You may recall a few months ago I asked for your vote to speak at the SXSW Sydney Innovation festival. I proposed to talk about how to navigate culture to execute strategy.
Thank you to the hundreds of people who supported my application! I’m grateful. And many of you have been asking me the outcome. So here’s what happened.
I was sitting at my desk a couple of weeks ago, and an email arrived from the festival organiser. A punch in the guts. My application was DECLINED.
Why this is important to me
I have this passion to change the way that strategy is done. To involve people from the start. To navigate culture effectively and bring stakeholders along the journey. From 50+ implementations, I know that this works. It delivers financial success AND builds more respect in the culture. With a 96% success rate. This is my life’s work.
SXSW offers me a chance to reach thousands of people with this message. Therefore I really want to talk at this event.
So when I received that rejection I felt so disappointed. Deflated. Frustrated. Despite knowing there were hundreds of high-profile speakers who applied to in category.
We all suffer from knock-backs at work. How do you handle this? How do you address stakeholder rejection? For example, that role or promotion that you didn’t get. Your proposal that wasn’t approved? That project that you put your heart and soul into, and was not successful? No-one wins all the time.
Below are 3 ideas for handling stakeholder setbacks (or disappointment, obstacles, failure or challenges). My focus in this blog is influencing stakeholders to deliver your strategic projects, but it can apply to any setback in life.
3 tips to moving beyond stakeholder rejection
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Reframe it. Let’s remind ourselves that this is just one step in a journey of many steps. Anything we achieve feels better if it’s hard to win. If it was easy, it wouldn’t mean as much.
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Debrief it. Find the courage and patience to figure out the lessons. What skill do we need to learn to ensure that we get what we want next time.
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Refine it. We use our learnings to refine our approach going forward. In my case, it is identifying what is unique about my approach to strategy execution and change. And the reality is that most professionals leading projects/ change/ strategy execution do not understand how to influence others to want what you want in organizations. They only have 1-2 pieces of the puzzle. We need all the pieces to get cut through and deliver.Watch this 4 minute video for more.
Turning rejection into a win
After you’ve reframed, debriefed and refined it, you may find you’ve converted your rejection into a win. My win (after the SXSW loss) is receiving several requests recently with exactly the right people: Executives with high-stakes strategic projects that they absolutely must get delivered.
*** Please forward this newsletter to someone who will also find it valuable. ***
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PS: If you have high-stakes projects you absolutely
MUST
GET
DELIVERED,
see my upcoming 2 day LIVE Strategy Execution for Success Bootcamp (with AI) – outline here.
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Quote of the week
“We can choose courage, or we can choose comfort,
but we can’t have both. Not at the same time.”
Brene Brown
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____________ Keep turbocharging with a culture-friendly approach 😊🌱📈 |
PS Turbocharge your strategic influence 😊🌱📈
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About Lisa Carlin
Lisa Carlin is a Strategy Execution Specialist. She works with business leaders to plan and execute their strategies in tough environments. Her clients love having her expertise and guidance to navigate their workplace culture and use AI to achieve success.
Lisa created The Turbochargers Hub, so leaders can master the art of strategic influence and generate momentum for organizational change.
Lisa is author of the globally acclaimed newsletter, Turbocharge Weekly, read by 8,000 business leaders.
Lisa’s career includes roles at McKinsey and Accenture, then running her own business since 1999. Over this time she has delivered over 50 implementations with a 96% success rate.