From time to time we all come up with a seemingly great idea or innovation. We are excited and we want everyone to share our joy… at least at first. Then reality hits. Our peers are disinterested and seem to be placating us; those above us give us “the look”, and those we talk to below us, they are hoping it doesn’t take too long because they want to get on with their stuff. We have all been through it.
Surprise Resistance
If we press on with our idea, and move forward on our best behavior, we can be quite surprised that those we seek to impress, come back at us with feelings that often seem to be somewhat of an attack.
In big organizations and small, the reality about putting forth innovation is that we are dealing with human beings who have anxieties, contrary opinions, and a constant fear: of what any interaction on something new might do to their standing in the group and in the company. Add to that that most workers carry a basic skepticism about any new ideas. This seems to be universally true regardless of our stature in our company.
Human Dynamics
To bring about change or institute innovation, we have to deal with human dynamics, dynamics that are anything but easy. The simple goal is to take our special innovation and communicate it, get enough people to understand it, support it and then go on and make it happen. This means
- helping people to communicate,
- bringing them around to support your vision, your strategy, your plan, your idea
- gaining buy in – - progressively with more and more recruits at every level and key area, and then
- implementing it. Gaining support is the tough part because of the human dynamic.Counterintuitive to Getting Shot Down
John P. Kotter, Professor Emeritus at Harvard Business School along with co-author Lorne Whitehead in their new book, Buy-In: Saving Your Good Idea from Getting Shot Down, have much to contribute in this matter motivation and human change.
They suggest taking a counterintuitive approach to being an advocate. They suggest starting with a high level of respect and a noble but simple communication of the idea. Expect resistance and then, at that point, “invite the lions in” to critique the idea. This is counterintuitive to our natural instinct to marginalize people who oppose us in the least. Rather, it is far better to embrace the naysayers… and to proceed without judging their reaction and motivations. Knowing their motivation really does not help the process.
Let the Lions In
By letting the lions in, we inevitably create some fire, some conflict, some drama that draws people’s attention. We want that attention, it’s hard to get. It’s like a little explosion that they set off for us. Suddenly people are riveted on us as we are exposed to being attacked. Here is where the respect part comes in: everyone is expecting us to counterattack with data and logic, with our positional authority in the company, and with our corporate IQ.
There are four ways people try to kill ideas and innovation: fear- mongering, delay, confusion, and ridicule. Kotter & Whitehead say we will hear things like:
- Fear- Mongering
- Sounds like [something horrible] to me!
- What’s the hidden agenda here?
- You’re implying that we’ve been failing!
- Your proposal goes too far/doesn’t go far enough.
- Aha! What about THIS? [“this” being a worrisome thing that the proposers know nothing about and the attackers keep secret until just the right moment]
- Tried that before—didn’t work.
- It puts us on a slippery slope.
- We can’t afford this.
- Delay
- People have too many concerns.
- Good idea, but the timing is wrong.
- It’s just too much work to do this.
- You’ll never convince enough people.
- Confusion
- Money [or some other problem a proposal does not address] is the only real issue.
- What about this, and that, and this, and that…?
- You have a chicken and egg problem.
- You can’t have it both ways.
- It’s too difficult to understand.
- It won’t work here. We’re different.
- We’re simply not equipped to do this.
- Ridicule
- We’ve been successful. Why change?
- You exaggerate the problem.
- You’re abandoning our core values.
- It’s too simplistic to work.
- No one else does this.
Now What to Do?
What we do now, at the point of attack is critical. The most effective people, instead of just spraying retaliatory verbal bullets, respond in a way that is, not only respectful, but very short, simple, clear, and filled with common sense. This amounts to inviting enemy in, let him shoot at you, and not shooting back? Exactly. The opposite of respect is shooting back and gaining their respect is what is critical to our process of persuasion.
The Best Way
When we take the higher ground. We’re the one who comes off as the statesman. It puts us in a better position for our people to be sympathetic to our idea, to listen to us, to move toward us emotionally as opposed to away. The battle for the emotional heart is everything; gaining empathy and support through the heart is the fastest way straight through the crud.
To be a stateman for our innovations we need an astonishing talent for communicating in humble, simple and clear ways. This is not dumbing down. Rather it just means being able to find the best way for people to grasp an issue. Often the best way includes telling stories.
Tell Stories
We don’t mean half-hour stories, but short ones about something that’s happened either within our group or historically in the company. We need to integrate stories into everything. The most basic way humans learn is through stories. Our stories aren’t just intellectual stuff. It’s not just data. It’s hitting at an emotional level and in so doing we carry the day for our idea.
Gain Support and Win Respect
So after we let the lions in, Kotter & Whitehead say we can do 5 specific things to gain support and win respect for our cause:
- Don’t push out the troublemakers; let them in and treat them with respect.
- Don’t respond in half-hour speeches that try to drill people into the ground with information, but communicate in ways that are simple, clear.
- Don’t let it get personal, no matter how much you want to lash out.
- Watch the whole group and don’t get hung up on the one guy who’s attacking you, which is very easy to do.
- And the last one is about preparation; don’t wing it: lets spend a few hours of brainstorming with our supporters on potential attacks and responses.
Consider the sample 24 attacks above , asking our self which ones we can imagine coming at you in our company.
If we want to gain support for our innovation we need to strategize like generals and win support like a Abraham, Martin or John.