It is perhaps ironic that I became so interested in communication, when in my teenage years my passion was playing chess. When playing chess there is no need for communication with other people, in chess the best idea wins. There is no need to convince other people that your ideas are better, there are no hierarchies, there is no politics. Even if your opponent is a famous grand master and you are a beginner, if you play better moves you win by checkmating your opponent. In chess the best idea always wins, in life it doesn’t. That is something I learned after reflecting on some painful experiences.
Imagine sitting at a strategy session with the CEO, COO, CMO, and high-level managers of your company to discuss the strategy for a product that hasn’t been selling as expected. That was me a few years ago at the company I was working for at the time. Research had shown that the product had other benefits apart from the ones customers had traditionally bought the product for. However, when the company tried to sell more product based on the new benefits, the customers were not buying. As the “Chiefs” discussed different options, I was growing frustrated and finally stated what for me was blatantly obvious “The answer is not at this table, the answer is in the market”. That for me was the best idea, meaning we can keep discussing options all we want, but until we don’t go and test those ideas in the market, we will not know what’s the best way to proceed.
What do you think was the outcome? Do you think they liked what I said? After that meeting, I noticed that they started treating me with some distance. It took me sometime to realise that the idea I thought obvious and shared to help the company, may have not been welcome by the “Chiefs”. I didn’t realise that I was part of a hierarchy and saying “The answer is not at this table” could be interpreted as challenging their competence. Reflecting on the experience, I realised that although the idea may have been the best, it didn’t win because I didn’t communicate it in the correct way.
About a year later I left the company to create my own startup. The company did not find a way to market the new benefits for the product and the share price has been falling for the last few years. If I had communicated my idea more effectively, perhaps the story would have been different. Who knows? What I do know is that nowadays when I’m working in a team and I want to propose ideas to improve how we do things, I’m careful that what I say may not be interpreted as questioning other people’s competence. In life, unlike chess, the best idea doesn’t always win. But if you communicate your ideas effectively, you will increase the probabilities that they will.
Make an impact,
Pablo
Image by kzd from Pixabay.