Your organization’s explicit goals are recorded (and, ideally, well communicated). You can find evidence of them in its vision statement, its mission, its strategic objectives, its structure, and other forms. On the other hand, the implicit goals of your organization are less visible. These are the “what we try to do around here” ideas that people carry with them, believe, and act on. The more closely you can align your ideas with your organization’s spoken and unspoken goals, the better chance you have of getting your ideas accepted and implemented.

For example, let’s assume that your organization places a high value on teamwork across its divisions. That’s a goal it states in its working principles, and it’s a practice that managers throughout the organization strive to achieve. If you tie your idea to a sense of teamwork, if you can present it as supporting and enabling that particular goal, there’s a good chance that people will support it. The opposite also holds true. If your idea goes against any of your organization’s written goals, objectives, or values—or the unwritten ones—or if it goes against the grain of common practice, it will be very difficult, if not impossible, for you to get support for your idea, no matter how beneficial it may be. You’re going to have to make a much more difficult push to get your idea sold, and you have to plan for that accordingly. People have to see the benefit right away, and one way to help them see that is to align your ideas with what they want to achieve.

Make a frank assessment of your group’s position (and your personal position) in the true hierarchy of your organization. To make this assessment, you’ll need to go beyond the official organizational chart and become aware of the unwritten pecking order—the informal power structure, which is often very different from the organizational chart. That order can change with different circumstances, such as increased competition, a new CEO, or some other realignment. Consider your organization. Does the sales force drive your organization’s work, or is it the finance group or the marketing group? Is production the driving force, or does your organization measure itself in the number of grants it receives? What about innovation, research, and development? Do those functions create the heart of your organization? Whatever your answer, how are you positioned in relation to the driving forces in your organization? Are you part of them, or do you work outside of those functions? These are the kinds of relationships that determine the true hierarchy of your organization.

For example, if you’re a group director in the manufacturing end of your organization, and you’ve got an idea for improving a production process, you may realize that you need support from the finance group in ...