Ruffling Feathers

Derek was in a meeting and had an idea. He thought it could be great, but it would be different from what had been done before. He doesn’t want to step on any toes.

The greatest flaw in any organization is to continue doing what’s always been done. This is a sure way to lose to competitors that are continuously innovating. How will you be better, faster, more affordable, or provide more value tomorrow?

Derek needs to know it’s okay to share his idea right, wrong, or otherwise. It may be the fault of leadership not encouraging new ideas to be brought to the table. It might be Derek’s own insecurities of being afraid to fail.

How do you speak up without ruffling anyone’s feathers?

1. Listen and observe. The loudest voice may get heard more, but focus on quality over quantity. If you don’t want to ruffle anyone’s feathers, you have to understand them first. Understand the power dynamics in a room and not just the organizational hierarchy. Understand the personalities.

   • Example: Who are people listening to when decisions are being made? You’ll need to make sure you get that person on board before you’ll be able to get the group.

   • Example: Are they more or less willing to change? What are they passionate about? Tailor the benefits of what you’re going to say towards that. You may need to factor in a phased approach.

   • Example: Do they like to get involved or be more hands off? This will determine how much work they want you to do for them and when to involve them so they feel like they’re a part of it.

2. Do your homework. Why is this the best idea since sliced bread? Has it been proven to work somewhere else before? Why will it work now? Have you run it by someone else before bringing it to the group?

   • Tip #1 - Find someone who won’t steal your ideas, but is senior in the organization to discuss your idea with. Ideally this is someone who may be impacted by the adoption of the idea. Feedback is important.

   • Tip #2 - When you can prove something will work and make people’s lives easier or make money, the only remaining question for leadership is ‘why not?’ The only way this will ruffle feathers is if someone feels threatened because it wasn’t their idea.

     • Once the idea gets buy-in to move forward, ask for the threatened person’s help. Make them feel like they’re a part of it in some way even if it’s just to get their advice. You can’t do everything yourself and you don’t want to burn bridges.

3.  Show the audience how it will benefit them. Whether it’s your peers, your team, or the C-suite, what’s in it for them? If you are going to vocalize a problem, you should be prepared to have a solution so you aren’t just complaining. How will your solution make things better? How long will it take to implement? Who would need to be involved? Why is it worth it?

   • Tip #1 - Use data. Numbers, charts, graphs are always good.

   • Tip #2 - When determining who needs to be involved, make sure you’re identifying all impacted parties.

   • Tip #3 - Do not blindside your manager. Make sure they are aware this is something you’re working on and discuss the appropriate time to share more details. They might be aware of someone else working on something similar or need you to focus on something more urgent. You also need them to be your biggest advocate if you’re going to be successful.

Everyone has a different background and a different perspective. It is very difficult to make everyone happy all the time and sometimes you have to make a decision someone doesn’t like in order to better the organization. A good leader will explain why they’re doing what they’re doing and the impacts it will have.

How are you going to make things better?