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The Importance of Follow-Up - Part 2

It is probably true, as some experts claim, that there are more ideas wasted in business every day than are ever used in a year because of that simple failure to do something to give the idea substance. Remember that a "raw" idea is absolutely worthless. It doesn't even merit the description of creative if it isn't allowed to produce a benefit of some kind. Many such wasted ideas are products of people who never intended to do anything with them in the first place. But many are wasted simply because the inventors didn't know how to "sell" their ideas. In fact, they may not have realized that ideas do need selling.

But there are many reasons why people in authority are apt to turn down ideas. Not the least of these is ignorance of what the idea really means. Remember that if a new idea is really good, it will also be strange. It is open to question. In many cases, the person you are submitting your idea to will not even realize that there was a need for such an idea. You may have to begin at the beginning and trace through the whole reasoning process that you yourself followed in arriving at this new idea of yours. You may even have to teach the other person the meaning of some new words that will be necessary in order to understand your idea. And, because resistance to change is perfectly natural and normal in every human being, you may have to overcome that tendency in your boss, or whoever it is you are giving the idea to.

For an executive, the necessity of "selling" ideas to overcome another person's ignorance and reluctance to change is a two-way street. The chances are you will also have people coming to you with their ideas. Remember what they are up against, and help them all you can. Many persons, when they are faced with the prospect of convincing someone else that the idea they have is good, literally get scared out. This may be the biggest cause of idea waste. But it is one that is relatively easy for you to overcome in yourself, and one you can help others overcome. It is not that people lack ability to sell their ideas. It is, rather, that they lack forethought, initiative, and resourcefulness in the way they go about it.

Let's look at some of the reasons why an idea which appears perfectly good—perhaps even "sensational"—to its creator may meet resistance and even refusal "higher up" in the company:

The most common true reason for rejecting an idea is that there is something wrong with it. If the fault is not in the idea itself, it may be in what would happen if the idea were put into use. Most of the time, if the idea's creator had taken pains to think his proposition through, he could have found such flaws himself. And, having found them, he could have corrected them or marshaled his facts to counter them.

Another reason for turning down an idea is that, although the idea itself seems sound, the evidence to support it may be untrue or illogical. This frequently happens to young men right out of university or college business schools who are ready to "set the world on fire." As soon as they are established on a job, they immediately begin proposing ideas based on what their college textbooks or their professors or other sources of academic in­formation told them was the way something should be done. Unfortunately, academic theories don't always work out in practical business, or a particular company may have a very sound reason for violating some principle of "good practice" which the young man hasn't had time to learn. Consequently, his idea is rejected for reasons that may not be directly related to its real merit. When this happens often enough to the same young man, he either "smartens up" and learns to get more information, or he becomes embittered and discouraged and stops suggesting ideas.

Another pitfall you have to watch for in presenting any new idea is overselling. It is easy to get too enthusiastic about an idea, especially if it is your own. And when you begin to overestimate rewards and overstate your opinion of them, it may create doubts among people who would otherwise want to give your idea serious consideration. Actually, the idea itself may be perfectly good in a more modest sort of way, but obvious overselling can frighten people out of wanting to take a chance on it.

Another reason why an idea can be rejected by a particular individual, or in a company with a certain type of atmosphere, is commonly called the "NIH"—for "Not Invented Here"— factor. This phrase was supposedly coined by an embittered scientist who felt that his ideas were being turned down by people in authority simply because they had not thought of them. In most cases, it is probably not true that an NIH factor can, by itself, kill a good idea. But there is no question that it can make a good idea more difficult to sell. And it may be that a failure to "sell," in the literal sense of the word, is the real cause of the NIH attitude. If you present an idea on the basis that it will solve all the evils of the past, you are on dangerous ground. Your superior, or whoever it is that you are presenting the idea to, is then forced into the position of having to defend that past of which he was so active a participant!

One way to overcome this particular type of resistance is to make sure you always stress the benefits to be derived from your ideas in terms of the future. Talk about the "good times" ahead, rather than the bad times past.

Closely allied to defending past mistakes as a cause of resistance to new ideas is pride of authorship in past methods. Many new ideas are turned down simply because the person in authority cannot bear to give up one of his own "brain children" even though that child may no longer be adequate to the job. One salesman of business forms was bemoaning this in regard to one of his customers: by cutting an eighth-of-an-inch off the bottom of a 42-inch accounting form, he could have saved his customer $18,000 a year. But the firm's treasurer had designed this form and didn't want it changed even after twenty-seven years!

Another reason why an idea can meet rejection, even though the idea may be good and sound and would be profitable, is that it would infringe on someone's real or imagined "status" in the company. This type of resistance is frequently met in proposals for the reorganization of departments or functions within a company. Once status or position or a "preferred relationship" is obtained, the person obtaining it is extremely reluctant to give it up and will fight anything that threatens his position, regard­less of the true merits of the idea. Probably the best route to circumvent this kind of resistance is through some applied psychology: bring the potential objector into the act of selling the idea; make him a part of the proposal. This, naturally, means that he will have to be sold on it first.

Related terms include successful business and business ethics.