echo Chambers

Don’t rely on just one or two internal champions. Map out your allies and challengers across the business. The broader your coalition, the deeper your influence.

“There’s a big need for consensus building and having a coalition. It takes legwork upfront, but you’ll surface potential friction points early—and know when to slow down change if needed.”

Bill Munley, Head of HR Operations Solutions & Co-Head of Global HR Operations | Millennium Management

✔ Rethink the Message Strategy

Share just enough—but not everything. Overloading people with unfinished ideas or hypotheticals can weaken your case. Share in phases. Show results.

“Figure out if oversharing helps or hurts. Don’t announce changes that may never happen—it sets the stage for future misunderstandings.”

Laureen Knudsen, Chief Transformation Officer | Broadcom

“It’s almost like a divorce. You want to tell your kids what they need to know—but you spare them some of the details.”

Laurie Ditch, Sr. Director, Org Strategy & Ops | iMerit

✔ Simplify. Then Simplify Again.

Make your message digestible. A one-pager beats a 30-slide deck. Send pre-read materials 1–2 weeks before the meeting so people come prepared.

Adapt to learning styles—visual, auditory, or otherwise.

“Use a one-pager to cover the current state, why the change is needed, expected outcomes, and the risks of staying the same. Simplicity drives alignment.”

Desiree Duarte, Communications & Change Lead | IQVIA

2. Collaboration = Conversion

Get leaders invested early by showing them exactly how the initiative benefits their teams. The more they see themselves in the plan, the faster they commit.

✔ Meetings Before the Meeting Before the Meeting

Yes, really. Use smaller meetings to surface objections before the high-stakes one. Pre-align. Pre-brief. Pre-sell.

“Run alignment meetings with your CXOs before the big moment—so you don’t end up with chaos in the boardroom.”

Subba Marellapudi, Consulting Partner

“Meetings are a chance to build trust and secure the steps forward. Be transparent. Clarify roles. And spotlight the CEO’s role in aligning top leadership.”

Mary Fairchild, VP of Culture & Talent Dev | V5

✔ Set Boundaries. Enforce Accountability.

Define your role. Clarify theirs. Make sure board members know what’s in your scope—and what’s not.

Ask them to assign champions within their teams to help with implementation. No buy-in? No progress.

Final Word

If you’re not winning over the board and C-suite, you’re not moving the needle. Their alignment—or lack of it—can make or break your transformation.

To speed up decision-making and build stronger advocacy:

• Decode internal politics

• Know leadership priorities

• Start collaboration early

• Communicate clearly and strategically

The Executive Council for Leading Change (ECLC)

The ECLC is a global network of executive leaders shaping the future of organizational change. We bring together the most forward-thinking leaders to solve complex transformation challenges—together.

We’re not just about ideas. We’re about action.