18 | Getting senior management buy-in to your ideas

Hi there!  This week we're doing another quick-tip. 

We're focusing on getting buy-in from senior management for your ideas. 

I have three tips for you - plus a bonus tip - to get you a YES when you're presenting your ideas. 

(I also talk about Jurassic park, so there is that too 😉

xo
Liz

Well, Hey there and welcome to another quick tip week. So this week, we are looking at how to get buy-in from senior management or your senior leadership. And I'm going to be walking you through three quick tips. And because we could go into this in depth, right. We could really dig into this. So for this episode, I'm just giving you three quick tips and we're going to dig into them.

And number one first tip is going to be about paying attention to the pre decision phase. Uh, there's a pre decision phase. If you didn't know. And then number two, is that I'm going to tell you about the three options that you have to present when you're asking for buy-in. And then number three, we're going to talk about not giving up. Not giving up, even if you're getting knows how to keep going, how to stay heartened even if you're getting nos. So let's jump into it for this week's quick tip.

Well hey there, I'm Liz St. Jean and this is unruly leadership podcast where I help subject matter experts like you design a career on your terms. It's where strategy meets intuition to help you break the rules, ignore the rules and make your own damn rules. So let's break free from perfectionism, imposter thoughts, and that inner rule keeper, that's keeping you in your career comfort zone.

It's time to become unapologetically you and step into the life you were meant to live. We're going to talk presence, productivity career, and having it all. Or as my four-year-old would say - we're going to take over the world. So let's get to it.


Oh, hello. Hello there. And welcome to this week's episode. We're going to jump in pretty quickly because it is another quick tip episode. And as an aside, if you were liking these quick tips, let me know, let me know that you prefer these shorter episodes. Send me a DM, send me an email and yeah, let me know what you're thinking about it.

So before we jump in, just going to mention very, very quickly that for you to keep your ears open and keep your eyes peeled on your email, because in the next couple of weeks, I'm going to be sending you a note about a career success, summer bundle, really cool opportunity that I'm putting together for you over the summer. I've got a couple of workshops to put together for you. So keep your eyes and ears open for that. Okay, let's jump into this episode. So the topic for today is getting buy-in from senior management.

Okay. So, this is going to be a really helpful episode for anyone who's had had ideas or you have ideas and you want that buy-in. You want senior leadership to buy into it? Maybe it's even your own manager. Maybe it's even your own supervisor manager, or if you're reporting to a director, you're looking for that. Buy into your idea.

And either you haven't gotten in the past, or you're not quite sure how to get it, or you just want to strengthen that skill. Like. I get a few more tips to help strengthen that skillset. So I've got three quick tips for you to be thinking about when you're wanting to get buy-in for your ideas. Hey, my first tip around this is.

Be really aware and mindful of the pre decision phase. The pre decision phase. Right. So getting buy-in means a decision, right. You're asking senior management to make a decision. In your favor, essentially with the buy-in. You really want to be mindful about what you're doing in the lead-up to that ask in that lead up to that request.

So often what I've observed and I've talked with clients is that we come up, we want to come up with like the perfect idea. I want to come up with the perfect idea. So we spend a lot of time thinking about it strategizing or, or, or maybe nom you, just assuming that it's a great idea. And they should just say yes.

During that period before you actually make the ask, you actually need to be doing something. Okay. And I actually, Paul it, and this is a little cheeky or a little, I don't know, maybe a little twisted. I call it the Jurassic park approach. The Jurassic park approach. So for those of you, especially those of you with me old enough, like you remember the original Jurassic park.

And if for those of you who haven't watched it grading the beat and be like those kinds of movies. I love them myself. I think you all know, right. I love Spotify. So I love Jurassic park. So in the original movie. There's this scene early on in the film where they're standing outside the Raptors pen.

No standing outside and two of the characters are talking and one of the characters is like the game warden. I forget his actual position. But he's talking to a visitor, who's come to Jurassic park. And there's a rustling and they're talking about what the, what the Raptors are doing. And he turns and he looks at the other character and he says, they're testing the fences. They remember. Right. And you had this like visual image. You didn't actually see the Raptors in that scene, but they brought this visual image of Raptors going and looking for weakness in the fence. And so the reason I think about this, and sometimes I call it the Jurassic park approach to organizational change.

Is because when you were in that pre decision phase, before you presented the idea and you're kind of working it out. I want, I want you to be a bit like the Raptor. I want you to go and test the fences, go in test, go and see. And don't always try the same place twice, or at least don't try it in the exact same way twice, but go and see. And, and I know it's, it's a little bit twisted because you know, it suggests you're looking for weakness. You're not really looking for a weakness per se.

I do want you to have that mental image in mind of testing, of going and looking. And what you're looking for is, is interest. You're looking for. Someone who's curious. It's sparks. They're intrigued. They're. Uh, possibly even supportive right off the bat. And this can be with your senior management. I also want you to talk to others about it though. Talk to your team.

Talk to your peers, talk to people in other parts of the organization. And this doesn't necessarily mean. And actually it does not mean going and setting up a very formal meeting to discuss your proposal. You're just sprinkle it in, drip it into conversation, uh, ask questions and just to get people thinking about and talking about it. And there's two main reasons that I want you to do this.

