Getting an Idea Over the Finish Line

So, as you’re proposing all these ideas, I would imagine that along the way, you’ve encountered some resistance from time to time. So how do you proceed in those cases?

To me, it’s important to be very open to listening to the resistance. You need to understand what it is that they’re concerned about. They likely have valid reasons to be concerned. So, to me, I take that as an opportunity to truly understand what it is that they’re not sold on.
What is it about the idea that they think is not fully fleshed out? And I take that feedback and I sort of, again, I process that information. Okay, did I account for the thing that they think I did not account for?
Did I not consider some aspect of this that I should have? And so, I sort of process that. I then adjust my idea if needed because they may have had very valid feedback that I need to incorporate into how I’m thinking about something.
And if not, then I go back to them with: “Here’s how I listened, here’s the sort of way I process the info, but I still don’t think that’s as big of a concern and here’s why.” So, I think I try to keep it as much as I can to a dialogue.
And then you also try and make sure you have allies that may be supporting the idea, who can give you some insights or support as well to get some of the naysayers along on the journey. And at some point, I think it’s important to say if the concern is we don’t have enough information, you’re never going to have enough information.
I think if you wait until you have 100% of the info you need to know, you’re going to be too late to making decisions. I think there’s an important aspect of here’s an idea, here is sort of the rough kind of information, amount of information, I think we need before we make a decision.
And I think over the last few years, what I also lean on is this is something that we will iterate on over time. I am not sort of pitching something that is going to be massively unchangeable or adaptable or something that we cannot learn from and change as we go. So that mindset of continuous improvement and iteration we will learn, adapt and be resilient to changing our approaches is something that I also try and bake into these things so people don’t feel like they’re stuck to something and they’re not going to be able to change it at all.
So those are some additional things I’ve tried and done when there’s been a lot of resistance. And I would say that those have had some pretty good success rates in getting that over the finish line.