So you’ve started at a new job and you want to hit the ground running, bringing forward new ideas and creating real results. You’re excited about your idea, schedule a meeting to present your plan, but then get met with one (or more) of the following roadblocks:
Your idea was immediately shut down.
You get endless questions.
You get complete silence.
The people in the meeting question why they’re even there.
You realize you’ve brought the wrong people together.
Everyone actually agrees your idea is great, but then after the meeting, nothing changes.
What went wrong? Chances are you put a lot of thought into your idea, but not enough into the meeting itself and, more importantly, the people involved. For an idea to move forward or stick, it’s got to be bought by the people within the organization.
So what do you do if you’re new? How are you supposed to know the ins and outs of the people involved - or who to even involve?? Or maybe you’ve been working somewhere for a few years and are still running into these problems - what then?
I’ve been navigating these waters (as a newbie) and through trial and error have found some tips that really work for me, and hopefully, they’ll work for you too! Whether it’s your first day or your 10th year on the job.
#1 Get eyes on the inside
This first step is technically optional, but it acts as a shortcut for everything else on this list, especially if you’re new to the company. Team up with someone who believes in your idea and who already understands the company. It takes time to get to know people and understand what makes them tick. If you can leverage someone else's knowledge, it makes presenting ideas so much easier because you’ll know what to highlight or avoid based on each person. Additionally, when someone else believes in your cause, it makes everything a little less intimidating because you know you have someone to back you up.
#2 Identify who you should try to bring on first
When you’re introducing a new idea, there’s always going to be people who are super resistant to change no matter what. Instead of spending time trying to convince those people, focus on lower hanging fruit and identify those who are the Innovators and Early Adopters on the adoption curve.
People who fall into these categories are more open to change and like to be a part of the early stages of an idea, followed by the Early Majority, Late Majority, and Laggards. When you get the first groups on board, they will influence others and help spread your idea.
This is where having someone on the inside helps because it not only adds numbers to your cause, but they can help you identify who in your organization are the Innovators and Early Adopters.
#3 Put the work in before you even have a meeting
A big mistake I often made was thinking that the best way to communicate my ideas was by scheduling a meeting with key stakeholders to present my plan. But when I took this route I was usually met with a flood of questions, or worse, silence.
A key tip I’ve learned is, before I even schedule a meeting, I’ll talk one-on-one with the stakeholders to fill them in on what I’m thinking. By doing this before a large group session you achieve a few things:
You get their candid feedback without the pressure of other people in the meeting.
You can tweak your idea or presentation based on their feedback, thus improving it.
It gives everyone time to think about your idea so when it comes time for a group meeting, they feel much more prepared to contribute to the larger discussion.
They’re more invested in the idea since they’ve now helped shape it, rather than just evaluating it.
#4 Play fortune teller… but still don’t have the meeting
The biggest lesson I’ve learned about bringing an idea forward is prep, prep, prep. This step is all about thinking through the meeting and how different people will react and respond to your points. This may sound like an impossible step to do when you’re new, which is why finding someone who already knows the people involved really well is a huge benefit. Otherwise, you’ll just have to bide your time until you know what makes each person tick.
You also might think you only need to prep what you’re going to say in a meeting (and don’t get me wrong, that’s important too), but thinking about how people will respond is just as crucial. When you ask the group a question, you want to be confident in already knowing or having an idea of how they’ll respond. Is there anything worse than asking a question only to be met with silence? This is also where tip #3 comes in handy as you’ll learn what people think ahead of time.
#5 Okay, have a meeting - but get real with what it’s for
It seems obvious to say you should have a goal for the outcome of a meeting, but so many people (including myself) get this step wrong! When you bring together key stakeholders, what’s the result you want to achieve? If your answer is something like “get feedback”, ask yourself what does that actually mean? How is this feedback going to advance your idea or push it forward?
I’ve often found myself in the trap of thinking a meeting went well because there was a good discussion but realizing shortly after that I’m not even sure what the next steps should be.
Some helpful questions/prompts I use to get to the root of my goal are:
Do I want to get more ideas or suggestions on what I have so far?
Do I need approval and sign off on something? What will that approval do?
Do I need them to get excited about my idea so that they become an advocate? What do I need to do to get them there?
A good test is to always ask yourself “What happens if I don’t do this? What do I lose?” Framing your idea that way helps you understand what the real impact you’re after is.
#6 Take the time to learn from your experiences
One of the most valuable things I did for myself was to ask for feedback on my performance immediately after the meeting. The person you ask for feedback from should be someone who has good communication skills and who you’ve seen lead effective meetings.
I ask people who I have most of my meetings with since they can see if I’m improving or not and ideally, they’re also the person who already believes in my idea so they know what I'm trying to achieve.
By taking the time to do this step, you save time in the long run learning where to improve and you get real-time advice that you can apply to your next meeting or presentation.
A final thought
This final point is less of a tip and more of a reminder to not get discouraged if your idea is rejected at the end of all this. The real purpose of all of these tips is knowing how to bring people into your thought process and learning how to collaborate effectively as a team. Often ideas can be made better so don’t be afraid of rejection or your idea changing - just keep bringing things forward!
I hope you give these tips a try and they help you feel more confident bringing your ideas forward at work! I started at Nascent a little over a year ago as their first full-time Marketer, so I’ve been trying to make some big ideas happen while also learning how I fit into the company as a whole (did I also mention I’ve only been in the workforce for about three years??). Lucky for me I work with some really smart people who are happy to share their experience with a little seedling like me.
I’m still growing and making mistakes every day, so I want to continue to share the helpful advice and learnings I’m gathering working with the Nascent team, but I’d love to hear from you if you find this content helpful or if you have any advice of your own!
