Just Do It

A letter in the “In My Humble Opinion” column of Fast Company magazine expressed frustration about a company filled with people who refused to try anything new. The writer claimed that she knew exactly how to save the company, but no one above her would let her do it. Seth Godin, Change Agent, responded:

“What you’re looking for is an insurance policy that will protect you against retribution if your plan goes awry. What you’re waiting for is someone way up the ladder to tell you that you can launch a product or institute a cost-savings plan. You want their approval to free you from risk. That’s not going to happen.

Just do it. If you wait for approval, it means that you want someone to cover your backside if you fail. People higher up on the corporate ladder are well aware of the risk that comes with trusting you. If you screw up after receiving their approval, then they’ll be the ones who get into hot water, not you.”^[*]

To prepare to spread the word about the new idea, use it in your own work to discover its benefits and limitations.

You are an Evangelist-wanna-be, motivated to adopt a new idea. You are interested in spreading the word to others in the organization, but you don’t have enough understanding of what the new idea can offer. When you talk about the possibilities, people ask questions that you can’t answer.

You don’t have any experience with the innovation yourself, just good ideas that might work. You believe that the innovation can help the organization, but you’re not sure.

People will be wary if you only have a good idea but no experience to back it up. They are likely to ask questions you can’t answer. Sometimes it’s better to labor in secret until demonstrable success is in hand.

If you wait until you’re comfortable, if you wait until you know what you’re doing, you will have wasted precious time. Many of us who could be doing something do nothing because we think we don’t know enough. But when we aren’t willing to explore a new idea, we miss the opportunity to learn.

Do your research. Lack of experience is easy for opponents to attack while positive experience is more difficult to refute. Your increased understanding of the innovation’s limitations helps you avoid overselling and provides insight into approaches more workable.

Therefore:

Gather first-hand information on the benefits and limitations of the innovation by integrating it into your current work.

Learn as you go. Record the strengths and pitfalls you encounter along the way. If possible, quantify the benefits (although this can be difficult). Gather enough information so that you can show others how the innovation will be useful for them.

Be realistic about what you can and cannot do. Make sure that your work with the innovation does not distract from your official duties. Rather, it should relate to and improve the quality or speed of your official work; otherwise, your story will not be credible.

Before you begin, you may want to check around for others in the organization who may also be working with the new idea. It is more effective, and will avoid jealous feelings, to “just do it” together rather than in separate projects.

If you find a few Innovators(170) who are also interested in exploring the new idea, ask for help. But keep this group small in number. Make sure they are willing to take it slow, set realistic goals, and follow your lead.

While you are experimenting with the innovation in your own work, search for every bit of information to help you. Read articles, look at Web sites, and talk with anyone you can find outside the organization who has experience using the innovation. This will provide some External Validation(148).

To spread the word about your findings, present a Hometown Story(164). Help your colleagues understand that the innovation is not beyond their grasp with Personal Touch(198). Take a low-key approach when you report your experiences. Don’t be overly optimistic or insistent that the new approach is a silver bullet. You may want to simply demonstrate it to a few people and tell them how you benefited from it. When you have enough information, try to convince the organization to Trial Run(245) the innovation.

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This pattern generates the knowledge you need to take on the role of Evangelist(144). You will increase your understanding of the innovation and, in turn, be more prepared to talk intelligently about it and address other people’s questions.

But you are using this pattern because you know so little. Therefore, others are likely to see you struggle and this can turn them off to the new idea. Don’t discount your struggles, but make sure others see an overall positive attitude in you.

One organization had a software application project that was stalled for a long time. Everyone mentioned it but no one was able to get it moving. Because the project was technically “adjacent” to what Daniel’s team was working on, they decided to just do it. The team built a limited version of the application and called it a “test program.” It allowed the team to try their preferred design, a low-risk exercise that would speak for itself if it turned out viable. When they started receiving some positive feedback for their efforts, they felt some hope that their work would eventually be recognized as the “first version” of the larger application.

Frances hoped to encourage her fellow team members to write their software documentation in pattern format. So she started writing her own documentation in this form. It allowed her to better understand the difficulties and the advantages so that she could explain these things to her team. The team members started becoming accustomed to seeing her documentation written in the new format and eventually it didn’t even seem like an usual way of writing—it just began to make sense.