You have to make yourself stand out at work with your best ideas. Sometimes, half the battle is selling it to your boss.
Coming up with fresh, innovative ideas in work is what will make you get recognised by your boss and organisation. It’s what can separate you from the rest of your colleagues as a forward-thinker.
By the time you’ve fleshed out an idea enough and it’s time to actually pitch it to your boss, chances are you’ve deemed it a very good option.
But it takes more than a good idea to actually win your boss over. There are many other logistics and processes they will be considering while you’re pitching your amazing idea, so, learning how to successfully pitch an idea is a skill in itself.
A good exercise when you come up with your idea is to base it around the problems you’re trying to solve. Even if the idea came before you thought about the problems, work backwards and do the groundwork to ensure your idea still stands up.
Trying to come up with other ideas or even better ones is also a good exercise, as it will help you find the problems with your own, open your eyes to a stronger idea or solidify the reasons why yours is the best.
It’s also smart to come up with potential questions or problems that your idea may present so your boss doesn’t catch you unprepared when they ask these questions.
Will it require a budget, time or other resources to execute? Will it take you away from other important work? Will the results be worth the extra time? These are the questions you’ll need to know the answers to.
When pitching an idea to your boss, it’s very important that you choose the right time. For instance, Mondays are often very busy and your boss might not have the time to fully listen to your idea. Not only will they not be able to take it all in, but they might just reject it straight off the bat.
No matter what side of the business your idea is serving, always find a way to relate it back to your boss’s goals. Find how it will make their life better or make their business goals more achievable.
Finally, practice always makes perfect, so be sure to rehearse and even record yourself to ensure you deliver the best pitch in front of your boss.
For more tips on how to successfully pitch an idea to your boss, check out the infographic below.
Infographic: NetCredit
