From Roadblock to Ally: How Experienced Innovators Win Over Gatekeepers

Have you ever been frustrated that a mid-level manager, individual contributor, or network connection blocked you from pitching your idea to an executive?

This happens to entrepreneurs who want to get in front of potential investors or customers and to intrapreneurs who want to get the ear of high-level decision-makers inside their own organization. 

Invariably, as you start to share your ideas and approach with others, you will meet a gatekeeper.  It might be a high-level contact at the company you want to approach, it might be a mid-level manager or individual contributor, or it might even be your boss.  

It is very frustrating because this individual is often the only conduit you have to get from where you are to where you want to be.  

Alas, if only the right decision-maker learned about your solution, they would immediately see the value and support it…

I spent years as an intrapreneur in global manufacturing and now I advise hard-tech entrepreneurs. I’ve navigated this challenge hundreds of times as an insider and an outsider. 

There is a stark difference in how this situation is handled based on the level of experience of the innovator.

Keep reading to learn how the pros use gatekeepers to their advantage.

How inexperienced innovators and entrepreneurs view gatekeepers. 

Inexperienced innovators and entrepreneurs view gatekeepers as roadblocks. As a result, they make two common mistakes.

Mistake #1: They make it personal.  

“They just don’t like me!” 

“They want to take credit for my work!”

“They are not that important to the organization anyway, so forget them!”

When you think someone doesn’t like you personally, you seek to avoid them or try to get them to like you. That results in trying to find a way around them, or trying to placate them with superficial solutions like company swag and free lunch. Neither of those solutions will help. 

If you try to go around someone, they will eventually figure it out, get offended, and now it IS personal. 

If you try to get them to like you, you’ve spent your financial capital, but what you need from them is relational capital (using their reputation to make a recommendation), and those two aren’t interchangeable. 

Mistake #2: They don’t investigate root causes.

When I was an innovation executive, I put gatekeepers in place, on purpose!

Not to give innovators and entrepreneurs like you a hard time.

Honestly, I wasn’t thinking about you at all.

I put leaders in gatekeeping roles for my own selfish reasons. 

1. I wanted to guard my time. If I met with everyone who had a good idea, I’d never get to my strategic priorities.

2. I wanted to coach and empower my team. A big part of leadership development is learning how to build executive-ready proposals. I gave my team clear criteria that an opportunity had to meet before it was worthy of bringing it forward. I empowered them to decide on their own if the idea wasn’t worth further exploration.

If you are curious about the kinds of criteria that I used to vet opportunities, here is a partial checklist. 

1. Which of our strategic priorities will this fit with? (cost reduction, growth, safety, other).
2. What is the cost and is it already in the budget?
3. What is the benefit?
4. Does the approach match our current operational methods or will we have to significantly change the way we do business?
5. What is the scope/scalability? Is this a one-off opportunity or will we be able to deploy it globally? 
6. How will we evaluate the effort? Do we have the skills and resources to be informed consumers? 
7. What is this entity’s track record? (in the media, academia, with competition, etc)

When junior staff would come to me with an opportunity, it was common that I would ask them to go back and clarify a few of the points on my list. This meant they would have to send follow-up emails or have more meetings with people like you.

More senior staff would tell me that they vetted opportunities and dropped them based on our criteria or that they had someone they wanted me to meet.

For me, that meant I was delegating effectively. For you, that means you might never get a meeting with me. 

How experienced innovators and entrepreneurs view gatekeepers.

On the other hand, experienced innovators see gatekeepers not as blockers but as individuals who have insights into what is needed to earn interest from higher organizational levels. 

They understand if gatekeepers are not supporting their efforts, they are sending an important signal: 

Your value proposition is too weak to earn my recommendation. 

What gatekeepers are trying to tell you.

Experienced innovators understand that if they have weaknesses at the gatekeeper’s level, they will likely have weaknesses at higher levels too. 

They also understand that it is better to close those gaps now, when the stakes are low rather than to blow their one shot to wow the CEO.

As a side note, if the gatekeeper isn’t inside the organization but rather a personal friend or a business colleague, the criteria might be different but the same rules apply: You have to earn their recommendation.

Experienced innovators do these 3 things.

1. They ask questions. They want to know exactly what their gaps are and how to close them.  A great opening question is:

“Based on your experience, what would it take for you to recommend me for the next step in the decision-making process?”

2. If they get a vague answer they keep digging. Here are some common problems that gatekeepers face. You may need to prompt them to provide you with reasons.

• Your approach/technology/ or ask is unclear.
• You lack sufficient data to justify your technology or the expenses.
• You lack a sufficient track record in the industry to interest them (need more case studies).

3. They listen to the answers and they don’t get defensive, they get better. Fix the problems and keep moving forward. When you follow up with a gatekeeper and let them know you’ve taken their feedback, they will not only provide access, but in some cases, they will provide their vocal support!

How to turn gatekeepers as allies.

Now that you know how this works, here’s how you utilize gatekeepers to your advantage. 

1. Don’t take it personally.
2. Don’t look for superficial tactics and workarounds.
3. Recognize that gatekeepers have a job to do and can provide valuable insights.
4. Directly ask, “Based on your experience, what would it take for you to recommend me for the next step in the decision-making process?”.
5. Take their answers and get better.

TL;DR

As an innovator, pitching your idea to gatekeepers is inevitable. It can be frustrating if you see them as roadblocks to your success. Rather than trying to come up with tactics to go around them, take the opportunity to learn what it would take to earn their recommendation. Use that information to strengthen your value proposition.