Challenge the comfortable status quo and others resist. However, resistance tests new ideas; it’s healthy. You need to demonstrate and defend their worth.
It takes courage to push through and wisdom to push back without pushing away.
Insecure leaders give in and go along when they experience push back. Unwise leaders create either/or situations; either you’re with me or you’re against me.
Both options:
- Fail to inspire forward movement.
- Create frustration.
- Divert energy and focus.
8 Ways to introduce new ideas:
- Begin with principles rather than positions. Positional discussions place participants on one side of a discussion or the other. You’re either for or against. Begin by embracing clearly articulated business strategies. We’re committed to enhance efficiency, for example. Find agreement by agreeing on big principles, first.
- Include others in the discussion as early and frequently as possible.
- Call everyone to defend new ideas before resisting them. Give them legs before cutting them down. Snap decisions end explorations and curtail curiosity.
- Let others take your idea in new directions. Give them ownership.
- Don’t discuss implementation until new ideas have value. It’s a mistake to use implantation challenges to kill new ideas. Take a “let’s find a way” approach. Don’t ignore implementation issues; postpone them for the sake of discussion.
- Make discussions about ideas not you.
- Bring new ideas to life alongside existing programs. Give them time to prove themselves before minimizing or eliminating what exists. Avoid demonizing the present, when possible.
- Honor what is rather than attacking it. Attacking creates adversaries that resist progress.
Your great ideas languish and die unless you foster collaborative environments that include rather than exclude others.
How can leaders effectively move ideas from introduction to implementation?
