Stop pitching perfect answers. Learn the four things executives actually want to hear from engineering innovators seeking board-level buy-in.
Engineers are trained to be correct. They build their careers on delivering reliable answers, meeting specifications and ensuring structures stand up to scrutiny.
But when pitching innovation to executives, this instinct can become an obstacle.
“One thing that can challenge engineers is that expectation to provide a definite outcome,” Emma Jones, Executive Advisor for Innovation and Transformation at GHD, told create. “With innovation, we start with a problem and the solution is unknown at the beginning of the process.”
Understanding what executives actually want to hear when evaluating innovation proposals is critical for engineers seeking to drive change within large organisations.
The answer is more nuanced than simply presenting a compelling business case.
1. Start with a real problem
A polished business case means little if it’s solving the wrong problem. Jones said boards focus first on fit.
“If it’s something that aligns to our strategy, that’s going to be a lot more of interest to boards.”
Sue Brown, Executive Group Director for Sustainability at Worley, noted the importance of established frameworks. The company guides teams on building business cases and co-creating with customers.
“We want to understand what the need is,” Brown explained. “We want to have visibility into the customer’s willingness to pay, and whether there is a customer who’s willing to work this up with us?”
John Hilton, Design Director at Aurecon, found strategic alignment essential when developing the A-Bridge system for timber bridge replacement. With an estimated 1500 deteriorating timber bridges across NSW alone, the problem was clear to the engineers – but the team still had to demonstrate genuine benefit.
“We are not encouraging innovation for the sake of it,” Hilton said. “If you can show real benefit, the company will just step in and be right behind you.”
2. Find a customer willing to parnter
Perhaps the most consistent factor in securing executive support is demonstrating customer demand, preferably with a partner prepared to co-develop the solution.
“The thing that will almost always get an idea over the line at Worley is if you’ve got a customer willing to go shoulder-to-shoulder with you and support the development of something,” Brown said.
Worley developed its EmissionsView carbon accounting platform with a major LNG player willing to share operational data. That customer partnership proved decisive.
“We worked with that customer to develop this platform [based on] real-world data,” Brown said.
After a second major player joined, what started as a bespoke solution became a repeatable service.
At Aurecon, Transport for NSW’s willingness to adopt the A-Bridge and incorporate it into their suite of accelerated bridge construction products validated the concept.
“For any consultant, providing value to your clients is the number one objective,” Hilton said. “We’ve demonstrated value to Transport NSW and they’re using the product.”
3. Show the roadmap, not just the destination
Executives need confidence that proponents understand what implementation requires. This includes realistic timelines, resource requirements and the pathway from pilot to integration.
“They want to understand maybe what the roadmap is likely to be, and that there’s an understanding of what it’s going to take to get it to something that can be piloted and then integrated,” Jones said.
Andrew Rovers, Director at Civil Infrastructure Group (CIG), found exhaustive testing essential for building executive and client confidence in his CIGcure rapid concrete curing system. The team invested 15 months in development, anticipating objections before they arose.
“Once we had the information that we could actually show that the system worked on the test, and we made the test as much of a replication of what we were doing as possible, I think everyone started getting on board,” Rovers said.
Brown noted that Worley’s venture board process helps ensure proposals are thoroughly developed.
“People have these great ideas but don’t necessarily bring a lot of systematic form to it. You’ve got to, at some point, bring that rigour around it.”
4. Avoid common pitfalls
The expectation of certainty that serves engineers well in delivery can undermine innovation pitches. Jones said helping engineers feel comfortable with uncertainty is often the biggest shift required.
She gives the example of participants in Smart Seeds, who wanted to know how to get an A-plus or 100 per cent mark on their submissions.
“Innovation does not work that way. There’s no cheat sheet to it.”
Government clients pose particular challenges around risk. Hilton said Aurecon was able to address these concerns through a licensing model that handed Transport for NSW all A-Bridge design documentation, ensuring continuity even if Aurecon no longer existed.
“State government always needs to manage that element of risk,” Hilton said. “[The licensing model] makes sure that a product which is ultimately beneficial to the state is fully available to them.”
Jones points out that innovators shouldn’t face these challenges alone. Innovation teams can play a critical support role, helping refine pitches and challenge assumptions.
“Having that team around them helps them to feel comfortable, and helps bring in those diverse perspectives.”
The pathway from good idea to funded innovation remains challenging. But engineers who understand what executives actually need to hear – and who invest in customer partnerships and rigorous testing – significantly improve their odds of breaking through.
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