We’ve learned over time that building advocacy across an organization is one of the critical success factors for inside entrepreneurial ventures.
An advocate is someone that supports us and our initiatives. The best advocates pro-actively build connections on our behalf, help us identify and then break barriers or work our way through obstacles, open doors of opportunity, walk through difficult or challenging situations with us, and (loudly) cheer when we are successful.
Advocates are not quite the same as mentors, who are more focused on helping us develop our careers, although oftentimes, a mentor can also play the role of an advocate. But, we need advocates across the organization — both “up the chain” in more senior leadership roles, across the organization in key functional roles and even at seemingly lower levels of the organization.
A senior level advocate might help us to get a meeting with the board of directors or another senior leader who has access to resources. He may lobby on our behalf to pave the way for resources or other support. A peer advocate can help to bring specific functional expertise, connections or learning to our initiative. Advocates from “lower level” roles often are amazing connectors for us — helping us navigate, find great pricing, fabulous vendor connections and ensuring we have support from experts and employees who may be critical in executional success of our venture.
Building advocacy is simple, but often overlooked. Here are a few of our observations based on our own experience and what we see working well for others:
- Network, network, network. Often advocacy emerges as we network and tell others about our venture/idea. If someone shares a passion for our idea, he may pro-actively start to advocate on our behalf, even if we don’t ask for his direct support. We can’t always anticipate where we’ll find this passion, so the more connections we make, the more likely we are to stumble upon it.
- Get excited. Not to play too much on the cheerleader image, but when we are excited about our idea, we’re much more likely to build excitement in others. When we talk to folks, we’re not afraid to let them see our passion and excitement about our idea. We’ve been amazed at the contagious nature of excitement and how it turns head-nodders into full-on advocates, creating support for our venture.
- Don’t assume. We’ve been surprised before when we’ve talked to someone that we didn’t think would be all that interested in our venture, and they turn out to be tremendously well connected, influential and interested in helping. We’ve learned never to assume that someone couldn’t be an important advocate — at office parties, networking events, in coffee shops, etc.
- Ask. While many advocates will readily begin to bust barriers and open doors, there are many folks who don’t realize how much influence they have, or how much help they could be. We’ve learned to not be afraid to ask for help. “We’d love your support, given your interest and shared enthusiasm for what we’re doing. Can we brainstorm together some ways that you might help us?” Think about the last time someone asked you for that kind of help? Were you flattered and honored that they asked you for help? Your potential advocate might just be waiting to be asked!
The most successful inside entrepreneurial ventures we’ve heard about have multiple advocates within the home organization as well as advocates within key vendor/partner companies and sometimes local universities, key industry specific thought leaders or trade organizations. How are you building out a strong list of advocates to help carry your idea forward?
Photo licensed under Creative Commons 2.0 via Flickr user: acaben
