Making your idea reality
In companies where open door policies, suggestion boxes, and employee suggestion programs have been digitized—converted to intranet programs or supplanted by email—the numbers of ideas bubbling up to the top are increasing exponentially.
If you are lucky enough to work for one of the companies that truly wants employees to be more entrepreneurial, how do you get your idea the attention it needs and deserves? And how do you make sure your idea will be accepted? The following are some characteristics of a good idea, along with tips for making it succeed.
STRATEGIC. First, of course, make sure your idea is appropriate to the organization. Does it fit with the strategy? Is it consistent with existing or proposed product or service lines? Is it consistent with the brand and image? Are there resources available (or re-directable) to implement it?
SELLABLE. Then, if the idea is for a new product or service, make sure it will sell. Is it consistent with new product development and distribution trends? Is it a dot-com idea that takes advantage of the new emphasis on the Internet? Or, is it perhaps something that takes advantage of the fact that the more high tech things get, the more we want real human beings to help us—for example, the increased desire for human connections? And, will you be able to deliver the product or service to customers pretty much instantaneously?
SUPPORTABLE. A good way to make sure the idea is good is to find allies. Support from organizational colleagues is important, of course, but customer information is even better. Have key customers been making requests to which your idea is an excellent response? Include their requests, their positive responses to your inquiry as to their need, or their testimonials in your proposal.
PERSUASIVE. Next, package your idea. Keep it brief, and deliver it to the manager who can make the decision to implement it. If that person is not your boss, that is fine, but you might want to keep him or her in the loop.
Deliver the proposal in the form your decision maker prefers—that is, in a written proposal, an oral presentation, with pictures or drawings, as an e-mail note with attachments, or whatever you know he or she will process most readily. Promise to follow up, and then do so regularly and politely, on schedule and, better yet, with additional persuasive information.
TIPS FOR SUCCESS. Here are some other things you can do to assure success:
• Be willing to implement part of an idea or a pilot project. It may be easier to get a smaller commitment at first, and then to build on that success with a more ambitious followup.
• Don’t promise what you can’t deliver. Make sure that you can make the dollars you promise, open up the market you anticipate, or extend the product line as you have suggested. This caveat is connected to the idea of gaining allies noted above—if your idea needs the collaboration of others in order to succeed, don’t go forth with it until you have got them in the boat.
• Don’t promise loudly. That means keep a low profile until you have got a proven winner. Avoid the self-congratulatory internal newsletter story and the external news release until you have actual results to talk about.
• Be realistic, particularly about money and timing. Don’t ask for the world near the end of the current budget cycle when there are few extra resources lying around.
• Plan to do better than expected. If you know you can achieve a particular objective with your idea, promise a little less. Then, you can over achieve.
• Be ready for “yes.” You already have a full time job. Be realistic about the time and resource commitment you can make when you get the green light. Better yet, figure out how to make it a part of what you are already doing.
• Be ready for a partial “yes.” That is, be willing to wait until the timing is better, to scale back the scope, or to be flexible.
Finally, be willing to give others credit—if not for the entire idea, for at least part of it. Everybody loves a winner, especially when it is them. They will know who is really responsible, and so will you. And, you can take credit next time.
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