Avoiding the Soft "Yes" It was undoubtedly a high-quality piece of work. The project team had spent the past six months designing a new strategy to accelerate growth in a critical emerging market for a multibillion-dollar multinational. The summary document had that rare combination: a compelling long-term vision and a credible set of near-term actions addressing critical strategic unknowns. The last page of the 50-page document concluded the compelling story with a small request — four dedicated individuals for six months and $250,000 to conduct an in-market pilot. The project leader believed the modest request would translate into an easy yes. I could see the logic in that approach, but I feared it wasn’t going to work the way she was expecting. In actual fact, I’ve found, saving “the ask” for the end of the document increases the risks of encountering a hidden enemy of innovation inside large companies: the “soft yes.” This happens when executives get jazzed about a broad innovation strategy, nod their head vigorously in support of it, but stop short of committing real, tangible resources, however modest. It was the four dedicated people that were going to be the sticking point, I thought. You almost always can find money in someone’s budget, or find creative ways around financial constraints to progress a new idea. But there are only so many hours in the day. Executives often hesitate to hire additional staff (“What happens if this doesn’t work — then what do we do?” they say). They’re equally reluctant to ask their best performers to shift from what are perceived to be critical tasks related to running the core business to risky innovation efforts. They’re more comfortable asking busy people to add another item to their to-do list. But since most people’s incentives are tied to delivering against the core business, they’ll likely nod their heads and agree to help out — but prioritize the tasks they feel they’re being paid to do over the pursuit of uncertain ideas. Thus, the soft yes — people agree (in principle) to your request, but they don’t come through whole-heartedly. The net result is that innovation efforts limp along, making just enough progress to keep management intrigued, but not enough to have any material impact. One way to avoid the soft yes is to make your resource request clear early — within the first 10 minutes of any review meeting. Be specific. Then lay out the logic for the request. Detail the metrics that senior management can monitor as they watch their investment. Consider creating an exit strategy in case things don’t go according to plan. If you are hiring new people, for example, perhaps they could be redeployed to other functions, if things don’t pan out. Or maybe they could be brought on using temporary contracts. End your meeting by repeating the resource request. If you obtain verbal agreement, send a written summary to stakeholders to nail it down. This all might sound like overkill, but remember that companies left to their own devices will naturally default to executing today’s business, not creating tomorrow’s. Being clear in intent, consistent in your explanations, and persistent in getting formal agreement can ensure that you get the resources you need when you need them.
Posted on: Wed, 09 Oct 2013 19:14:20 +0000
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