Tash Inspires
Tash Inspires
Bright ideas: How to effectively share your ideas with your team
Bright ideas: How to effectively share your ideas with your team
Cynthia has begun to get the hang of things around the office, making friends, increasing her responsibility, and becoming more familiar with her surroundings. She has started to contribute in team meetings by leading progress updates, however, she has not yet pitched one of her many unique ideas. Cynthia knows that her ideas could positively impact her team and even the company, but she hasn’t mustered up the courage to share them with her peers.
Here are Cynthia’s 3 tips that you can use to overcome the fear of sharing your ideas during your next team meeting.
1. Prep your idea –Write out your idea. Ensure that it’s sound and makes sense. Be sure to include why the idea is important enough to pursue and the “WIIFM” (What’s in it for me) for the audience. It’s important for the audience to know, what they stand to gain, as a team and individually from the idea.
2. Decide what is needed - Whether it be funding, manpower, bandwidth, or a special clearance, decide what is needed to ensure that your vision turns into a successful outcome. Be honest with what’s needed. Don’t attempt to cut corners in your idea, because it sounds better. If you do it could jeopardize the quality and integrity of the project. Instead, if some of the items needed seem a bit out of reach, be prepared to compromise, but make sure the negotiation doesn’t tamper with the overall outcome of the project.
3. Presenting the idea – When presenting the idea, one of the most important
qualities to exhibit is confidence. You are virtually selling your idea to your peers, and studies show that people are more likely to trust and believe in those who are confident. Your confidence paired with the right visual representation and/or strong verbal explanation will increase the likelihood that your idea will be approved and endorsed.