Getting a stuck idea moving
You have an idea for a technology project that would move your organization forward, but every time you raise it you meet skepticism from managers and employees alike. What are the three steps that will finally get it off the ground?
1. Initiate one or more meetings with the managers who lead the area where the new technology would be introduced, and present a practical work plan: what the organization needs to invest (inputs) and what it will get back (outputs). 2. Recruit the technology professionals who would lead the actual implementation, and make sure they take part in the meetings with management. 3. Align expectations with the technology vendor bringing the new technology into the organization, and help them build a presentation and pitch that speak to the organization's pain points.
1. Turn your biggest skeptic into a partner. The resistance is usually not to the idea but to risk and ownership, so instead of presenting a solution, ask what would convince them and let them define the success metrics. Whoever defined the test will not fight the result. 2. Shrink the decision: ask for approval for a one-month experiment, on a small budget, with stop conditions agreed in advance. It is easy to say yes to something that is easy to cancel. 3. Let the results speak the organization's language (hours, money, quality), and have a partner from the pilot present the data rather than the initiator, because testimony from within persuades more than a slide deck.