October 22, 2014
The Perception of Ideas as Problems

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Here's something I've been noticing lately:

Managers tend to respond to the introduction of a new idea by one of their direct reports not as an imminent solution to be nurtured, but as a new problem to deal with. Ideas, one would think, would be welcomed by managers, especially managers who are talking the talk about innovation. But all too often managers, time-crunched and overloaded as they are, perceive the introduction of a new idea as simply "more work" for them to do, the early warning sign of more emails to read, more meetings to attend, more requests for funding, and more conflicting opinions. Perhaps this is why so many managers respond to the articulation of a new idea with kneejerk naysaying instead of heartfelt open-mindedness. And you wonder why innovation in your organization is so sluggish...

One way to turn this around
And another way
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Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at October 22, 2014 02:05 AM

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