One of the complaints I often hear from engaged business professionals is that their new ideas, innovations, and change recommendations are unfairly criticized or dismissed without analysis. The result is fewer and fewer new ideas are volunteered by prospective leaders and key team members, and the business suffers from poor customer satisfaction or loss of market share.
In many cases, the ideas may be small ones, such as starting a promotion to kick-start sales on a stalled item, or suggesting a huge strategy move to acquire Netflix and supplement an already healthy Blockbuster DVD rental business. The challenge is for leaders to really listen to their team and the market, and for every team member to anticipate pushbacks and respond effectively.
In my experience as an advisor and mentor, I have assimilated the following most frequent negative reactions from others to your ideas, with my own suggestions and feedback from other experts on how to counter them, build your credibility, and be more productive:
The implementation does not fit the way we do things. This argument is actually not attacking the idea, but shows a generalized resistance to change. Your challenge is to show examples of forward-thinking companies that are ahead by doing things differently. Consider getting the help of outside consultants and advisors to overcome obstacles.
People perceive that this idea has been tried and failed. Your challenge here is to differentiate this situation, or the specifics of your proposed implementation, from others that have gone before you. Find other situations that led to success, or explain why the environment, competition, or opportunity has changed to reduce the risk of failure.
Your idea has unpredictable negative side effects. This usually means that you need more specifics to offset the projected qualms. Here I recommend that you narrow your focus, if possible, and document specifics of impact, cost, and value. Show how your specific implementation plan will include antidotes to offset potential side effects.
Your proposal is dismissed as being too risky. Rather than trying to argue defensively that the risk in minimal, you should focus on quantifying the potential reward. Do your own research and gather supporting facts, rather than firing back with emotion and gut feel. Input from outside experts and real customers is always a credibility booster.
In addition, you may need to remind your leaders that doing nothing also has the risk, of loosing to competitors and new customer needs. Make sure they see the difference between your smart risk, which can be managed, and bad risks, which have no recourse.
The suggested change won’t create desired results. The best response to this qualm is to fashion an experiment to demonstrate at least a small change in the right direction. Show that the time and resources to do a trial are manageable, and the potential results are well work the effort. Incremental small experiments can easily be scaled into success.
In fact, Jeff Bezos of Amazon credits much of their growth and success to incenting regular change experiments. Bezos believes that if you double the number of experiments you do, you’re going to double your agility, and outpace your competitors.
You don’t have the domain experience for credibility. The best counter to this criticism is to do your homework with third-party resources to find similar ideas that worked in related domains, and get expert validation to support you. If you sense a challenge to your leadership, ask for an opportunity to bring in outside domain experts.
We don’t have the funding for any changes right now. Blaming the budget or the current state of the business for not considering any new ideas is a head-in-the-sand excuse. Your response at this point must be a factual, not emotional, analysis of the cost versus benefit of your idea. Show how costs are containable, and returns come quickly.
Your idea is opposed by people with a hidden agenda. The best strategy here is to surface the ulterior motives without being defensive or letting emotion get the best of you. Use your relationships with trusted leaders to highlight specific value to customers and to the company, while pointing out hidden agendas and ask leaders for their support.
I believe a steady stream of innovative new business ideas and changes is the key to long-term business success, as well as your career growth, so don’t give up on bringing ideas forward and customizing your sales approach to beat common rejections and pushbacks. True business leaders will listen to all ideas, and appreciate your contributions to long-term business success.
Marty Zwilling
*** First published on Inc.com on 11/7/2022 ***
https://blog.startupprofessionals.com/20...s-and.html
