6 practical tips on how to convince your manager to adopt your most innovative ideas.

More and more companies are encouraging their employees to propose innovations and improvements. New ideas worth a lot to organizations because they can help both innovation and cost savings.

Some companies encourage employees to indicate improvements, including by offering prizes such as cash, bonuses, products, and vouchers. In addition to the gains for the business, there is a clear perception that seeing an approved proposal motivates the employee, which contributes to reducing employee turnover.

However, it's not always easy to convince our managers of something innovative or disruptive that involves the financial resources of the company.

In this article, I will help you to understand how can you convince your manager or whoever in the company to adopt your most innovative idea or consider it at least?

1. Identify the required changes.

The timing of presenting a new idea to your manager and co-workers can be compared to a job interview. You never know how it will be, nor what the future repercussion in the company, therefore, you should know as much as possible about the potential of the project, as well as its possible weaknesses.

Be as more realistic as possible and identify what is urgent and necessary, certifying yourself that the need is real and that more people in the company see the same need.

To identify an effective need for change it is essential to listen to what others have to say about it. See their point of view, listening to the difficulties they encounter in their day-to-day work.

While identifying needs, certify that this are not just complaints. Once you detect the needs for change, write it down, record in some way everything that you have been heard. This is an essential step in how to convince your boss that the idea is engaged with the company.

2. Innovate through the power of persuasion.

Unfortunately, there are still companies that do not give enough freedom to the employee to be heard frankly. It does not open space for him to participate in decisions.

In such cases, it is vital to use intelligence and sensibility, not imposing your idea as if it were the best and only. It is through the power of persuasion that you will be able to expose the problem and propose a solution showing how everyone wins out of it.

Getting allies in your industry will make your proposal grow stronger and help you show clearly how important it is to you that something is done.

3. Present your idea based on data and metrics

To make your idea gain space, it will depend a lot on the way you present it, explaining every detail. You must to be in the condition to convince your boss that the idea is extraordinary. One thing that help you to get there is to use examples from other organizations that have done it and worked it out. If they are of the same branch of action as yours, even better.

The clearer and reliable the data you have, the higher the certainty that the idea will produce the imagined improvement. Also, if you work in a place that does not have communication channels or even processes defined to receive the employee's opinion, one way out is to propose the matter to the boss directly.

The more metrics you can gather (how much time can be saved, how many resources can be released or optimized, for example.), the higher the chances of getting your innovation accepted. When selling an idea is to critical to explain who will benefit from it and why. When we use clear and relevant metrics, the idea becomes more palpable and more meaningful to execute.

4. Remember that timing is everything.

I always recommend attention when choosing an ideal place and time as well. Deciding to present a new idea is always a complicated task. However, one must know how to combine intuition and experience, to weigh the pros and cons of decision making.

Avoid the terrible Monday mornings with a thousand and one things to do or that Friday when everyone is counting the hours to start the weekend.

5. Consider that your ideas can have a global impact.

To innovate in the corporate environment, however, you must already have conquered a certain space in the company, ensuring some degree of stability and confidence among managers whom recognize your capacity and potential.

This is because, under such situation, managers are much more open to view the proposal as positive for the company.

Moreover, I recommend in no way to propose significant changes in times of financial instability or even during internal restructuring processes.

When proposing, for example, a new form of employee training, development, and communication, make it clear that such a decision impacts the company's strategy at several levels, including making sure that HR is heavily involved in doing so.

The best ideas to propose are those that represent a way to develop employees so that everyone wins and gets more engaged, working with a sense of cooperation in improving the final result that will be delivered.

6. Accept the fact that you can fail.

When you take a risk, there is always the probability that something can go right or wrong. If your idea works out, you will be boosted and vice versa.

It is essential to know whom you work with and measure the risks of the market, but the responsibility for a mistake should not be directed only to the person who gave the idea.

If nothing works, do not get frustrated. Proposing an innovative idea is never a quick and readily accepted process. This can involve several levels and teams requiring a lot of interdiciplinary considerations and details. That is why, above all, patience and persistence are necessary here.

Do not let the first "no" or the difficulties decrease your productivity level and enthusiasm. and never let it kills all your creativity.

In the corporate environment, the area of activity of the company is often significant to define the percentage of attitudes of risk that one should have, but it is worth remembering that to some risk is necessary when considering the possibility of growth of the company in any sector.

Conclusion

To communicate and sustain the innovative ideas you must, first of all, have an excellent technical background related to the topic.

Invest in your technical career, through courses, good readings and stay hungry for learning. This knowledge will give you the necessary support for those moments.

However, technical knowledge is essential, but by itself is not enough to ensure the success of a risky venture within the organization. It is also necessary flexibility and various soft-skills, which can be conquered through experience. Also, only those who try the new, who do the different and bond without fear in the pursuit of success gain experience.

As professionals today we are called to put ourselves in evidence, which in certain circumstances means that we must to take some risks. To know how to measure risk is always essential for those who want propose innovative ideas.

Self-indulgence is often the biggest hindrance to professional growth. Sometimes we must to take risks, and validate the cost and benefits that can come from innovation.

Did you like the tips on how to convince your manager to adopt your innovative idea? Do you want to share if you have convinced him? Leave your comment.

Thanks

Jair Ribeiro