(Working with Executives): How do teams engage their executive leadership teams as it relates to their Portfolios? What do feedback loops look like?
Synthesized by ChatGPT then edited and enhanced by Te Wu.
Specific contributors include:
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- Cédric Kahl
- Cristina Niculescu
- David Vincenti
- Kris Sprague
- Todd Generotzke
- Anonymous
Effective engagement between portfolio teams and executive leadership is both an art and a discipline. While no single approach fits all organizations, successful portfolio management hinges on tailored, data-informed communication strategies and structured governance mechanisms.
At its core, executive engagement must be underpinned by relevance and reciprocity. Teams must curate insights that go beyond operational reporting, delivering strategic data and insights on financial performance, risk exposure, customer sentiment, and innovation opportunities. Dashboards and tailored reports should be presented with clarity, ensuring executives can quickly discern the portfolio’s health and make informed trade-offs.
Quarterly portfolio reviews with the Executive Leadership Team (ELT) serve as crucial touchpoints for aligning on overarching strategy, evaluating investment decisions, and fostering transparency. These reviews should be complemented by bimonthly or monthly governance meetings that delve into tactical execution, enabling teams to respond to shifting priorities and real-time feedback.
Moreover, portfolio managers should play a pivotal role in governance processes—acting as interpreters between strategy and execution. By participating in sponsor committees or steering groups, they provide critical context for decision-making, ensuring that adjustments in scope, cost, or timing are evaluated through the lens of the broader portfolio.
Importantly, organizations must allow room for teams to cultivate their own operational identity. Empowering teams to shape how they interact with executives—within the bounds of an overarching governance framework—fosters ownership and responsiveness. Feedback loops, whether formal or informal, should be embedded within these structures, driving continuous improvement and sustained alignment.
Ultimately, knowing your executive audience is key. Understanding their focus areas, communication preferences, and strategic priorities enables portfolio professionals to craft messages that resonate and prompt meaningful dialogue. Strategic collaboration—including executive participation in high-value client meetings—further reinforces the portfolio’s relevance to the business agenda.
In high-performing organizations, portfolio management is not a back-office function. It is a dynamic interface between delivery and strategy—one that thrives on disciplined communication, collaborative governance, and a culture of feedback.
Contribution by: Cédric Kahl
In addition to periodic or ad-hoc portfolio reviews with executive leadership (which provide both backward- and forward-looking analysis) some organizations establish a high-level project governance body, similar to a sponsor committee. This body is responsible for key decision-making at stage gates or in cases of significant deviations to the project contract (eg: cost, forecasted revenue, scope, time,…).
It is critical for the portfolio manager to be actively involved in these governance processes to provide context on how proposed decisions will impact the broader portfolio. This ensures that trade-offs are understood, risks are balanced, and decisions are aligned with strategic priorities. In this way, the portfolio manager serves as a key feedback conduit between operational execution and executive strategy.
Contribution by: Cristina Niculescu
It is important to give relevant data for our Executives, data that offers them information about the status of a portfolio in terms of financial health, risks, and customer feedbacks. Based on this data, a recurrent executive review meeting is needed to share this information, but also to gather feedback from them on this shared data. Also is important to engage executives in a strategic collaboration with the customers, participating in high-value client meetings to discuss with their peers various strategies aspects. Do not forget to share to your executives ideas of operational improvements, or innovation opportunities.
Contribution by: David Vincenti
This is very team dependent. There are as many ways as there are teams. Good execs and PMOs will provide rooms for teams to develop their own character and coach them through executive engagement.
Contribution by: Kris Sprague
Teams can engage executive leadership on portfolios by utilizing feedback loops that involve regular communication, analysis, and action.
This includes gathering feedback from executives, analyzing it to identify actionable insights, implementing changes based on the feedback, and then evaluating the impact of those changes.
These loops can be formal or informal, and they should be integrated into the project management framework to ensure alignment with project deliverables.
Contribution by: Todd Generotzke
Tying back to the previous question, keeping the ELT engaged is key to garnering their continued support for a Portfolio Management practice.
Knowing the culture and the organization to keep the ELT engaged can be a formal process or an art form.
At a minimum, quarterly Portfolio views should be planned to discuss the portfolio health, the overall strategy and investment tradeoffs.
Additionally, having a monthly governance meeting to provide tactical updates and review portfolio dashboards is essential. Making sure that the ELT feedback is understood and responded to in a timely fashion is critical.
Contribution by: Anonymous
Teams should engage executives by delivering monthly reports containing dashboards and insights. Present quarterly or annual long-term plans for review and approval given constraints. Top level executive engagement should be at least quarterly. Generally, you need to know your audience, what they want to focus on and what level to present information at. Collect feedback from a portfolio sponsor that participates in the meetings and adjust accordingly.