3 Ways to Make Sure You Don’t Derail Your Team’s Innovation

Have you ever struggled to get your team to respond to the idea you shared?

Have you ever made a suggestion to your team and, the next thing you know, your team is acting on your suggestion?

Have you ever shared your idea only to find out weeks later there were better ideas, but your team did not feel comfortable sharing them with you during the discussion? They indicated your idea was awesome but did not have the courage to share alternative thoughts.

My guess, if you are like me, is you have experienced this at some point in your leadership journey. The reason for this is often our suggestions as leaders are interpreted as direction by our teams. They hear us make a suggestion and translate that into action they need to take thinking we are actually giving direction.

“A leader’s suggestions are often interpreted as direction”

I have experienced this many times, both as a leader and a follower. My heart is in the right place and I am truly just making a suggestion as part of the ideation we are doing together. I ask for feedback or other thoughts, but I am only met with everyone either saying they love my idea or not saying anything at all. The value of ideating together is stifled and the best idea often remains elusive.

We all want to best ideas to surface within our teams. We all want a team where everyone feels comfortable sharing their ideas. We know this not only increases engagement but also impacts the results we deliver. We know, as leaders, we do not always have the best ideas, but we can often create an environment where our suggestions are interpreted as direction and the idea flow stops.

One of the key attributes of the team culture I work to build is to build a team where the best idea always wins. It does not matter where or who the idea came from. The best idea will always win and I want to create a team culture where everyone feels comfortable sharing their ideas and ideating together. I know I, as the leader, do not always have the best idea, so I need to be intentional to create space for ideas to be shared, marinate and ultimately be shaped into the best idea for our team.

The best idea should always win.

As I work on this myself, I thought I would share some pragmatic ways I am driving this to action. I have to remind myself consciously to take these actions so I can end up with the outcome I want, a team where the best ideas surface and win.

Here are (3) pragmatic tips focused on driving engagement and collaboration on our teams so the best idea always wins:

Listen, learn then lead

Commit to this approach when working with your team to innovate or drive and idea to action. Our temptation is to reverse this order. We default to leading first, but when we listen and learn first, it actually helps us be more effective and efficient at the leading part. This take discipline and patience. It takes sitting back and not speaking when everything inside you wants to jump in. It requires you to become a rock star at asking probing questions that bring the best out of your team members. As Simon Sinek said, leaders eat last.

This does not mean you do not share your ideas or not participate in the ideation session. Your ideas are valuable and needed, but be mindful to create an environment that brings out the best ideas from everyone instead of them just jumping in line behind you.

Be Transparent

Be clear and intentional to share with your team that your thoughts are only suggestions and not direction. Give them permission to challenge your ideas or take your idea and run with it to make it better. Saying this out loud helps free your team up to engage and participate. At first, you may still have teammates who do not feel comfortable challenging your idea, but this will decrease if you intentionally create an environment where this is the norm. Remember, keep iterating that the best idea will always win no matter where it comes from.

Have Your Team Meet Without You

I will do this often. I will give my team a topic with some direction and then have them meet together to discuss or brainstorm. We then come back together and they share their outcomes. This allows them to ideate without me and then gives me the opportunity to share my ideas or thoughts. It relieves the pressure that “the boss” is present and may not like our ideas. Get creative. Work to create an environment where ideas are encouraged and not unintentionally subverted or withheld.

The best idea should always win.

We need the best ideas to surface for everyone to win together.

We set the pace as the leader. We have the opportunity to create a team culture that recognizes and rewards great ideas or we can create a culture where everyone always goes along with your ideas as the leader. The former is the path to building an engaged, high-performing team that consistently delivers business results. That is the team I want to be a part of.