Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to make friends for your ideas. Most of
Speaker 1: the time, we are better off testing how other people
Speaker 1: connect to our ideas before we share them broadly. It's
Speaker 1: usually not the best approach to develop an idea completely
Speaker 1: on our own and then make a grand reveal, So
Speaker 1: people sometimes talk about socializing ideas. That is, informally talking
Speaker 1: with people about an idea before presenting it. Formally, Socializing
Speaker 1: an idea lets you gauge people's response to it, so
Speaker 1: you can make an informed decision about whether or not
Speaker 1: to pursue it. If nobody seems to connect with an idea,
Speaker 1: you could perhaps drop it, But if an idea is
Speaker 1: well received, you can refine it based on feedback you
Speaker 1: get when you tell people about it. Socializing an idea
Speaker 1: may also help you garner support for an idea. People
Speaker 1: are sometimes more likely to support an idea that feels familiar.
Speaker 1: You could see how this could play out. Maybe you
Speaker 1: are leading the committee that is scheduling the conference for
Speaker 1: your professional association. You could socialize your idea for the
Speaker 1: conference theme. Do other people understand what you mean by
Speaker 1: that catchy phrase you are thinking of using. Do other
Speaker 1: people connect with the topic. If you ask around and
Speaker 1: people seem to get the theme, you are more likely
Speaker 1: to build support for it even before you propose it
Speaker 1: to the larger group. If you are a nonprofit leader,
Speaker 1: you could socialize the idea of a particular person becoming
Speaker 1: chair of the board. When you chat with key leaders
Speaker 1: about the possibility, you will hear what they are enthusiastic about.
Speaker 1: You can address concerns. By the time there is a
Speaker 1: vote on it, lots of people will already see her
Speaker 1: as a natural choice. Or if you discover there is
Speaker 1: no widespread support for this person, you could pivot away
Speaker 1: without ever nominating her. Or suppose your team is feeling
Speaker 1: stretched you are wondering whether you could reduce the time
Speaker 1: spent in meetings. You could socializing the idea of going
Speaker 1: from a weekly department meeting to a monthly one. In
Speaker 1: talking with people about this, you might find out that
Speaker 1: they think the weekly meeting creates accountability when they know
Speaker 1: they are meeting the next day, creates momentum to reach milestones.
Speaker 1: People may also mention appreciating that right after the team meeting.
Speaker 1: When everyone is there together, they can ask any colleague
Speaker 1: a quick question and don't need to resort to lengthy
Speaker 1: email correspondence. You may decide that, in fact, you don't
Speaker 1: want to go from meeting weekly to monthly instead, but
Speaker 1: perhaps you socialize a new idea of putting some of
Speaker 1: the meeting content into email and meeting for a shorter
Speaker 1: amount of time. People who love planning may sometimes be
Speaker 1: inclined to spend a lot of time in our heads
Speaker 1: to work out compelling proposals, and that can be great.
Speaker 1: But by informally socializing an idea making friends for it
Speaker 1: early on, you can get a sense of whether or
Speaker 1: not others will support it. If others support seems unlikely,
Speaker 1: you can just let the idea go. If others do
Speaker 1: seem supportive, you can develop the idea based on their feedback.
Speaker 1: What's more, when some people hear about the ideas that's developing,
Speaker 1: they may feel a sense of ownership. That way, you
Speaker 1: can build buy in before you even offer a formal proposal.
Speaker 1: Making friends for your ideas is really a good idea
Speaker 1: all around. In the meantime, this is Laura, Thanks for listening.
Speaker 1: Here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for
Speaker 1: listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,
Speaker 1: you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
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Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.