Acknowledging ideas
by Miki SaxonHow many times has a member of your team (at any level) had an idea or made a suggestion and your initial response was along the lines of, “I know…” or “I thought about that…” Sounds innocuous, but what the person hears is, “I already thought of/know that, why are you acting like it’s a big deal?” and often that’s actually how you feel.
The problem is that your employees may decide that the idea has no value because you already know/thought of it or, if it is used, that you own all the bragging rights. If this happens several times why bother mentioning their next idea? Employees understand that their ideas may not be used, but that’s different than feeling that it’s not needed. The result is to kill creativity, instead of nurturing it.
I frequently hear from clients and others about their exciting breakthroughs/ideas for motivating their people, for their culture, or whatever, and it’s often simply their rephrasing of ideas we’ve been discussing or that I, or others, have written about, sometimes for years.
It doesn’t matter; and I make sure not to say anything that detracts from their breakthrough—causing them to feel that it’s not a big deal and that they merely reinvented an old wheel.
The big deal is when people think of something independently and that’s what you want to encourage—ideas, creative thinking, thinking beyond their knowledge, not necessarily yours.
To nurture the thinking that leads to creativity you need to acknowledge it, you don’t need to convince them that no one ever thought of it before, they’ll figure that out for themselves or a peer will tell them, what you focus on is the accomplishment.
The critical point is that they came to it on their own, and, because it came from inside, they own it. That makes it far more potent than anything I, or anybody, can say from the outside.
As a manager, you are in a similar position when building your people—you are their coach, so don’t take away their accomplishments, even if they are old hat to you.
