Are Your Ideas Falling Flat?

Are your ideas often falling flat?

Have you ever had what you thought was a great business idea, but the moment you began sharing it with someone on your team it fell completely flat?

This used to happen to me all the time until I realised that people process information differently. In the above video, I cover why that happens and three ways to improve your communication, so your ideas land the way you intend.

One of the main reasons we lose people when we're trying to explain something is because of a difference in the way in which that person and the way in which we process information.

Some people are top-down. In other words, they're global. They need to see the forest, then the tree, and then the detail, the texture, the tone, the colours of the individual leaf.

Other people are bottom-up. So they start with the detail and they work up, toward the forest.

For example, my wife is very detail-oriented, and I’m more global. So often, we see things differently. She wants all the details upfront, and I’m like, “Don’t worry about that—let’s get the big picture right first.”

Here are three ways that you can improve your communication and reduce the chance of an idea falling flat.

1. Know your own behavioural tendencies.
   If you’re high global, top-down, or big-picture first, you’ll need to consciously include more detail when sharing an idea. If you’re high detail, zoom out and explain how your project fits into the bigger picture.

2. Know your audience.
   If you’re high global and they’re high detail, tailor your communication to their style. Focus on the aspects they process naturally.

3. Position the idea and your strengths/weaknesses.
   For example: "Hey, I have a clear idea of how this project fits into the bigger picture of our business—the direction we’re going and the strategies that matter over the next 12 months. But I’m lacking some of the detail—how it will actually be executed operationally—so I’d love your help to bring that to life."

I'm interested to know, are you somebody who's high global or are you somebody who's high detail?

And if you'd like some help finding that out for sure. We've got a really helpful tool that we use with our 1:1 clients called AccuMatch. Get in touch if you’d like to know more.