How to convince your boss to innovate
Marc Sniukas
For over 20 years, I‘ve helped CEOs and business owners make their companies more successful with clear, actionable, winning strategies ? Follow for Proven Systems to Make Better Strategy
Do you complain about your boss not buying into innovation?
Here‘s how to convince your boss to innovate…or at least not stand in the way ??
I get often asked, ?How do I convince management to buy into innovation?“
I believe that as innovation professionals we have to show them why they should care, what benefits they can expect, and how we‘re going to do it.
Step 1 - Make it personal
Many leaders have a sense that innovation is important, but they can‘t clearly articulate what they expect to get out of it. Show them. Help them to think through their objectives, how innovation could help solve long-lasting challenges. Link everything you want to do to their business goals/objectives/KPIs and explain what innovation could do to reach these targets.
Step 2 - Make it painful
Make it painful not to be investing in innovation. What are the big challenges that your boss has been trying to solve for quite some time, without any meaningful progress? Wouldn‘t it be time to consider fresh approaches? How about reaching the business targets? What‘s the gap that cannot be filled by just going the same? Where are you losing? Customers, against competitors, employees,…
Step 3 - Show them the money
Inspire them with results from other companies. Check my posts on the benefits of design thinking at IBM for example …300% ROI! Millions in cost savings. Increased revenues.
Step 4 - Make it safe to try
Help them see how you‘re going to do it. Outline the steps, the journey. Tell me exactly what you need from them and from others in the team. Make it actionable. Make it measurable. Create a check-in plan: Ask your boss what will make him comfortable. When does he want to be involved? When do you need him to be involved? Agree on the balance between autonomy and accountability. What kind of decision does he want to be involved in? Lower the stakes: What's the smallest thing we could do next? Agree on success criteria at each stage: Why should we keep going? Provide evidence that you‘re actually there.
Once you get going, don‘t just bring them ideas. Bring them evidence from experiments.
Tech Investor | Empire Builder | Business Mentor and Founder at Business Authorities
3 年Great steps to follow.
Business Agile Coach / Agile Transformation / New Work Expert / Organizational Development Consultant
3 年Good points!
International Keynote Speaker, Bestselling Author of Energize and Executive Coach
3 年Great tips Marc ??????
Business Coach ?? Podcast Guest ?? Keynote Speaker ?? Bestselling Author of Online Business Startup and Take Your Shot - Ask me for a free copy of Take Your Shot. Group and 1-2-1 Coaching. Breakthrough Sessions
3 年Love this Marc - too many people pay platitudes in business where really you just need to get the job done, awesome!! ?? ?? ??
Augmenting your Business ?? Automating Creative Workflows for Leaders in Content, Marketing & Sales ?? Futurist Speaker & University Lecturer on AI and XR.
3 年Make the first answer to be a no