Solution room: getting senior stakeholders to say yes

Speakers:

James Westwood-Beere - Chief People Officer at Lifeways Group

Nicola Marshall - People Director at Welcome Break

Therese Procter - FinWell Chair & Global Advisor at Stream

Five key takeaways

1. Start with the real problem, not the product
   Both speakers framed the case around workforce reality: financial stress, debt exposure, and productivity loss. The winning argument was not “let’s launch a platform,” it was “let’s solve a clear business and people problem.”
2. Senior buy-in depends on audience-specific framing
   Different stakeholders need different answers:
3. • Finance: risk, exposure, ROI, cost control
   • Legal/NED: governance, ethics, safeguards
   • Payroll/Operations: practical implementation, process impact
     The advice was to prepare for each lens before the pitch.
3. Use workforce evidence to challenge leadership assumptions
   A standout example was Welcome Break’s survey result: 96% of hourly-paid colleagues wanted to stay on weekly pay. This kind of internal data makes the conversation real and helps shift senior decision-makers from opinion to evidence.
4. Governance and guardrails unlock confidence
   Lifeways highlighted that objections are often about responsibility and risk, not intent. Progress came from clear controls like capped access, affordability checks, and staged rollout. The board conversation became “can we govern this responsibly?” rather than “is this a good idea in theory?”
5. Think big on impact, make the decision path simple
   A strong closing principle from the panel: keep the ambition high, but make the next decision easy. Build alignment early, answer the “yes, but” questions in advance, and keep momentum through practical next steps rather than one big all-or-nothing ask.

Summary

This session focused on a practical challenge for HR, Reward, Payroll, and People leaders: how to secure senior stakeholder buy in for financial wellbeing initiatives.

The core message was that success is less about the idea itself and more about how clearly you define the problem, align to stakeholder priorities, and demonstrate responsible governance.

Nicola Marshall shared Welcome Break's context, including a predominantly hourly paid population and weekly payroll model. A key insight was that employee preference did not always match leadership assumptions, with very strong employee support for staying on weekly pay. Her case for financial wellbeing support was built around frontline reality: money worries do not stay outside the workplace and directly affect focus, stress, and engagement.

James Westwood-Beer shared Lifeways' approach in social care, where financial stress and workforce stability are deeply linked to service quality. He described a governance first route to approval: allowing boards to ask difficult questions, addressing concerns around risk and ethics directly, and proving controls were proportionate. The framing moved from product promotion to a leadership question: can we govern this responsibly and improve outcomes for colleagues and the people they support.

The panel highlighted recurring barriers in approval processes, including assumptions at senior level, legal and finance concerns, and uncertainty around exposure. Their combined advice was to tailor the case by stakeholder type and to start with a focused next step that is easy to approve.

Recommended next steps

• Define the business problem first, before discussing specific solutions
• Build the case around workforce reality, using employee evidence and lived experience
• Segment your stakeholder map and tailor your pitch for HR, Finance, Payroll, Operations, CEO, and NED audiences
• Prepare clear responses to risk, legal, governance, and implementation questions in advance
• Use pilot or phased rollout options to reduce decision friction and build confidence
• Equip line managers, not only HR, since employees often seek support through trusted local relationships
• Keep the ambition long term, but make each approval decision simple and low friction

Bottom line

Senior buy in is won through relevance, credibility, and governance discipline. The teams that succeed are the ones that translate financial wellbeing from a good idea into a clear operational and strategic decision that leaders can confidently say yes to.