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When having a good idea is simply not enough! 2

Governance | Tesse Akpeki | 13 Oct 2010

There are always people who will shroud your master plan in negativity, says Tesse Akpeki, but she has been inspired to create a plan of attack against such naysayers.  

Saving your good idea from getting shot down involves anticipating attacks, turning them to your advantage and enabling your idea to survive to make positive change.   

I came across a wonderful resource - Buy-In by John Kotter and Lorne Whitehead.  It is one of those invaluable pieces that grabs your attention and you just can’t let go. What was salient to me, was that it made such sense.

I get loads of ideas, but sometimes I am in situations where the idea goes nowhere and it can be so frustrating!!!  Sometimes it is the confounding questions, the verbal bullets or the inane comments that follow and leave me baffled.  

Then I see this book and the ‘Aha!’ moment is upon me.   Buy-In reveals how to protect good ideas and win the support needed to deliver valuable results. The advice proffered is to understand the unfair attack strategies that naysayers and nitpickers deploy with great success time and time again.  

And what are these?

• Death by delay: the discussion of the idea gets diverted or endlessly put off until momentum is lost
• Confusion: so much distracting information is presented by the naysayers that confidence in the proposal dies
• Fearmongering: irrational anxieties about your idea are stirred up
• Character assassination: your reputation and credibility is undermined and your idea gets buried!

What to do?

Kotter and Whitehead suggest a counterintuitive approach – ‘inviting in the lions’ to critique your idea and respectfully engaging adversaries, standing your ground with simple, convincing responses that save the day. 

Your preparation? Take everything thrown at you, thereby capturing the attention of busy people, skilfully helping them to grasp your proposal’s value!   

The bonus? By winning their hearts and minds you secure their commitment to implementing the solution.
Buy-in is available from Amazon.co.uk or you can visit www.kotterinternational.com/buyin

Tesse Akpeki is a lawyer, chartered secretary, coach, facilitator and accredited Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution mediator

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