Vincent Ludwig: Drebin!
Jane: Frank!
Frank: You’re both right.
- The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad
What do you do when you have a certain direction in mind that is so clear, and your teammate or manager is thinking the exact opposite or simply have another way of aiming for that goal?
Could it be that you’re both right?
Yes, it could be – it happens!
We run so many different activities and campaigns that it makes sense you came up with a creative direction, solution, or idea that’s more than just a keeper. But, as always, there seems to be another viable possibility that makes just as much sense as yours.
So go ahead and run it, fail if possible, just go ahead and fail fast.
This is just like those marketing headaches that can be a lot of fun – since you don’t know what will hit, and you’re not sure who’s ideas is right, go ahead and run one of those ideas (or possibly both)…quickly…so you get the answer you seek: does it work, or is it a dud?
If it works, hooray, you rock and can grow, expand, and adapt it beyond to make a greater impact. If in turn it failed and didn’t get the response you sought, then you got your answer quickly and can move on to your teammate’s idea…to run quickly and assess results.
Rinse and repeat.
In other words, you can do all the planning you want, but planning on its own doesn’t give you the answers you seek, only assumptions…which don’t amount to great leads, engagement, interest, feedback, etc.
Still, held back and unsure which direction to take? Both ideas sound good.
It’s ok, it’s natural, and you just need to get started and get better. You may make a mistake by planning on running an activity that will fail, but you can’t have perfection; heck, perfection will cripple your progress, so just run it, and…
…fail fast, gather yourself, and run the next idea.