Sponsors and other managers play a crucial role in the successful delivery of organisational strategy. Unfortunately the annals of project and organisational failures are littered with examples in which solid, well-intentioned advice fell on deaf ears or was rejected. The relevant information was available, even known, but was not acted upon:

 -  The captain of the Titanic ignored numerous messages warning him of unusually heavy iceberg activity in the

    path of his "unsinkable" ship

 -  The warnings of engineers that the USS Challenger’s o-rings could fail on launch went    unheeded

 -  Concerns expressed about the ultimately fatal damage to the heat deflection tiles on the USS Columbia were dismissed

 -  The employee who approached Enron’s new CEO with evidence of financial misdemeanours was fired

 -  Kennedy deliberately avoided Schlesinger’s contrarian opinion before embarking on the Bay of Pigs fiasco.

These are but some of the more commonly cited examples in a litany of poor decisions made in the face of good advice.

So how do we engage with senior decision-makers in a way that will drive home the messages we are trying to deliver? This is the fundamental question addressed by Act Knowledge director Jürgen Oschadleus in his chapter, "Conversations that Engage: The challenge of advising senior managers", which appears in the newly released Advising Upwards: A Framework for Understanding and Engaging Senior Management Stakeholders.

Edited by Dr Lynda Bourne and published by Ashgate in September 2011, the book brings together the ideas of experts such as Dr David Hillson, Ruth Murray-Webster, Randall L. Englund and Alfonso Bucero, Soon Kheng Khor, Robert Higgins, S. Jonathan Whitty, Arthur Shelley and Bob McGannon. The book covers a range of fields related to engaging senior stakeholders., including risk management, decision-making, understanding cultural considerations, effective communication and other disciplines that may enhance the sustainable engagement of senior stakeholders.

The chapters are littered with case studies and stories to illustrate practical, structured approaches that enable project teams to develop robust relationships with senior stakeholders which will result in them being heard and achieving the successful outcomes their projects require.

The book is available from leading book retailers including Ashgate (the publishers), or directly from the editor, Lynda Bourne – see flyer for special offer.