When there is poop on your party.

Today was one of the bestest brainstorming sessions ever. My coworker and I started with a few vague ideas on staff fun-days and an hour later had two pages worth of actionable plans and enthusiasm levels so high that I was actually jumping up and down throughout half the conversation.

And then came the poop.

When we presented our ideas to one of the executives at the office, our shining eyes and glowing smiles were basically met with: "Meh. I don't think that anyone's going to go for it."

Of course, it stung. But that's not the topic of this post. I'm interested in thinking about the pooped upon rather than the pooper. What does one do in that situation? Give up? Complain? Rebel?

It's perfectly possible (maybe even likely) that she was right--maybe no one will want to participate in the events we had planned for the staff. Or maybe she's wrong, and everyone will burst with excitement as soon as we announce our ideas. Or maybe it's a little of both and what we need to acknowledge is that our ideas may first be received with ambivalence or even a few "boos" and rotten vegetables, so we need to find the right way to build enthusiasm and get people on board.

Like Megan said in her post--as student leaders, we develop ideas that are supposed to aid students in enjoying college. Well maybe they just don't know what will make them enjoy college more and they are suspicious and skeptical (as people tend to be these days). If that's the case, then we, the pooped upon, should see lackluster participation as a sign that we should be putting more effort into the "marketing." We've got to grow enthusiasm (while receiving and incorporating feedback).

So there. I'm sticking to my plans, damn it.

Comments

[Megan Millisor]

Lol. Why is it we both get inspired to write something at about the same time?

Anyway, I intimately know what it is like to have someone "poop" on my ideas. I think the best way to get your ideas in motion is to have a lot of passion about them. If you show how much you really want to do something, it is inevitable that others will "catch" your enthusiasm.

Even when I'm trying to get someone to do something for me (that I might not want to do myself), I've found that if I sound enthusiastic about it, they start to as well. Its very much like Tom Sawyer and whitewashing the fence.

So if you are actually excited about an idea, that will come across even more and hopefully get people on the same page with you. Now I know not EVERYONE will be up for it, but as long as a good size group is in agreement the others won't complain much. :)

[Tania]

That's a really great approach. As I go forth with my (previously pooped on) plans, I'll try to keep an eye out for best practices. I feel like I have to tread carefully particularly because we have some opposition from people who are the authorities or "crowd leaders."

P.S. Tom Sawyer was my hero as a kid. We should do a whole case study on him!!!