Steps to get your ideas heard
Photo by Greg Rakozy on Unsplash
Have you ever pitched an amazing idea? Only to see it dismissed or have it fail to generate the excitement you expected? I certainly have. Afterwards maybe you get the feeling that the idea was never that good anyway. Or you think, “how could the recipients be so naive to not understand the positive impacts this idea brings?”
I noticed some people in the organisation seem to get more ideas over the line than others, which made me think that there are other factors involved. This article is focused on one aspect: how well the idea is being pitched. Just because you are an employee it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t consider that your idea still needs to be sold. If you are serious about your idea, then you need to take it seriously. I recently finished reading Made to Stick by Dan & Chip Heath. (link to Audible). The book provides a simple and structured framework that helps you get more ideas across the line.
Made to Stick presents 6 principles you can use to improve your pitch. You would not apply all 6 principles to a quick idea in the middle of a meeting. But you might use 1-2 of the principles on the fly. Simplicity, Unexpectedness, Concreteness, Be credible, Evoke emotion, Tell the story.
First principle: Simplicity. Your idea needs to be simple enough you can explain it with one sentence. If you can’t then your idea is either a mixture of ideas. Or you need to spend more time thinking about the key line of the idea. An example of this applied to my favourite movie might read like this. "A man takes a red pill and uncovers a strange new world, where he learns machines have enslaved humankind and he is the only one that can set them free". You might of guess that this movie is The Matrix.
You want to distil down to the most important idea at the core. Simplicity is the easiest way to get people's attention and help them remember what the idea is about.
Second principle: Unexpectedness. The two things about communication are that you want to get someone attention and then keep it. Humans like to think in patterns. You want to inspire their curiosity. To do this you cannot repeat a pattern. You need to set the context of why isn't this happening already. This draws curiosity as their brain starts to try and work out the answer. Then you provide them with your solution.
Third principle: Concreteness. This is where you need to deliver your core ideas message. You need to do it in a way that it can be visualised. It needs to be descriptive enough and capturing. In my recent case 'project X should cut 40% of our development time'. It describes the idea impact clearly that it is going to increase the speed of delivery. As well as imply a big reduction in effort. Be careful not to go so high level where the idea becomes too difficult to picture. Being too detailed is also going to lose their attention and make it hard for them to remember. In turn, this will make it harder for them to pass on the idea to others in your organisation.
Fourth principle: Be credible. If you are pitching a new idea then chances are you don't have any tangible facts that support your idea. You need to create credibility and there are several ways to do this. I will only be focusing on two of them. Be prepared with details. Even though you have not built this idea yet. You should have a good understanding of how it works, how quick it can be operational and what other successful ideas it could be related to. Secondly using statistics in the right way.
You want to illustrate a relationship between two things. If they remember a number on its own, it will serve you no good. Saying it will impact 30% of projects in the first month is not going to mean much. Saying 2,500 customers will be able to be able to go-live by March. Creates a clear relationship between the 40% cut in development time and the impact on customers.
Fifth principle: Evoke emotions. Emotions are a key attribute, because they inspire feelings. Those feelings create a sense of caring. When you care about something enough, action follows. The book talks about three ways to do this.
The power of association means you need to draw a line between something they know to your idea.
Next, exploit their self-interest. Find out what their personal goals are and ensure that you mention the benefits of your idea that help their goals. Don't force this one. If there isn't a natural match you need to find another person to pitch to.
Lastly, appealing to identify means that you talk to the person's character and values.
Sixth Principle:Tell the story. This is the key principle that holds it all together. Our brains are wired in a way that we can remember stories easier, so a story has more of a chance to resonate. Like a good story, your idea should have a good structure and should be written with the goal to make the reader or listener feel something. That’s what gets your idea over the line needs to be the same.
The trick is to combine the first five principles into a crafted story. The story needs to be short, sharp, and memorable. The story needs to flow from the problem statement with an unexpected turn into a concrete visualised outcome. Ensure you mention you have further details in the appendix. Wrap it with a story that targets your audience's’ emotional values to stimulate their feelings.
All this requires planning, time and practice. Take it one step at a time. Think about things in the form of a minimal viable product. Come up with your one sentence, run it by a peer, and then ask them what they think. Know the audience that you need to pitch to and do your research. If you have a great idea and feel that it can change the world (or at least improve a key aspect of your organisation) it is worth putting in the effort to get your idea to resonate.
Note: Opinions expressed are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer.