It's that time of year -- business planning, which means this is a great time to show how your idea supports whatever your organization's 2014 mantra may be. I've been fortunate over the past few months to facilitate strategic planning sessions in several very different industry sectors. Yet all shared a common theme:

How can we better focus, collaborate and simplify work?

If you were trying to get a new idea approved  in one of these companies or universities, a useful strategy would show how your idea simplifies work, develops greater collaboration, and focuses on the organization's most important goal.

What topics are creeping into conversations where you work?  Can you link your  idea to one of those topics? Show how your idea is a way to achieve what executives are yearning for?

Ideas that support what an organization most wants to achieve are ideas that gain traction.

"Tis the season to get your idea positioned and approved.