According to the 2011 “State of Talent Management” report by the New Talent Management Network, gaining the CEO’s and senior team’s support is the most critical lever in talent management. As any talent practitioner can testify, the difference between a CEO who understands talent and one who doesn’t is often the difference between sustained success and talent processes that fade over time. When the CEO models the right behaviors — holding regular talent reviews, teaching in leadership courses, doing performance reviews on time — it sends a clear signal that these are important activities. When he or she is also willing to hold leaders accountable for growing great talent, the organization is on its way to being a talent factory.

However, having a yet-to-be-enlightened CEO or executive team doesn’t excuse anyone from building great talent. A fundamental part of the talent manager’s role is convincing executives to support the talent strategy. A few tactics you might find effective are:

The financial appeal: To convince certain leaders to invest in talent-building practices requires a strong financial case showing a clear, monetary payback. That’s a high hurdle for most talent practices, and making your argument persuasive requires a realistic financial assessment of the benefits. One way to get there is to use actual company examples that suggest a fast and real return on investment.

For example, you could say: “Last year we delayed starting our business in country X because we didn’t have the right general manager available. The delay meant $30 million in lost revenue — $5 million a month for six months. We will face the same situation in country Y this year and country Z next year unless we can develop better general managers, faster. If we can develop just two more general managers a year, we could start $5 million to $10 million in revenue flow up to six months earlier.”

Another method is to state a problem you know the executive agrees with. For example: “Robert really needs to manage his team better if we ever hope to get factory X up to full capacity.” Ask the executive what he would pay if he could magically correct Robert’s behaviors. Propose a solution that costs half that number.

There are some practices that don’t lend themselves to easy financial analysis. For those, it is up to the CEO’s judgment. If he or she doesn’t see the value, no argument will be persuasive enough.

The personal appeal: We can each reflect on our career and identify our one or two most powerful developmental experiences. Unless these were painful, we likely feel some variant of that experience would also benefit other leaders. Use these experiences to your advantage when trying to convince a reluctant executive to support a program or process. Did the CEO have an overseas assignment that was critical to his or her career? Use that fact to propose more leaders getting developmental assignments. Did he or she have a valued mentor? Great — now you say, “We need you, Mr. or Mrs. CEO, to share your wisdom with this high-potential leader so he or she will grow up to be a great leader like you.”

The competitive appeal: Appeal to your hyper-competitive executives that the competition is leaving them in the dust. “Did you see that article where CEO Smith talked about his company’s talent reviews building better leaders than the competition?”

If you don’t believe this works, ask yourself how many companies have one or more corporate processes they blindly copied from GE just because of its reputation. The only caution here is if your company has completely outflanked the competition, your executives won’t be impressed by what runner-ups are doing.

The bottom line is if your CEO or senior team doesn’t understand the talent function, it’s your job to enlighten them. If, after repeated effort, you find you’re not able to convince them, then either they aren’t going to get it or your ability to influence senior executives isn’t sufficient. In either case, it suggests you’re in an environment where you’re not set up for success.

Marc Effron is president of The Talent Strategy Group and author of One Page Talent Management. He can be reached at editor@talentmgt.com.