Innovators and the Department of No
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“…When employees truly carenabout what they’re doing, beyond the simple need to pay the rent or thenmortgage, everybody wins. The work is more fulfilling for employees,nand the company gets the best part of its workers’ brains and creativenjuices deployed on its projects.nn
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The only downside to having engaged employees is that once you’venasked for the full use of your team members’ intellects, you have tonalso let them go to town. It’s no good to say, “We want all of yournbrain cells put to work on this project and all of your creativenideas,” and then squash those ideas like bedbugs.n
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So engagement is a two-way street for managers. If you ask for yournemployees’ passion and brains, you have to actually make use of them.nThat’s one of the reasons why managing knowledge workers is ancomplicated task. Obviously, not every idea from every employee willnwin the day, but it’s important to keep asking for input and to keepnincorporating it whenever doing so makes sense. And when employees’nwell-intentioned contributions aren’t exactly what’s called for, it’snimportant to say so—and say why.”
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As Liz points out, it’s much easier to say “Great idea! Let’s roll with it!” when a truly innovative solution has been put forward by someone on the team, than itnis to take the time to explain why an employee’s favorite idea is being relegated to the back burner. The more time and energyna person has put into the creative idea, the harder it is to reject the idea. Moreover, the harder it is for that person to come up with innovative ideas in the future. With that in mind, Liz provides a few tips and tricks for managers as they deal with this problem. (Hint: never come out and say “NO” at the outset)
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[image: James Bond in “Dr. No”]n
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