Slaying the Naysayers
We all know one or probably more than one the people in our work environment who shoot down our fledgling ideas and tell us why what we suggesting won’t work.
It can be so frustrating, you come up with a new idea or concept, or are valiantly trying to develop an idea further, and all you get is negativity; every reason why it won’t or couldn’t work.
But what if the naysayers you’re struggling to work with have facts or perspectives that you will need for your idea to come to fruition?
In this blog I’ll explore five ways that you can not only manage, but work much more productively with, the naysayers in your environment
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Body of the blog” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial”]1. Get to know who the naysayers are
You probably know who, in the circle of people you work with, are the naysayers. However, it is worth paying attention to make sure that you quickly pick up when someone sees the problems and issues with an idea more than its potential.
They will be very prone to asking lots of ‘how’ questions as in “how is that going to work?”, and query aspects or areas of detail hasn’t been fully thought through.
2. Find those who like brainstorming and exploring
Your challenge is to find those in your work environment who love new ideas and the chance to explore different thinking and alternate ways of looking at things.
Do however be aware of those that only like their own new ideas, as they’re going to want your time and energy for themselves and not necessarily help you too much!
3. Ask the right people for their views and ideas at the right time
The trick is to ask those that like exploring new ideas and concepts early on in your thinking and idea development.
As you start to move through from exploring the idea, to seeing how it will work, that’s the time to go to the naysayers and find out what the problems will be at this stage. It’s a very useful thing to find out what could go wrong if you were to implement the idea and what it would take to be effectively implemented.
4. Listen to understand
in both cases, when you’re talking to the idea explorers, or the naysayers, your main objective is to listen to what others are saying. Take time to understand whether they have insights that could help build out or further clarify your idea or concept.
As Stephen Covey articulates so well in his book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”, the aim is to seek to understand before you seek to be understood. It’s an incredibly powerful maxim and will help you get the most out of your conversations with others.
Canvassing the views and opinions of a wide range of thinkers will allow you to see your idea, design, or concept from multiple perspectives and aid its evolution.
5. Use the feedback you receive to improve on your idea
To benefit from this broad base of feedback, play with the suggestions and criticisms. You have no obligation to take on all or any of them, instead given them all consideration, they may spark yet more insights and improvements as you play with them.
Use the ones that will help you reach the original goal or problem that you set put to solve. Not only are you likely to have developed something workable, there’s a chance it could be brilliant!
How do you deal with the naysayers in your world?