The first reason that I want you to do this. It's because we need to double check that your idea is landing with people. Right? Do. You want to get a sense of whether or not it makes sense to people. Do they glom onto it? Are they interested? So by talking about it, sprinkling it into conversation, you're doing it in a very.

Either a no risk, like zero risk or very low risk way. Okay. You're just, you're putting it out there and seeing if it lands. The second reason, those a little bit more strategic is you, are you kind of laying down the foundation? You're you're planting seeds. So we're not just sprinkling sprinkles on top of a donut.

What we're doing is we're planting seeds. You're sprinkling in the seeds. And so for the people who do need more time to think about an idea, or, and this is going to be pretty much everyone, you talk to. Like they see the world a different way. They've got, they've got their own ideas. They think other things should be done. You're giving time for your idea to plant and to grow and to sprout and.

Um, grow these beautiful flowers in their minds. So that by the time you get to the buy-in phase, asking for actual buy-in asking. Asking for our decision. It's almost, it's more, almost a no brainer or it's, it's already come to mind, like they're already on board and maybe there's some tweaking that needs to be made, but they're already on board with it.

Hey, so want you to make sure you are. Uh sprinkling ideas and testing those fences looking to see where is their interests who is going to be interested in this idea.

And your second quick tip. Your second tip is when you actually are going for the buy-in, when you're actually asking for a decision you're going forward. And depending on the culture of your organization, the size of your ask, the history, your comfort level, your audience comfort level. The ask will show up in different ways for, it might be a simple email. It might be a proposal. It might be swinging by someone's desk or their office sending up a meeting could be many different things.

But if it's anything other than kind of swinging by the office, asking for quick decision, if it's anything more than that, if you're putting together more of an actual proposal, And you want to do this. If there's going to be time involved, funds involved. Uh, change a real big change of the way things are done.

You're going to want to put together more of a proposal show that you've thought things through and show that you've you understand your idea and how it fits in and what problem it will solve. And, um, as an aside problem solving and identifying problems to solve, this is one of the key modules in the powerful presence society, my PPS, my signature program. So if that's something you're interested in learning more about, definitely get on the wait list, head on over to the website.

Uh, the mint ambition.com/pps. Get on that wait list. But once you were ready, you, you. Um, you're putting together a proposal. What I want you to do is I want you to give your decision maker. Three options. Three options. Okay. So you've probably kind of decided, and you know, you've worked through that problem solving to decide what you think should be done.

That's your middle option? That's your middle or B or second option right in the middle. I also want you to include an option of like, if they would say yes to anything you propose or everything, maybe within the bounds of reason. But having another option, that's a bigger ask. And for a couple of reasons, one, you never know, you never know what they might say yes to. So give an even bigger option than the option you landed on. So include that bigger option. The other reason you include a bigger option is a bit of anchoring.

This is getting a little bit strategic. A little bit of a, you know, a little bit of Mr. Vernon's finger kind of strategy. It does something called anchoring in the mind. So the human mind will anchor to big and small. That number's and asks. So by including a bigger one, you're anchoring them upwards to a bigger amount.

Which makes it, it just makes it easier. You're kind of giving them some context from making, say, Uh, for, for saying yes to that middle option, that B option. Hey. So again, you want your B option is the one you think that, that that's the idea you came up with, give them a C option, which is even bigger.

But then here's a really critical piece that a lot of us. I can forget to include. Include an AI option. Which is. Status quo. Status quo. Okay. A lot of times people, especially those of you who like to come up with ideas and you love proposing them. Um, but even if that's not your nature to come up with a lot of ideas,

If you come up with an idea and they say, no, it can feel frustrating. Right. And you, you kind of say yourself, like, well, it's so obvious. Why could, why would you not say yes, look at this, I've got all the data, but what it's going to get for us, what it's going to do. But what I want you to do, what we, what we forget to do is remind people of what the cost is.

Of status quo. And this is actually a really good exercise for you anyways, when you're coming up with your idea to be able to compare it to status quo. Right. And status quo is how everyone else sees things and sees the world, right? Like if they're all making changes, Something about status quo is working for them. So what I want you to do is, is articulate that status quo so that you can show the Bennett that, uh, the benefit of your B. So if a, is your status quo B as your option and C is that pie in the sky option?

You're showing the difference. You're showing the Delta, right. And it really forces your decision maker to actually decide. To stay at the status quo. Because essentially when someone says no to an idea, they're saying yes to status quo, So what this does is it puts it in front of them, black and white, especially if you're doing anything written or even if it's verbal, but you have slides, something written.

Simple as simple as you can make it. And especially, uh, no matter what industry you're in at evidence-based database impact results basis, you can make it, show them the difference between. A B and C. Okay. Like I said, if you want to get more into like problem solving, um, strategic thinking and getting your ideas heard, definitely come to PPS or get on the waitlist at least. Come on, get on the waitlist www.theminturnvision.com/pps.



