When your team brings you new ideas, do you embrace them or push back? If you push back, it’s probably for a good reason (time, money, resources, tried it before, etc.). But when your people hear “no” often enough, they learn there’s little point suggesting anything new – and will stop.
https://swiy.co/go-when-leaders-say-no
As a leader, are YOU the biggest barrier to change in your team?
A few weeks ago, I spoke at a leadership conference about being a future-ready leader in times of change and uncertainty. Afterwards, a participant came up to me and said,
“Look, I like your ideas, but ... I have a young, inexperienced team who are always suggesting new ideas. But they don’t know much about our industry and just don’t realise how impractical and expensive these ideas are. So I’m constantly having to knock them back.”
It reminded me that a few months earlier, I had spoken at another conference. Again, a participant approached me afterwards to ask for some ideas about where to learn more about AI. I was happy to help, and gave him a list of useful resources. He then said,
“Can I be honest with you? The reason I’m asking is because I don’t like my job, and I want to find something better. My boss doesn’t like new ideas, and every time I go to him with an idea, he rejects it.”
So ... two very different stories, looking at two different sides of a workplace relationship.
Now, if I was making up a fake inspirational story, it would turn out that, by coincidence, that boss and that employee were actually in the same team, and, say, the employee would build a successful AI company that discovered some miracle cure that would save the boss’s daughter’s life!
Right?
No, that didn’t happen! They didn’t know each other – and were from two completely different workplaces in different industries.
But those two kinds of people are common in many workplaces.
On one side, you have people with ideas who approach their manager or leaders with those ideas. And they often get knocked back.
And it’s usually for a valid reason. The leader will say something like:
- “We don’t have the budget for that.\"
- “We’re too busy right now.”
- “That’s not part of your job.”
- “We tried that once, but it didn’t work.”
As a leader, are you saying those sorts of things?
If you are, I’m sure you’re doing it with the right intent.
For example, if you say, “We tried that once, but it didn’t work”, it makes sense, right? Why would you waste time, money, and other resources on something you know hasn’t worked before?
But – and this is really important – if you do that every time somebody comes to you with an idea, then after a while they’ll stop coming to you with ideas!
Maybe not the first time. The first time they might go, “That didn’t work. I might try it again next time.”
But if you keep doing that, eventually they’ll learn that there’s no point raising new ideas with their boss or manager because nothing’s going to happen.
Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But soon, and for the rest of your life.
And then you’ll say,
“My people just don’t take initiative. They’re just not proactive. They never come to me with any ideas.”
Guess what? It’s because YOU created a culture where change and new ideas aren’t appreciated, let alone embraced.
So, even though you didn’t intend it, YOU might be the biggest barrier to change in your team.
Of course, you can’t embrace EVERY new idea – that would be irresponsible and negligent. But you must find the right balance.
To explore this further, download my worksheet with ten things that leaders and managers say that stifle innovation and change. Work through it with your team to find more useful and responses. It doesn’t mean you can’t ever say those things again, but it will give you a different perspective, so you can choose when and where you say them.
Download the worksheet: