How to Make a Decision and Present Your Recomendations

Your supervisor has asked you to make a decision about which of the four investment options you will recommend to the CEO and Board of Directors and then present that decision to the Board in a 15-minute PowerPoint presentation. In her email, she also mentioned several key pieces of information that you should include in your presentation.

This step-by-step will walk you through making your decision, as well as preparing and presenting your recommendation.

Prepare for the Task

1. Review the email from Ms. Vincent. Make sure that you understand what you are being asked to do in the task. Specifically, be sure you are clear about the issues she would like you to cover in your final presentation. If you have any questions about the task, please contact your mentor.



2. Organize your team. Work together with your team to create a plan for accomplishing the goals of this task. You can use any strategy you like for completing the work. As you prepare your presentation, however, keep in mind that each team member should be responsible for a portion of the presentation.

There is a lot of work to be completed in this task. Review the subheadings in the step-by-step for a guide to help you organize and plan your work.

Make Your Decision

1. Gather all the pieces of analysis you have completed during this project. An important part of making a decision will be reviewing and discussing all the work you have done to this point. Gather together all the deliverables you have created during this rotation, including:
   
   
   
   1. The decision-making framework compiled in Task 2.
   
   
   
   2. Completed financial analysis spreadsheets for each investment proposal.
   
   
   
   3. Any graphs or tables you created.
   
   
   
   4. The descriptions you wrote at the end of each task detailing process and results.
   
   
   
2. Review the framework you created in Task 2. In order to make a decision you need a clear sense of what’s important to the client. Review your notes and Task 2 deliverables and make sure you remember their goals and priorities.



3. Consider each option in order to make a decision.
   1. Review the results of your financial analysis for each investment proposal. Working task-by-task, review each step of the financial analysis you conducted. Discuss the results of the analyses with your team. As you review each piece, think about which of the four investment options emerges as the “winner.”
   
   
   
   2. In your role as a consultant, you are being asked to determine what’s best for your client. Are you using criteria they gave to you (your framework) or are you using your own reasoning to make the decision?
   
   
   
4. Determine which option you will recommend. As a team, decide which option you will recommend to your client. Think carefully about whether or not your decision fits the framework you outlined in Task 2.



5. Document the reasoning that supports your decision. You may not agree with the reasoning of your client. You may decide to recommend an option that doesn’t appear to support your client’s goals and priorities. If your decision doesn’t follow the logic outlined in your framework, be prepared to present your justification to your client. What criteria or benefits make it worth pursuing an investment opportunity that doesn’t necessarily fall in line with how they perceive their goals?
   
   
   
   
   1. As part of your decision, outline the benefits of the project you plan to recommend. Specifically discuss:
      
      
      
      1. Why this project is your top choice.
      
      
      
      2. How it supports the framework you created based on the hospitals goals OR if it doesn’t outline your justification for recommending this option anyway.
      
      
      
   2. Outline the risks or potential downfalls of the decision. Specifically consider:
      
      
      1. Is there any risk involved with the decision?
      
      
      
      2. Upon whose risk tolerance are you basing your decision? Is it a level of risk you feel comfortable with or one your client would feel comfortable with?
      
      
      
   3. For more help putting together your outline, review the Developing an Outline Skill Tutorial.

Prepare Presentation

1. Construct a presentation outline based on all the materials you have developed. As you develop your outline, you should:
   
   
   
   • Review your supervisor’s email for the information she has specifically asked to be included in your presentation.
   
   
   
   • Organize the information you have developed throughout this rotation. Think about what belongs in the introduction, body and conclusion of the presentation.
   
   
   
   • Focus on information that will emphasize why your recommendation is the right choice for the hospital.

Tip: as you create your outline, remember your team will only have 15 minutes to present. That sounds like a long time, but it will actually go quickly, so choose the material you will present carefully.

• For more help creating your presentation you may want to review the following resources:
  • Preparing for a Presentation Skill Tutorial
  
  
  
  • Making Presentations/Speaking resources in the General Skills Resources for this rotation.

2. Review your outline. Make sure it:
   
   
   1. Recommends an investment project to fund.
   
   
   
   2. Explains why you made the choice you did and offers information to support your decision.
   
   
   
   3. Includes enough detail to help your audience understand your choice.
   
   
   
3. Using your outline as a guide, create a PowerPoint presentation. Determine the best way to show the information you will be presenting.
   
   
   
   1. Decide on a formatting style and apply it consistently on your slides. Keep in mind that you have already created tables and graphs that will help your client understand your analysis. Be sure to incorporate these into your presentation if they help support the points you are trying to make.
   
   
   
   2. For help additional help creating your PowerPoint Presentation, review the Preparing for a Presentation Skill Tutorial.
   
   
   
4. Determine which team members will give which portion of the presentation. All team members should participate and give some part of the presentation.

Rehearse Presentation

1. Practice your presentation as a team. This is your opportunity to fine-tune your presentation. As you practice, be thinking about:
   
   
   
   1. Whether or not the information you are presenting is making your point. Do you need to explain something in more detail or are you offering too much information on a specific point?
   
   
   
   2. Is the presentation flow working? Are you presenting the material in an order that will make sense to your audience?
   
   
   
   3. Was everyone able to present his/her assigned section comfortably? Do any team members need more help understanding their material or figuring out exactly what they should say during their part of the presentation?
   
   
   
   4. Discuss your observations with your team. Each time you practice your presentation take a few minutes to discuss the run through with your team. Talk about the points above and any other issues you need to address.
   
   
   

Keep in mind that you may need to practice your presentation several times before you will really be fully prepared and know if the presentation is working or not. You may want to try new examples or new ways of explaining things each time your practice.





2. Determine whether your presentation meets the time limit give to you by your supervisor. Designate someone to keep track of your time as you practice.




3. Finalize your presentation. After you have practiced your presentation several times and have a good idea about what is working in your presentation and what isn’t, make any necessary revisions.



4. Continue practicing your presentation, as time allows. The more you practice, the more comfortable you will become.

Give Final Presentation

Teams participating in this rotation will give their presentations to one another. During those presentations, please keep the following in mind:

1. When you are giving your presentation:
   
   
   
   1. Your mentor and your classmates are likely to have questions for your team. Pay close attention to their questions and answer them as thoroughly as you can based on the research and analysis you have completed.
   
   
   
   2. If you get stuck answering a question, find a constructive way to handle the situation. Your teammates may be able to join in and help you respond, or you may simply have to acknowledge the question, but say you don’t know. Never simply make up an answer!
   
   
   
2. When you are listening to other people present, think about the following questions to guide your analysis of other presentations:
   
   
   
   1. Which investment proposal is the team recommending?
   
   
   
   2. What points are they using to support their decision?
   
   
   
   3. Which parts of the presentations do you understand? Which parts were confusing or needed more development?
   
   
   
   4. How does their analysis compare to the analysis your team conducted?
   
   
   
3. When you are offering feedback to other presenters:
   
   
   
   1. Be constructive and not just critical. Think about the following when offering feedback to other teams.
      
      
      
      1. Before offering your feedback, check your own understanding of the presenter’s intention by saying, “Here’s what I hear your saying…was that right?” Give the person a chance to respond. This is a non-threatening way to begin. Note that when you clarify in this way you should not evaluate anything; you should simply state that you have understood. Then after clarifying, pose your question or challenge.
      
      
      
      2. It can be helpful to mention something you like about the presentation before pointing out weaknesses. Then, do your best to explain why a certain claim worked, while another did not. For example, you might say “Was there other evidence that led to that claim?” or “That did no make a clear connection to your main point.”
      
      
      
   2. Consider the question and answer session a shared experience for the group. It should not be an attack on anyone’s ideas or presentation.
   
   
   
   3. Be sure to share any positive reaction you had after listening to the presentation.
   
   
   

Ask the Expert

What are hospital administrators looking for in a presentation from a consultant?

What do hospital administrators look for in a presentation from a consultant?

The CEO and hosptial executives will be looking for evidence that the consultants grasp the CEO’s needs, the organization’s interests and dynamics (read that as “politics”) and the organization’s capabilities. The consultant has an opportunity to help people agree, to build consensus. It is rather like getting all your friends to agree on which movie to see. A consultant can help identify the alternatives that match with needs, interests, time and funds available. It allows a CEO to participate more fully in offering both insights and opinions.