In 1943, Allied generals Montgomery and Patton competed over who would be the first to capture the city of Messina in Sicily. In their ego-driven race, they unnecessarily lost thousands of soldiers, as it was more important to them to defeat the other general than to face the enemy wisely.
Like Patton and Montgomery, our companies have employees who propose excellent project ideas that would advance the company. However, we are repeatedly surprised to discover that the biggest opponents to implementing these projects are our colleagues within the organization, who should benefit from the initiative more than anyone. There are many reasons why this phenomenon occurs (organizational politics, personal status and prestige, fear of change, etc.).
In this article, we will present several simple tools for promoting new ideas within your organization.
First tool: The Price - When a new idea requires the cooperation of other organizational units, there is always a price from their perspective, embodied in their sacrifice of resources such as time, manpower, or even emotional energy. Therefore, you must identify this price to know what degree of persuasion and effort you must invest to engage them in the initiative.
Second tool: Reflect the Sacrifice - In 2002, Kahneman won the Nobel Prize in Economics, proving that 95% of our decisions are emotional rather than rational. Your colleagues in the organization are also primarily driven by emotion, so when you ask them to make a sacrifice, whether small or large, to recruit them for a project, reflect in your own words the sacrifice they need to make. Hence, they feel understood and know this sacrifice is not "taken for granted."
Third tool: Question Mark, Not Exclamation Mark - It is easier to recruit colleagues when you ask for their input and help them build the project rather than coming up with structured demands that are often emotionally interpreted as orders. It's easier to consent following a request than to "bow your head" to a demand.
Fourth tool: What's In It For Me? - We often forget to highlight to our colleagues what results and rewards they personally or their department will receive from the project. Even if that output is marginal or indirect, we assume the benefit is clear to everyone, and that's not the case. Don't forget that you will usually be more knowledgeable about the subject than someone external to it.
Fifth and final tool for this article - From My Project to Our Project - The richest man in the USA at the beginning of the 20th century, Andrew Carnegie, wanted to buy the successful railroad car company, Pullman. After weeks of negotiations without a breakthrough, Carnegie met with Pullman, who asked, as a "personal favor," if the company name would remain Pullman Cars even after its acquisition. That day, the deal was signed at a lower price than initially offered. Like Pullman, we too want personal recognition and appreciation. If we manage to transform a project that only we worked on and sweated over from "my project" to "our project," and engage other colleagues as partners in the glory, we will gain much broader support. And remember, on Carnegie's tombstone, the great man wanted the following inscription: "Here lies a man who knew how to surround himself throughout his life with people more talented than himself."
Good luck with the new project.
This article is an excerpt from the Harta method by the Debate company.
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