There's no lack of ideas circulating among employees in any organization. Ideas are popping up in people's heads all the time - as they drive to work, as they talk on the phone, even as they listen to their boss drone on endlessly about the need to cut costs. Everybody has ideas. In fact, it's as natural as breathing.
And yet, while ideas may be floating around like ghouls in the latest Harry Potter movie, the simple fact is - most organizations neither organize, analyze nor capitalize on them.
Why is that? Why does innovating thinking among employees go unused? Could it be that a firm does not capture good ideas because it lacks an idea box in its hallways? Hardly. The number one reason most companies and organizations fail to take advantage of the inherent creative nature of its employees is because those companies and organizations make people uncomfortable in suggesting ideas.
In other words, the biggest obstacle to new ideas is management.
For example, have you ever made a suggestion in a meeting, only to have it instantly dismissed by the executive in charge or the group a whole? How did that make you feel? Perhaps more importantly, did it give you the confidence and encouragement to make another suggestion? Probably not.
Most people don't like new ideas, especially if they conflict with the status quo. Innovative thinking makes most people feel uncomfortable. It disrupts the tried-and-true. That's why the typical response to a new idea is" "we already tried that and it didn't work." We like our habitual patterns of behavior and thought. It gets us through the day; it helps us get things done.
But if you are a manager - ask yourself this question: would you rather be uncomfortable and see okay results or would you rather eat your competition for lunch? And if you believe that innovations can propel you towards newfound success - would you rather nurture and support new ideas (even if they are wacky, off-the-wall or seemingly useless) or would you rather slap down any new idea that comes your way and hope one of your employees doesn't take that idea and walks across the street with it?
Change makes for an uncomfortable bedfellow. Managers would be wise to not kick it our of their organizational beds.
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