Moving from idea to reality
From PLN
Moving from idea to reality
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Great ideas aren't limited to leaders--but it takes a leader to move a notion from idea to reality. Items here are mostly excerpted from outside the library field by Leslie Dillon, as part of Leader's Digest
The art of woo: selling your ideas
Are you tired of having your ideas shot down?
Well, according to Mario Moussa and G. Richard Shell, authors of The Art of Woo: Using Strategic Persuasion to Sell Your Ideas, “effective persuasion is about ‘pull,’ not ‘push’.” You need to frame your idea “in terms of how it will meet the other party’s interests and needs.”
The article focuses on two of their four-steps to persuasion:
- Turning barriers into bridges. This involves your credibility with the other person; your relationship with them; your ability to position the idea as having value and as appealing to the other person’s interests; and how you communicate the idea along the other person’s preferred communication channels.
- Making your pitch. Make it simple and memorable. Keep your audience awake and engaged. Concisely define the problem and identify its cause(s). Explain how your idea solves the problem and list the benefits. Personalize your argument so that it has emotional appeal to your audience.
The article includes a great check list to help you prepare to sell an idea. It’s definitely worth reading, and it’s only 3 pages! Send it around to your staff too.
(Christina Bielaszka-Duvernay, "Take a strategic approach to persuasion," Harvard Management Update, Jul. 1, 2008.)
Ten ways to help your staff "get it done"!
Many employees believe that their organizations fail to execute their strategic plans. You can change that attitude by establishing some concrete “steps to create a ‘get it done’ culture.”
Human resource consultant and executive, Richard Lepsinger, lists ten ways to inspire your staff to execute strategy.
- Begin with a plan. “A solid plan can immensely improve the efficiency with which a project is carried out.” A plan facilitates coordination of activities, helps avoid duplication of effort, and lets employees set priorities and meet deadlines. Of course, plans need to be flexible.
- Align and coordinate plans across the organization. A common problem is that one department implements an initiative that’s incompatible with other parts of the organization.
- Clarify, clarify, clarify. People need to understand what they’re supposed to do and when to do it. Unfortunately, “managers tend to assume that employees automatically understand what needs to be done, … [and] some leaders may simply believe they are too busy to spell things out.”
- Establish clear expectations. “[S]pecific objectives guide effort toward the most productive activities, and challenging objectives tend to energize a higher level of effort.” Also set goals “even for those things that can’t be easily measured.”
- Monitor entrepreneurial-minded employees. But don’t micromanage them. “Employees who take individual initiative and do an effective job with little direction are the gems” of your organization.
- Don’t shoot the messenger. Encourage staff to share bad news. People will hesitate to inform you if they’re afraid of “looking incompetent or receiving an angry outburst.”
- Balance careful analysis of a problem and decisive action to solve it. Move quickly to deal with problems, but be sure to “come up with the right remedies before taking action…” Ineffective solutions can make things worse, not better.
- Keep decisions close to the action. Ensure “that decisions are being made with the best information in order to receive quick, valuable responsiveness.” Reorganization isn’t necessarily the answer. “The key is to determine what processes and work would benefit from centralization or decentralization.”
- Facilitate spontaneous interaction among employees. “Your employees’ informal relationships are vital. Connecting with a colleague ‘in the moment’ when handling a problem or new information is essential for execution.”
- Transform performance management into a business tool. Doing so will ensure that “goals are aligned across levels and work units,” help people know what’s expected of them and let leaders “monitor progress.” And remember, performance management is ongoing, not just “an end-of-the-year review.”
“One day you’ll look around and realize your mission statement actually rings true—and that’s one of the best feelings you’ll ever have as a leader.”
(Richard Lepsinger, "10 ways you can help your employees 'get it done' every day," Sales & Marketing Management’s ManageSmarter, Aug. 11, 2008.)
Real leaders negotiate
Leadership often requires negotiation, and good leaders are invariably effective negotiators. Some of the people you lead will be smarter and sometimes more powerful than you. Getting such people to follow you requires that you “appeal to their interests, communicate with them effectively, and sell your vision.” This article draws on ideas explored by the author in his book Leading Leaders: How to Manage Smart, Talented, Rich, and Powerful People (Amacom, 2005). He discusses “how to increase your ability to leverage three key aspects of negotiation—interests, voice, and vision."
- Practice interest-based leadership. If you believe that your charisma, position, or vision is sufficient to make people to follow you, you’ll fail. People follow leaders when they believe it’s in their best interest to do so.
- Find the right leadership voice. Shape your communications to meet individual concerns, interests, and styles.
- Negotiate a vision for your organization. To set a group’s course, its leaders must forge “a single vision out of the multiplicity of visions held by the group’s members.” Articulating that vision requires negotiation--”in particular, multilateral negotiation, which usually requires intensive, face-to-face coalition building.”
(Jeswald Salacuse, “Real leaders negotiate,” Harvard Management Update, June 2007.)
Negotiating outcomes
A recent book from Harvard Business School Press might be worth your time. Negotiating Outcomes is said to offer immediate solutions to common management challenges. Per the blurb advertising it on the Harvard Business Online web site:
- Negotiation is the process by which people resolve their differences. Whether those differences involve the purchase of a new automobile, a labor contract dispute, the terms of a sale, or a complex alliance between two companies, resolutions are typically sought through negotiations. This guide will help you prepare, conduct, and close a negotiation successfully.
Related articles
- Speaking up, keeping quiet and listening - Directly related notes on when and how to speak up.
- Different ways of dealing with obstacles - A variety of inspirations for moving things along.
- We got trouble... - an overview for articles on internal difficulties.
- Problematic management - notes on difficulties in managerial style and performance.
- Problematic communication and behavior - a range of notes on communication issues.
