See a version of the pitch deck Senior HR Director Kirsty Charlton used to secure executive buy-in and investment for a new incubator-style team at PepsiCo Australia and New Zealand.
In AHRI’s new video series, The Pitch, we ask HR leaders to walk us through versions of the presentation they used to get an idea over the line with the board, executive team or the workforce.
In this first episode, Kirsty Charlton, Senior HR Director at PepsiCo ANZ, walks viewers through her collaborative approach to securing investment to build a new incubator team to increase speed to market. Watch the video below.
The background
The very robust structures and ways of working which make PepsiCo a well-oiled machine were inadvertently holding the organisation back from moving with the agility and speed needed to remain competitive in a constantly evolving consumer landscape, says Charlton.
“We were watching other global markets prototype ideas and operate with incredible agility, bringing new products and ideas to market with pace. Yet we were still feeling caught up in our own internal operating rhythm.”
Realising that they needed to create a channel to incubate, test, fail and scale outside of the core business, the team adopted an approach proven effective by a European consultancy – building out a secondary autonomous company under the corporate umbrella.
Charlton was brought in as an equal partner from day one and, working closely with the CFO, crafted both a compelling vision and story to get the idea over the line.
Advice for pitching your own idea
Drawing upon her experience, Charlton advises HR leaders in a similar position to take the following steps:
1. Reach out to your network whenever you’re testing out something new
Charlton: See how you can learn from others who have already been there before you.
In the discovery phase, we came across a European consultancy that partnered with multiple other global FMCG companies, just like ours, to build out secondary autonomous companies under their corporate umbrella.
Then, I worked closely with our CFO and strategy lead to define the boundaries of play by considering different venturing models.
2. Frame the opportunity in a way that resonates with key stakeholders
Charlton: This demonstrates your commercial acumen and ability to translate challenges outside of your area of expertise. This will build both your credibility and your capability.
As we started to prepare the content for the presentation, we worked to build out both a compelling vision and a compelling story.
The first slide we presented was the opportunity statement. In order to truly accelerate growth in an unconstrained way, we need to step out of the day-to-day, have dedicated focus on the opportunity and deliver with speed.
For the second slide, we focused on the bigger picture, looking at three key components: human centricity, leveraging external expertise and using this as an opportunity to stretch our internal talent.
3. Lay the groundwork and consider the vision you’re trying to sell
Charlton: We shared the vision by explaining how we wanted to differentiate this incubator team, where we were going from, and where we were going to. For example, this team would move from focusing on core business growth to nurturing new opportunities outside of our core.
We would go from having scarce and restricted resources not fully focused on these new opportunities to having a dedicated team working to make decisions and autonomy from our core business.
Ask yourself: What’s the current status? What problems are you trying to solve? What are the changes required to be successful, and how does this proposal solve for these?
Telling an impactful story will always help to keep your audience engaged.
4. Always consider how you’re going to fund your project
Charlton: Lots of organisations are under financial pressure right now, but are still keen to reinvest for growth. So, playing a proactive role and demonstrating how you can do this is truly valuable.
Proposing options for how this project can be funded shows both commercial acumen and ability to make proactive, forward-looking decisions.
We committed to a self-funding model – we repurposed and reallocated existing roles to create an independent team, demonstrating our absolute commitment to this project. We weren’t asking for funding – we were simply asking for their support to lean in and try something new.
5. Consider how you sell return on investment when it’s not an obvious financial metric
Charlton: If a new capability speeds up a process, how many hours have been saved? Consider both lead and lag indicators, and how you can use data to show trends, patterns, and correlations between the two.
By the end of these discussions, we had a clear vision of what this unit would look like, what it would be responsible for, and how it would operate. The new team lead was appointed within a matter of months, and the full team was in place shortly afterwards.
🧰 HR’s career resource toolkit
- Learn: AHRI’s People Analytics & Insights – Foundations Course can help enhance your ability to tell the story behind HR data.
- Network: Want to build a HR circle who can help you test your ideas? Register for an AHRI networking event.
- Watch: Interested in seeing more insightful case studies like this one? Subscribe to AHRI’s YouTube Channel.
