|
 How
to get support for your ideas more easily than ever before.
Many years ago a retiring executive
gave me an old pamphlet he had carried throughout his career. It
was entitled, "Take Time Out for Mental Digestion."
He told me that this little
pamphlet had been one of the most helpful things he had ever
read in his business life. At the time I spoke to him he was the
president of a corporation with more than 10,000 employees.
The message of this pamphlet was
simple. It said that people always resist new ideas and new
courses of action, even if the ideas are good for them. However,
if they have an opportunity to think about them for a few days,
very often they will come around to the new way of thinking with
both agreement and enthusiasm.
The pamphlet said that an
individual needs about 72 hours to absorb a new idea.
Effective executives are those who present their ideas in very casual way,
rather than as a decision or a fact engraved in stone. They
present their thoughts as ideas for consideration.
Effective executives encourage the other person to take the
new idea or new way of doing things and think about it for a few
days. They say that "we can discuss this later" and they just
leave the idea with the other person.
Sales is Part of
Our Daily Lives
Whether we like it or not, sales is
part of our daily lives. Whether you are trying to close new
business,
negotiate an increase in pay, or simply
communicate better with your loved ones, you are constantly
utilizing some form of “sales technique”. So, it is time to
improve upon what is likely the most important skill set that
one can have – sales.
Over the years, I have found this
to be a remarkable piece of advice and a very important insight
to communicating effectively with others.
 People
Will Resist Change
It is normal and natural for people
to
resist change of any kind, even and including a change that
they will benefit from. So, allow them to take time out for
mental digestion. Present your new idea in a low keyed,
non-threatening way and just encourage the individual to think
about it for a while and then discuss it later.
Present Ideas As
Possibilities
In my early executive career, I was
continually frustrated by trying to get my ideas, which I had
thought through and which I, of course, thought were wonderful,
accepted by my seniors and my co-workers.
When I started taking time out for
mental digestion and just presented my ideas as possibilities, I
was astonished at how much more readily people turned around and
came to see the validity of the ideas. I also found that, if you
present an idea with too much enthusiasm, you trigger natural
resistance which soon becomes ego-based, irrespective of the
validity of the ideas.
Present Ideas in
a Low-Keyed Manner
On the other hand, if you present
your ideas in a low-keyed manner and just leave them for
consideration, people can come around to accepting them in their
own time and embracing your new ideas without any loss of face
or without any ego problems.
The next time you have a great
idea, mention it casually and ask other people what they think
about it. Give people time to digest the idea, even if they are
totally opposed to it at the beginning.
Action Exercises
Now, here are two things you can do
to use this principle in practice.
First, think your ideas through on
paper before you present them to others. Expect natural
resistance. When you do present your ideas, do it in a low
keyed, almost indifferent manner so that it stirs up no
resistance.
Second, expect your ideas to be
rejected initially. When this happens, simply
ask open ended questions to get
feedback and then present your ideas again at a later time
in a different form. It is amazing how effective this strategy
will be. |
