The world lives in sound bites. You have to be very clear and help people connect the dots. You have to remind them why you are talking about this issue. Why it’s important to the future. Now we are at A or B. Draw the correlation. What will it take to get to C or D?

The changes envisioned would not only increase accountability, they would create greater transparency and adaptability—making it possible for the organization to become more nimble and take advantage of opportunities to grow its market share. The explicit connection Hannah made between resources and future possibilities secured her the resources she needed.

Whether you are dealing with new systems or new organizational structures or a problem area that needs to be turned around, the link to strategic objectives supplies a critical rationale for diverting scarce resources to the effort. It also goes a long way toward preventing your requests from being characterized as self-serving.