Your team has poured its energy into a change or innovation initiative.
They’ve identified problems, brainstormed solutions, and implemented actions that have made a real difference. But when it’s time to present those results to leadership, a common challenge emerges: How do you ensure the full scope and value of that hard work truly hits home?
Frontline teams often excel at execution and can intuitively see the improvements they’ve made. However, they can “fall on their faces,” as detailed in Chapter 7 of Ideas to Action, when presenting in the “C-Suite.”
Why? Because there’s often a DISCONNECT. Teams want to share the story of their journey and be recognized for their efforts. Leaders, while often interested in that story, are also accountable for the bottom line and need to understand results in terms of business impact.
The good news: There’s a straightforward, structured way for teams to clearly “tell the story” AND “show the money,” achieving win/win outcomes where both the team’s journey and the business results are fully valued. It requires following a simple-to-use protocol for preparing and presenting team impact across three distinct, yet interconnected, levels.
The Three Levels of Team Impact: A Framework for Win/Win Communication
The Ideas-to-Action Process™ (specifically Step 5: Measure Results and Celebrate) guides teams to articulate their achievements through this powerful Three-Level framework:
Level I: Mission Impact – Tell the Story of Your Actions
This is where the team explains what they did and why it was important in relation to their specific mission. It’s the narrative that provides context and highlights the problem solved.
Level II: Operating Impact – Show How You Moved the Dial on KPIs
Here, the focus shifts to measurable operational improvements. How did the team’s actions affect key performance indicators (KPIs) like efficiency, quality, speed, or customer satisfaction?
Level III: Financial Impact – Quantify the Bottom-Line Benefit
This crucial final level connects operational improvements to tangible financial gains, such as cost savings, increased revenue, margin improvement, or return on capital investment.
Let’s explore how the “Perfect Fill” team from an electronic accessories company used this framework to powerfully present their results.
Case Study: The “Perfect Fill” Team’s Journey Through the Three Levels
The “Perfect Fill” team was one of four launched to support a company-wide operational excellence initiative. Their mission: improve order fill rates in a facility processing 950,000 orders annually, where even small improvements could have an outsized impact.
Level I: Mission Impact – Telling Their Story
The team began by explaining their core solution: “We developed a system to highlight orders prone to being split. This involves contacting the customer to explain the situation and offering to postpone delivery for a complete order. With customer consent, we now hold the order until it’s complete and then ship it. This has reduced handling time, eliminated second shipments, and increased customer satisfaction.” This clearly outlined their actions (new system, customer communication, holding orders) and the immediate qualitative benefits.
Level II: Operating Impact – Showing KPI Improvement
Next, they translated these actions into measurable operational metrics, focusing on the “order-fill rate” KPI: “By analyzing the order tracking system, we discovered that approximately 38,000 out of 950,000 orders were marked as ‘shipped incomplete’ over the past year, resulting in a 96% fill rate. Our four-week trial demonstrated that 95% of incomplete orders, or 36,100, could be postponed for complete shipment without triggering customer complaints. This indicates we have the opportunity to achieve a fill rate exceeding 99% and reduce the number of split orders to under 2,000.” This presented clear data: a baseline, the trial results, and the projected significant improvement in their primary KPI.
Level III: Financial Impact – Quantifying the Benefit
Finally, with guidance from their accounting department, the team connected these operational gains to financial metrics: “After consulting with accounting, we learned that the average cost to process an order is four dollars. The 36,100 fewer split orders translated into $144,400 in annual savings. However, as accounting clarified, these savings don’t directly improve profits but instead free up capacity in the center to process more customer orders. This increased capacity will enable us to manage a higher volume of orders without requiring additional staff or overtime. This translates into a significant cost avoidance over time.” This crucial step showed the tangible “money” aspect, including the important business nuance of cost avoidance and increased capacity.
The “Win/Win” Outcome: Validation and Growth
The “Perfect Fill” team’s structured, three-level presentation earned enthusiastic support from leadership. The Center Director praised the improved service and reduced workload. The Finance Manager even noted the team might be underestimating the impact due to potential reductions in overtime.
Crucially, the team members themselves gained invaluable experience. One shared: “When we learned that processing an order costs about four dollars, we were eager to see how much money could be saved… judging by our leadership team’s comments, sharing our findings in their language made all the difference—it turned skeptical eyes into smiles and words of appreciation.”
Communicating in the language of business metrics didn’t diminish their story; it amplified its importance and fostered a deeper understanding among employees of their direct impact on performance.
Empower Your Teams to Showcase Their Full Value
The Three-Level Framework for presenting team impact is a powerful tool. It guides teams to:
- Articulate their journey and purpose (Level I).
- Demonstrate measurable operational success (Level II).
- Translate those successes into compelling financial terms (Level III).
By mastering these steps, your teams can confidently bridge the communication gap, build their business acumen, and ensure their hard work and innovative solutions receive the recognition and support they truly deserve—creating a true “Two-Way Win” for everyone involved.
Want to equip your teams with the guidebooks and templates for this Three-Level approach? Get your copy of Ideas to Action to explore the full process and discover the suite of Ideas-to-Action Solutions for putting these concepts to work with your teams.
