The right solution or innovation, posed just days early or late, could fail to meet your goals, so how do you know when your timing is right?
Take a Look at the Context
The best ideas can fail when taken out of context. Consider, for example, the COVID-19 health crisis. During this crisis, people needed solutions for remote work, for interacting with customers and team members, and for reaching their goals in spite of distancing requirements.
What they did not need were face-to-face interaction or activities that could potentially pose an additional health impact. Likewise, this might have proven a poor period for individuals working for companies struggling with difficult financial questions to ask for a raise, or for people to launch dramatically different new careers in a field where many people were unable to work.
Whether you’re a business owner or an individual looking to improve your overall career prospects, carefully consider the context of your request or your idea. Ask:
How does this idea fit with the current climate? Take a look at the nationwide climate as well as the climate within your industry and within your workplace. You can have a fantastic, innovative idea, but if it doesn’t fit with the current climate, you may need to put it on hold until the situation is better.
Imagine, for example, that you have a plan that can substantially improve one of the processes that your company performs every day–but it’s going to require a substantial up-front investment.
If your idea comes at a time when your company is already struggling to come up with needed funds, you may need to put it on hold until the company has more funds available.
How does the idea fit with what others around you are doing?
Innovation is critical. That does not mean, however, that you can afford to ignore the climate around you while issuing innovations. Take a look at what your competitors and coworkers are doing.
If your coworker has recently been turned down for a raise, it might not be the time to ask for one of your own. Likewise, if your competitor has recently launched a failed campaign focusing on a particular concept, this might not be the time for your business to follow in its footsteps.
What do you really want to change?
In some cases, you may take your own idea out of context, especially as it grows. Carefully consider what it is that you really want to change or support, then adjust your thinking to fit your plan into your real goals.
Explore the Challenges
Any great idea will have some challenges standing in its way. They could be financial: you need the funds to accomplish your goals, regardless of what they might be. They could be environmental: it’s not the right time for a specific idea or concept. Before you launch your new concept, consider those challenges.
Choosing the right context can make a big difference, but it may not open the doors you need to help make your idea reality. Before you launch it, explore the challenges and confront or change them wherever possible.
For example, if you’re worried about financial challenges, you might consider how you can shift your existing budget or what fundraising measures you could take to improve your ability to fund your idea.
Once you have explored the challenges:
Solve them. Many challenges can be overcome with a relatively simple transition–but you have to launch it. Put that solution together before anyone else, whether it’s your backers or your boss, has a chance to raise an objection.
Look for ways around them. Sometimes, you may not be able to solve the challenge entirely, but you can find a way to go around it. That may mean altering your idea or shifting your perspective to include that need.
Ask for help addressing them. Work with your associates, from your boss to your backers, to help improve your ability to deal with challenges that might stand in your way.
Timing is everything. If you want to make a change for the people around you, make sure you’re appropriately addressing timing concerns and, ultimately, setting yourself up for success.
With these strategies, you can be sure that your timing is right–and, as a result, you can increase your likelihood of reaching your goals.