All right. So my third tip for you. My third tip for getting buy-in for your idea. Is don't give up. Don't give up. Even if it's no. Or even if in the pre decision phase, you know, you're testing those fences, you're sprinkling the seeds and just nothing seems to be growing. There doesn't seem to be any give or any uptake.

Don't give up. And when I want you to encourage you to do, and I know this can be difficult. Is to it, um, is to not get discouraged and give up and to, to keep going from a place of a, what we call a higher energy level. So not from a place of frustration or anger or victimhood or martyrdom or feeling like this isn't fair and they're so dumb and how could they not see blah, blah, blah.

Like that can feel you, but it's very draining. That's a very draining energy. What I want you to do is find a way within yourself to keep coming at it from a higher energy level. From an energy level of how this will help people of how there's so much opportunity of how we can really create something wonderful together.

Something amazing. Keep at it from that energy. If you're having a hard time getting to that energy, you might need to take a break and just be like, I can't, I'm just going to take a break from this idea for a little bit. And I'll come back to it later. Okay. I give yourself a little break. Give yourself some grace.

To, to take your break and give yourself that time because it can be hard, right? It can be hard to, to hear nos for, to hear, do not have your ideas to uptake it or taking, taken up. I don't know what the word is. It is that can be hard. Give yourself that grace give yourself that compassion to recognize that it's hard to hear.

And then pause and then come back at it. Because the other way to think about getting buy-in and getting your ideas taken up is that. Sometimes it's a little bit like, um, when I always think of as like a carnival game, Honestly, I don't know if this is an actual carnival game, but this is what comes to mind. Like you're at a carnival and you've got like those, it's one of those games that you've got a bean bag. You've got little beanie and you're trying to like throw it through like, um, a little rectangle, except that the rectangle is actually two or three blocks of wood that create, uh, a rectangle hole and you have to get it when all three of them line up.

Okay. That's how you get through it. It's a little like that with when you're making suggestions, when you want to change your organization, there's so many. The different pieces moving around. Sometimes it's just timing. Sometimes it's about timing and getting that beanbag through those three pieces of wood at the same time. And they're moving.

And so that's why I don't want you to be discouraged. And I also want you to keep your spirits up and finding a way to keep your spirits up, even in the face of nose. Because the more your spirits are down, the more frustrated you are, they it's almost like your skill at throwing that little bean bag goes down with it.

So if you're getting more and more frustrated that people aren't listening to you, aren't taking up your ideas. It's also kind of less and less likely for people to say yes. Okay. Because what ends up happening is that you start kind of, you start impacting that relationship. And that's a whole other piece that.

Uh, we actually go into another whole other module and PPS about developing influential relationships. That that's a whole other piece of getting senior buy-in. So. The hope on the wait list. I'll mention that again, and I'll probably do some more episodes about it. And if any, if that's a topic of interest for you for an episode here, send me a note, send me a DM, send me an email, come find me somewhere on the interwebs and let me know.

But I just want you to keep heart and just know that it's when someone says, no, it is also less about you and more about them. It's more about how they see the world, how they see the organization, possibly their own plan for their, um, it's sometimes for their career, but, you know, to be more, um,

Um, Positive or thinking they might have plans, right? They might have. Short medium or long-term plans where your idea doesn't quite fit into it. And, and fair enough if they don't tell you, that's hard because you don't know. But we're just remember that there are other things going on. There are other thoughts going on. People have other views and other perspectives that maybe we don't always see.

And just as a little aside, Uh, if you can, if you can get into those conversations where you start learning about their perspective. That's even more powerful too. There's a bonus tip coming out of the influential relationships, module and PPS. Learning about other people's perspectives, seeing the world and the organization and, um, the future, how they see it can be so powerful when it comes to getting your ideas.

Taken up, getting buying in to the changes that you want to make. Hey, so let's do a quick review. We've got three quick tips for you in terms of getting buy-in for your ideas. Number one, pay attention to the pre decision phase. He used that Jurassic park Roach go around. Be a Raptor. Be. Go off, out there and be Raptors and find out, okay, where, where are the, the weak spots, right? Where are those spots where people are interested in? Where can I, where can I make some progress and start planting those seeds?

Number two. Give them three options. Your idea. An even better idea. And the status quo, make them choose the status quo. Make someone choose, make someone deliberately decide to go with the status quo. And then number three. Is don't give up, keep heart. And I know it's hard. I know it's hard, but keep heart, keep up and keep at it with that positive energy. With that more powerful energy. If you find yourself frustrated, if you find yourself kind of falling into a bit more of that victim, hood energy, just take a break, give yourself a break from the idea and then come back to it.

There might be better timing in the news. Even a couple of weeks, maybe it's three months, six months, 12 months, or depending on your time horizon. What you're trying to change. But keep at it. If you truly believe it, if you've gone through the problem, solving strategic thinking. Um, approach and you, you know, that this needs to happen.

Keep at it. Key part and keep at it. So with that, I will let you go again. If any of this resonated, you definitely want to be on the wait list for the next round of PPS. So jump over onto that and also keep your eyes open and then, and your ears open to in the next two weeks, I'll be releasing the summer career success bundle. And you definitely want to get that for sure. So keep your eyes and ears open. And have yourself a wonderful week Bye bye.

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