What do you do if your stakeholders don't understand your innovative ideas?

When it comes to innovation, simplicity is key. It's not about complicating things but making what is complex simple, easy to use, and easy to understand. I've learned that clearly and concisely presenting the value of an idea, showing how it aligns with our goals and addresses real issues, makes all the difference. Inviting stakeholders on this journey from the start ensures they feel part of the process, turning potential skeptics into supporters. And remember, feedback is gold - it can refine and elevate your idea in ways you might not have imagined. Being open to it and ready to pivot is part of the magic.

Its hard for more to look beyond whats on surface and as people think differently its not just important to clarify but infact re-emphasise at regular intervals on the bigger value.

Getting internal teams together and having their buy-in is very important and directly proportonal to the results once can expect. Thus need to educate them with different paramaters and the value one will derive from so they get the bigger picture.

Don't just tell them what to do..tell them the problem you want to solve for and ask them how we can do it better. Their feedback and involve them in the thinking process. This not only makes them more involved but also makes them think about the situation to appreciate the task more and thus come up with better ideas.

Breakdown the entire objective in small tasks and try to show delivery from each of these provides value. This will demonstrate fesiblity, make you more richers with learnings and then create the overall output much better.

Just as you'd external create personas of potential buyers in the early stages of product innovation, so should you create internal personas of your key stakeholders. 💡What is a day in the life of these stakeholders? 💡How do they think about product innovation in general, and your idea more specifically? 💡 What is a compelling way for you to demonstrate the value and opportunity for your idea? Once you understand the receptivity factors of your own internal team, you can then begin to build consensus and buy-in.

Strong coalitions for me haven't always started in boardrooms; they've often begun with casual conversations. A chat over coffee once turned into a brainstorming session that sparked an important idea. Similarly, a games night revealed a teammate was also a client, leading to a partnership that impacted our projects in big ways. These moments, built on genuine connections and being in tune with the situation, have been crucial in bringing together a diverse group of supporters. It’s through these interactions that I’ve learned the value of informal networks in rallying support and driving innovation.

Brining different prespective is important but also that should translate to combining them on creating a joint objective on a charter that is then executed by the team.