Page 221 - Free the Idea Monkey

Harold doesn’t know it, but he is often single-handedly keeping
your company from moving forward. So how do you deal with the
Harolds of this world? Here are five proven techniques:

1. Stop denying Harold exists. Awhile back, we were asked
by a retailer to come up with new things it could offer that would

be consistent with the brand yet
boost margins. During the kickoff
meeting, it became apparent that
there was a high-ranking Harold on
the leadership team, but the CEO
assured us she could control Harold
and that we should not modify our process in any way.
Fatal mistake. At seemingly every turn, Harold found a reason
why things would not work. Despite nudges, begging, sucking up
and private conversations, nobody could keep Harold from “helping”
things stay off track. It was brutal. Ideas were dismissed before they
got enough attention to make them viable. This experience showed
me that it is a much better strategy to embrace Harold. Start the
project by having a private stakeholder meeting with Harold to fully
understand and show you value his point of view and expertise.
2. Play by (some of) his rules. To be successful, an innovative
idea must meet the criteria of company leadership. If you have a
Harold, he qualifies as company leadership. In fact,
his voice may be more powerful than the CEO’s, since
often the CEO will passively check in with Harold on
all major initiatives.
Make sure you go to Harold and get an extensive
list of criteria from him. What qualifies as a good
idea? What technical challenges must we overcome?
What operational hurdles are deal breakers?
Allowing Harold to set some—and agree to (almost) all—success
criteria enables you to neutralize him. You can show him that you
are creating and eliminating ideas based on his wishes. He can take
credit for the ideas since his criteria are helping to shape them.

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