Getting Your Idea Off a Cocktail Napkin and into the Marketplace

There's no good idea that can't be improved on. —Michael Eisner

Overuse of the word collaboration has started to erode its meaning. Let’s not forget that collaboration is a big deal. It means a person or company is opening up a potentially powerful and profitable vision for development to other people. But when and how to bring people in is important. Multiple studies corroborate what to me is common sense: members of a team need to trust their leaders, whether it’s executive leadership or the person leading their team to even care enough to offer their conflicting point of view. And without conflicting points of view, there’s no true collaboration, no innovation. There’s just smart people playing nice and not making very much happen.

For me, one of the ways I model that trust is to sketch out only 20% of my idea before enlisting the insights, influence, and commitment of others to build out the remaining 80%. By bringing in others early, I signal that I know I don’t have all the answers, but I trust my team to turn the vision into reality. That trust gives them a sense ownership in the process, which, in turn, opens them to sharing the best of their talent—because ultimately they will share in its success.

But building that level of trust takes time. What if you have the gift of a great idea, the clock is ticking (because surely there are other people working on the same or similar idea), but the prospect of sharing it with your team or group of friends feels daunting? What if, upon self-reflection, you find that you’re not sure you have the right collection of people? What if you realize you don’t trust them enough to share your idea?

Part of it could be that little voice we all have in our heads, jumping in to give us a rapid-fire list of reasons not to do something. But if on further examination, it’s really not your fear but the realization that you don’t have the relationships with your colleagues you thought you had, I have a few practices for you that will start to lay that foundation of trust. They also work to create transparency among your team members from the get-go, which you’ll need to ensure that important points of view are voiced, so your idea becomes something new and innovative in a crowded marketplace.

Ask How Well You Know Your Team—and Vice Versa

The best collaborative team leaders are both goal- and relationship-oriented. Ask yourself how well you know your team members’ personal goals, because this is the ground for sowing trust. For example, if you know that one of your team members is committed to being an active parent, you can offer certain compromises to the team so that personal goals can be met even while these important members of your team contribute to the project. Everyone on your team has unique needs and goals; by acknowledging and tending to those needs, you signal that they can trust and work with you.

Also take a look at your own behavior. Sometimes you can inadvertently send messages that thwart developing deep, mutually beneficial relationships. Are you relatable? Are you more likely to work behind a closed office door? Do you ask others about their lives or just what projects they’re working on? What seems to you like a perfectly normal work relationship may be interpreted by others as being unfriendly or closed-off. Are people at ease when they come to you with questions? What can you do to make them more at ease?

Find One Confidant

Everyone should have at least one good friend at work who can offer solid advice when you need it. It’s best if this person is not on you team but perhaps someone with a complementary role in another department. By removing any perceived conflict of interest, chances are your confidant will only be looking out for you and the best outcomes for your effort. Whether you want to practice your new way of communicating or perhaps you’re still getting your idea to that 20% stage, having a confidant will help you continually build and maintain your confidence as a leader of a stellar team that is working toward bringing your innovation to life.

Never Eat Alone

Ha. Of course I think that. But seriously, one of the easiest ways to develop the close bonds you need with your team is to treat them to a relaxing lunch away from the office. People become “less scary” or less scared of you when they’re enjoying a nice meal. Plus, a change of venue brings new perspectives on how you work with and relate to one other. Use the time away from the office to learn about their interests or hobbies or to find out what they like most about the work they do. These conversations will help you see how and where everyone can contribute and help you find the rest of your solution.

One of the practices we use at Ferrazzi Greenlight, my consulting firm, is the personal/professional check-in. We often start meetings, in-house or offsite, by having each person spend only a minute or two sharing what’s going on in their lives personally and professionally. We encourage people to be vulnerable. We don’t want to hear only the good news. We want to know when people may need a little extra help or consideration, so they don’t have to put up a good front—and waste energy that could be going to their personal situation or their work. These check-ins go a long way toward creating the camaraderie needed for teams to succeed.

You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know

One of the best ways to create a team that’s all-in on collaborating with you is to make sure everyone has a say in the success of the project. Not just in doing the work but in developing the idea. Utilize each person’s unique experience and expertise to guide the whole group to discovering the strengths and weaknesses of a particular path, before they’re baked into the solution. Not all input needs to be incorporated, but by allowing others to weigh in, they naturally have a greater stake in the outcome. Each member of the team will gravitate toward the area where he or she has the most experience, and this will help you uncover the unknowns that you didn’t even know you didn’t know!

We’re conditioned to seeing competition as important to our personal success, and it is, but it becomes a roadblock (even a death knell to progress) if it keeps us from opening up ourselves and our ideas to others. Successful teams across disciplines create a gestalt where each person’s talent and expertise is amplified through the work of the whole. Remember, you chose your team for a reason, so let them prove to you that you made the right choice in taking them on. Build the trust and relationships that will transform your vision on a cocktail napkin into a new product or service in the marketplace.

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