Tips and Hints 2

COMMUNICATION

‘I’m free to do what I want any old time.’ Mick Jagger

KEEP IT REAL

‘What I hear I forget, what I see I remember, what I do I know.’ Ancient Chinese Proverb

The art of bringing an idea to life in whatever way you can, rather than relying on words and numbers.

Think of your audience or customer. Bring your idea to life in a way that the customer really experiences it. The medium is the message.

Words fail us for 3 reasons: theatre of the mind; insider speak and brain styles. Three benefits of realness: ‘props’ evoke reactions; when it looks real it prompts action; people

engage emotionally.

GREENHOUSING

New ideas need a different business environment. Planning and decision making systems for day to day management in the NHS do not support new ideas. New ideas need to be planted and nurtured in the spirit of exploration and adventure. The challenge in the NHS is to navigate successfully between ‘Planet NHS’ and ‘Planet Innovation’.

People and organisations have ‘decision habits’ when solving problems or responding to new ideas. If our values or way we view the world are challenged, we tend to reject new ideas. Organisations and people can adopt simple techniques to unleash creativity and different thinking. Changing the ‘script’ in the way we respond to a new idea with lots of positive statements can in itself change behaviours.

SIGNALLING

Signalling tells others how you want them to react to your idea. Signalling allows you to navigate between a target driven managerial style and innovation. Takes five seconds

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Tips and Hints 2 (cont)

MAKING A PITCH

‘People think it’s all done through numbers; that’s how business works. They think that somehow emotions don’t come into it and it’s all done in a kind of vacuum. But actually most decisions are made emotionally.’ Gerry Robinson

Tell a story of a problem and a solution. Do not be scared to show you understand the problem and to analyse it. This will give your

audience confidence that you ‘get it’. Offer a sympathetic diagnosis. Once you have diagnosed the problem sympathetically, then offer the treatment. Think ‘emotion’, not ‘logic’. Human beings make decisions subjectively. Decisions are rarely

made objectively and rationally. Keep it simple and have only one big, central idea. Reveal the central idea gradually. Let the audience add shade, light and colour and use their imaginations. Have a beginning, middle and end. Say what you are going to say, say it and say what you have

just said. Audiences will always back the person and not the idea. Look as if it doesn’t matter too much to you. Find ways of showing you have a track record and you are a safe pair of hands. Find a balance between excitement and reassurance. Define what success looks like.

Ann Macfadyen

ann@sodainnovation.com

07900 903700

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