02.08.2024 Today’s Insights from Harvard Business Review: How to Get Your Colleagues on Board with Your Idea
Dear Students,
Sooner or later, it’s going to happen to every one of you.
You are going to have to use Western-style influence and persuasion skills to get your ideas across to colleagues. And you may not yet realize just how challenging this might feel, especially at the beginning.
https://hbr.org/2024/06/how-to-get-your-colleagues-on-board-with-your-idea?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_campaign=dailyalert_Active&deliveryName=NL_DailyAlert_20240614
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In the early stages of your career, getting people to not only listen to, but to agree to or to act on your ideas or views can be challenging. It’s often a time when you have the least amount of influence and are still building your reputation. When you want to persuade someone to see (or do) things your way, you may default to skills you’ve been socialized to exhibit: making a rational argument supported by data, persisting in the face of a challenge, and projecting confidence. But these strategies can be counterproductive. When others seem to be resisting your ideas, there is usually a deeper belief or concern informing their view — one that they aren’t saying out loud. To uncover these roadblocks and see better results, you need to understand the other person’s reasoning, instead of trying to explain your own. The key is to ask the right questions.
hbr.org
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As Jeff Wetzler, a “human potential, innovation and learning expert” points out, however, despite 4 types of “roadblocks” (which we’ll refer to as “learning opportunities” here, instead) that new grads like you may face, “In all cases, the path to breakthrough comes from tapping into the insights of the people you’re collaborating with.”
What does this really mean? Essentially, it requires that promising young talent, like you and your friends, move towards – rather than away from – the perceived source of the “learning opportunity.” Specifically, you will benefit from doing one of the following:
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Asking clarifying questions
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Paraphrasing to ensure understanding
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Gently probing to gain insight
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Validating feelings even in the face of dissent
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Hinting at potential business repercussions of not adopting the suggested approach
…which are techniques that many of you would likely agree that you have little practice using in such circumstances.
The truth to collaborating is that there is always more to learn about others’ perspectives, and, without stepping into the “unknown,” by taking one of the actions above, Wetzler cautions that “…the collective intelligence we are all surrounded by too often stays hidden from us, if we don’t ask for it.”
Our coaches would like to make sure that aspiring talent like you and your peers, who embrace such “learning opportunities,” ultimately apply the knowledge you gain in doing so by going a step further: Wetzler highlights that “Of course, once you ask [colleagues who appear resistant for their thoughts], be prepared to listen deeply to the answers and learn from what you hear.”
In any case, here’s to a collaborative evening!
Best,
Amy-Louise