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Have you ever felt this way? You’ve got great ideas. You care deeply. And you’re frustrated. Why is no one picking up what you’re putting down? Don’t give up. Take a careful look at your idea in the context of your other behaviors and interactions with your team.
You鈥檙e Under-Invested
If you want your idea to gain traction, start with talking about what you’re doing to help.
“Here’s what I’ve already done to get us started.”
“Here are five ways I can help.”
“Here are some additional resources I can contribute.”
You鈥檝e got a Track Record of Great Ideas 鈥� For Everyone Else
You’re all ideas—no action. No one wants to listen to the guy creating a lot of extra work for them to implement. Build a strong reputation of contributing to other people’s ideas first.
You鈥檙e Apologizing for Your Idea
Sounds crazy, right? And yet it happens all the time. 鈥淭his is probably a dumb idea 鈥︹�� 鈥淚鈥檓 sorry but 鈥︹��
You鈥檙e聽Too Gung Ho
What? Did Karin Hurt the聽鈥済ung ho鈥� queen聽just say that? Why, yes I did. Don鈥檛 shoot yourself in the foot by being overly emotional or so passionate people wonder what you put in your oatmeal that morning.
You鈥檝e Under-Invested in Peer Relationships
Boy, did I have to learn this one the hard way.聽In my early career, I had a few ideas that I knew were just brilliant. How do I know they were good? A few years later when I鈥檇 built strong trusting relationships I tried something almost identical, and people were lining up to help.
If you want folks to come along, work hard to get along. Invest in 颅prioritizing your peers and the next time you look around there will be more people by your side ready to listen. Of course, the side benefit is that if the whole gang鈥檚 all in, your boss will be much more eager to listen.
Your ideas matter. Positioning them takes practice, but it鈥檚 worth it.
Karin Hurt is a keynote speaker, top leadership consultant and CEO of Let’s Grow Leaders. Learn more about her at .
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