Know-How Exchange : Research/Metrics

I would suggest picking one you can implement yourself...with no help, regardless of the extra time it takes you....and work it a few months. Get some success and then go in and explain your success.

Michael

You have to be patient. Learn what motivates your management. Some managers may feel threatened by new ideas that may challenge their thinking or way of doing business. Very few businesses make radical changes unless they are forced to. Incremental change is more the norm in corporate America. Middle managers are too comfortable in their positions to risk attempting radical change.

The knowledge you gained from the conference will always be yours, keep it current. There will come a time when the opportunity will present itself for you to suggest an incremental change or the ultimate CYA tactic a "pilot program".

A pilot program is safe, because it can allow your manager, depending on how "safe" he feels to demonstrate some initiative without having to commit to full scale. If it doesn't work out, well that's why you do a pilot. If it does, all the better.

- Understand what motivates your management
- Think incremental rather than radical change
- Propose pilot programs

Finally, just so they don't think you've gone on a boondoggle, submit a trip report. But write it in such a way that it will give them a reason to ask questions. In other words, raise their interest levels without making any proposals. You'll get a better read on their receptivity if they ask questions. If you submit the report and no one has questions then that is a finding in itself.

Good Luck!

Perhaps work out why the manager shot down the idea. Was it because the manager was not involved in the conference, or the idea was not in line with the strategy etc. This will then give you an idea of how to get the manager on side with other ideas from the conference.

Go slowly if you want to bring about change and get all key stakeholders involved from the start as the outcome will be better.

Radical changes are almost always hard. To change "the way we do things here" talk, you need stories of other successful companies that were doing things like "us", that changed to "this new thing", and the upshot.

For some great ways of changing the culture, read: Squirrel, Inc.