Cold Water Comments - What They Are and How to Manage Them!

Cold Water Comments - What They Are and How to Manage Them!

Cold Water Comments are those comments, phrases and ideas that are meant to discourage, disparage, discredit and generally douse your ideas! There are several things you can do to keep those comments in someone's bucket or warm them up once they've been tossed.

Planning for the Cold Water - With Towels in Each Hand!

Step 1 - Identify the Possible Cold Water
Make a list of all the comments you have heard in the past and might expect to hear now. Once you have identified the list, determine how you will respond to each of them. (Remember that at this stage you are trying to sell your idea, not start an argument!)

Step 2 - Determine the Source
Ask yourself - who carries that bucket of cold water with them most of the time? When you can envision not only the water, but the source of the water up front, you can be better prepared to respond.

Step 3 - Is it a Question?
If it's cold water disguised as a question, just answer the question! For example if you are asked, "Is there money to do that?", it may just be the question form of the popular cold water "It's not in the budget". If you get questions, consider yourself lucky and answer them? persuasively!

Step 4 - Who's Got the Authority?
The people manning the buckets, ready to douse you and your idea may have more authority than you - or they may have less. In other words, your boss may have the bucket, your peers may have the bucket, or those who work for you may be carrying it. It's important to recognize where the buckets are so you can sell your ideas appropriately.

Acknowledging the Cold Water - Taking a Team's Buckets Away

If you want to reduce the use of cold water comments, or perhaps make the water a bit warmer, you can use the suggestions below!

Talk about Cold Water Comments
Explain the concept of Cold Water Comments to those you work with. Once people hear the phrase, they will begin to notice the use of the cold water! Recognition of the tendency is the first step towards reducing its impact.

Bring Your Towel!
Help people get better at planning for encounters with Cold Water Comments by helping them learn how to use the planning steps above - what we like to call the Towel for the Cold Water.

Fight About It!
If you are planning a meeting where you want as little cold water present as possible, encourage people to fight back against the cold water! Provide everyone with some paper to make paper wads, some Koosh, or Nerf balls. Then encourage them to toss their "ammo" at anyone using a cold water comment. This activity will not only reduce the number of such comments, but the levity that the throwing brings will reduce the affect of the cold water that is splashed around.

Make 'em Pay!
Establish a rule for a meeting (or for all meetings!) that people have to pay into the pot (a quarter?) every time they tip their cold water bucket. Come up with a plan for how you'll use the accumulating cash - coming up with that plan would be a good idea generation exercise in itself!

Make a List
Have everyone in your group or organization brainstorm a list of the most popular and prevalent cold water comments around your organization. Put them all on a list and post them in places where people gather, like conference rooms, training rooms, etc.

©1999, All Rights Reserved, Kevin Eikenberry. Kevin is the President of The Kevin Eikenberry Group, a learning consulting company that helps their Clients reach their potential through a variety of training, consulting and speaking services. Go to http://www.kevineikenberry.com/training/ training.asp to learn more about customized workshops and training on creativity or call toll free 888.LEARNER.

---

9 Tips for Getting the Most From Your Conference Investment

Tips for Getting the Most From Your Conference Investment All professionals attend conferences, seminars, and trade shows each year. Through my observation and person experience here are... Read More

Loyalty, Motivation And Work-Life Balance

Managers who aren't loyal to their people can't expect loyalty in return. Companies that complain about employee loyalty have usually done nothing to earn loyalty, often routinely... Read More

Quality Improvement is Free

The point of a quality improvement program should not only be to improve a product or the delivery of healthcare but it should also be to save... Read More

Lone Rangers Suffer without Tonto

A lone ranger is someone who prefers working in solitude or isolation. Sometimes life circumstances can call for us to adopt this attitude. When it comes to... Read More

Creativity and Innovation Management ? Money Doesnt Do It

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are other useful definitions in this... Read More

Is ISO 9001 2000 Right For My Business?

