Check, check, check this. This is Marty's Minute Audio Podcast. Whoa. Have you ever gone to your leader with a great idea and after you presented, he or she looks at you with that look?
You know that one. They'll look a confusion as if to say, so what? When you present an idea, you need to be able to answer the so what question. So what do I mean by this?
The so what is the business driver behind an idea? It's why somebody would want to execute the idea or plan and why they should care. Without answering the so what, an idea is just that. An idea with no purpose and no excitement behind it.
Now let me give you an example. You go to your leader after coming back from a conference and you want to implement the latest software release being offered. You go through all the new features and functions and how cool these new tools are going to be. You explain to everyone how it's going to just love the change.
But when you're finished, your leader looks at you and says, so what? Your leader's right. All these new features are great. But if you can't answer the so what, you will never get the approvals to move forward.
So what should you have done after listing all the new features and functions? But what you need to do is state the why. Why are these new features important? How are they going to drive productivity or employee engagement?
And really, why should anyone care? So next time you make a presentation, give your leader a business reason to move forward and you should avoid the so what look. Until next time, I'm Marty. Make everything up.