How to defend ideas at work
How to defend ideas at work and get your listeners buy into them.
Don't you feel miserable each time that oh-so-wonderful idea you thought of, and which you felt would have done your company a world of good if implemented, is shot down at the department meeting by a volley of ifs and buts?
The worth of a professional nowadays is often judged not only by his ability to come up with good ideas, but also to get the key stakeholders to buy into it. It could be the boss whose final nod is needed to start a new project; it could be a client whose approval is required for an action plan since he will be footing the bill. Top movers are those who have the skills to convince others of the efficacy of their plans and ideas.
Planning and being thorough naturally help. Manish Bhatt, Co-Founder and Director of Scarecrow, a communication consultancy, recalls the time he was Creat ive Head at Contract Advertising and helped the agency with its national advertising theme Sunno Dil Ki Aawaz (listen to the heart) for Tata Indicom.
The client wanted a variation of the theme for Gujarat alone, and planned to work with some regional channels to do local versions of the campaign on a shoe-string budget. But Bhatt felt he could do better and, at his own initiative, penned fresh lyrics (inspired by a popular Gujarati war-song). He then got top celebrities to lend their voices to it for almost no cost.
That was when a key difference arose. "I suggested the property should be neutral, and later, if required, we could drive the company association," he says. "But the client was reluctant."
So how was it resolved? Compelling content helped Bhatt have his way. "The popularity of the lyric and the feedback it generated did my job," he says. Bhatt's example speaks for itself. Often, people feel very strongly about their own ideas, and instead of focusing on how to execute the entire plan, get trapped in rebutting the people who oppose them. Many respond with a torrent of information on the subject to bolster their pitch, or make personal attacks on their critics. Both tactics are misplaced. Too much information risks losing the attention of listeners. The second reaction is even worse.
"Don't try to crush an attacker with ridicule," say John P. Kotter and Lorne A. Whitehead in their book Buy-In. "Treating anyone with even a modicum of disrespect risks a backlash… the audience might see you as unfair."
Do also remember that people respond much more to your demeanour than to what you are actually saying. There is a vast amount of research on the subject. Kimberly D. Elsbach, in her article in Harvard Business Review 'How to Pitch a Brilliant Idea' (issue date September 2003) points to a study in the late-1970s by psychologists Nancy Cantor and Walter Mischel, then at Stanford University. Cantor and Mischel demonstrated how people resort to stereotypes - what they called "person prototypes" - to categorise strangers in the first moments of interaction. "Though such instant typecasting is arguably unfair, pattern matching is so firmly hardwired into human psychology that only conscious discipline can counteract it," says Elsbach.
Some old thumb-rules that always work in getting an idea across: sufficient preparation, which should include anticipating possible opposition and formulating responses in advance; relaxed body language while speaking. People generally prefer ideas that seem to be furthering the greater good, rather than those which appear driven by personal agendas.
Of course, it is important to remember you can never convince all the people all the time.
The worth of a professional nowadays is often judged not only by his ability to come up with good ideas, but also to get the key stakeholders to buy into it. It could be the boss whose final nod is needed to start a new project; it could be a client whose approval is required for an action plan since he will be footing the bill. Top movers are those who have the skills to convince others of the efficacy of their plans and ideas.
Shamni Pande
The client wanted a variation of the theme for Gujarat alone, and planned to work with some regional channels to do local versions of the campaign on a shoe-string budget. But Bhatt felt he could do better and, at his own initiative, penned fresh lyrics (inspired by a popular Gujarati war-song). He then got top celebrities to lend their voices to it for almost no cost.
That was when a key difference arose. "I suggested the property should be neutral, and later, if required, we could drive the company association," he says. "But the client was reluctant."
  IDEA KILLERS
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| SUGGESTED READING Buy-In By John P. Kotter & Lorne A. Whitehead |
Do also remember that people respond much more to your demeanour than to what you are actually saying. There is a vast amount of research on the subject. Kimberly D. Elsbach, in her article in Harvard Business Review 'How to Pitch a Brilliant Idea' (issue date September 2003) points to a study in the late-1970s by psychologists Nancy Cantor and Walter Mischel, then at Stanford University. Cantor and Mischel demonstrated how people resort to stereotypes - what they called "person prototypes" - to categorise strangers in the first moments of interaction. "Though such instant typecasting is arguably unfair, pattern matching is so firmly hardwired into human psychology that only conscious discipline can counteract it," says Elsbach.
Some old thumb-rules that always work in getting an idea across: sufficient preparation, which should include anticipating possible opposition and formulating responses in advance; relaxed body language while speaking. People generally prefer ideas that seem to be furthering the greater good, rather than those which appear driven by personal agendas.
Of course, it is important to remember you can never convince all the people all the time.