Firstly you should decide your own reasoning behind considering ISO 9001 2000 registration for your business.Is the number of registrations in your market sector increasing?Are your competitors... Read More

To Outsource or Not to Outsource

In these days of restricted head count and tight budgets, the question of whether to outsource or hire in-house staff is more critical than ever. The technical... Read More

The Compliance Officers Killer Application

It used to be that only the largest multi-nationals needed a Compliance Officer. Today most practices, regardless of size, would be wise to charge someone within their... Read More

Innovation Management ? Selecting Good Ideas

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation. There are distinct processes that enhance... Read More

Manage or Lead ? Why the Difference Matters and What to Do About That Difference

Many books have been written about managing people, and an equally large number have been written about leadership. Some use the words manage and lead interchangeably, and... Read More

Smart Staffing Practices: Don?t Confuse Activity with Results

Does your hiring process consist of proven practices or just a hodgepodge of activities that get into gear when someone says, "I need more people" or "Sally... Read More

Communicating with Case Studies

A few weeks ago, a couple of colleagues and I discussed a new business idea. But, we had trouble expressing how this new business would provide value.And,... Read More

Important Communication Tips For Managers

The following tips will help you communicate more effectively with your employees:1. Let employees know that having feelings is okay. Feelings are facts and need to be... Read More

Why Employees Are the Best Source of Cost-cutting Ideas

Cost cutting has become a necessary and important reality in the modern corporate world. Yet many executives do not realize that their people are actually the best... Read More

Unravelling the Data Mining Mystery - The Key to Dramatically Higher Profits

Data mining is the art of extracting nuggets of gold from a set of seeminngly meaningless and random data. For the web, this data can be in... Read More

Organisational Culture for Continuous Improvement

I have been working with leading Business Improvement guru, Tim Franklin, preparing the PR for his latest book which offers an introduction to Continuous Improvement (CI) at... Read More

Executive ESP: A Pathway to Success!

We all have psychic abilities that we use daily, although most of us don't even realize that. The full study of this issue would take many books,... Read More

Keeping Meetings On Track

We all have been in meetings with certain people who get our blood pressure to rise or just make us feel what a waste of time. Here... Read More

The New Five Truths of Employee Motivation

Motivation is a term that is so widely used, yet many managers know little about how it really works. But it doesn't have to be confusing-in fact,... Read More

Cheat Sheet; Understanding The MSDS and Your Obligations In The Workplace To Employees

MSDS SHEETSMSDS stands for Material Safety Data Sheets. MSDS sheets contain nine sections. These sections are:I. General InformationII. IngredientsIII. Physical DataIV. Fire and Explosion Hazard DataV. Health... Read More

Objects in the Mirror are Further Than They Appear

Definition From http://www.merriamwebster.com -- "Virtual: - being such in essence or effect though not formally recognized or admitted."Virtual Businesses offer Real World ProfitabilityLet's face it, most of... Read More

Satisfied Employees, A Powerful Marketing Strategy

Even in today's still uncertain economic times, there are companies who are doing extraordinarily well. Why is it that some companies are thriving while others are barely... Read More

Change Behaviors, Change Performance

Every organization is looking for the holy grail of performance enhancement, that one thing that, if it were changed even slightly, would push the productivity of a... Read More

People Are Our Most Important Asset!

How many times have you heard or uttered this phrase in the last 5 years or so. As a "reformed accountant" this phrase makes me cringe more... Read More

Keys to Feeling Powerfull In An Uncertain World

Life has always been full of uncertainties. Over the last several years with downsizing, bankruptcies, scandals, crime, the economic environment, and the threat of war, people are... Read More

Bolster Credibility with Investors--Avoid These Phrases in Your Business Plan

Remember Papa John's commercial on TV with the slogan "Better Ingredients, Better Pizza"? Well its nothing more than puffery: general, non-provable, inane claims. The problem is puffery... Read More