Your Ideas Matter

In many organizations, the best ideas are never advanced. Otherwise smart and seasoned, many leaders choose not to speak up.

Powerful forces, working overtime in the space between our ears, conspire to paralyze us at the point of action.

These saboteurs would have us believe that we are not good enough.

These saboteurs would have us believe that we haven’t quite analyzed our ideas long enough.

These saboteurs would have us believe that we have no place offering a point of view that differs from our boss or other colleagues.

While pausing long enough to consider that the quality of our ideas makes sense – performing a sort of check and balance – we must increase our confidence when managing these negative sound bites.

What are some of the voices you hear from time to time? Perhaps one or more of the following saboteurs has paid you a visit recently:

“I’m too new to be credible”
“I’m sure someone else sitting around the table has thought of this already”
“Maybe I’ll speak up at the next meeting”
“My ideas don’t matter”
“I haven’t earned the right to speak”
“I need more time to develop my ideas”
“If I speak up, I might get an assignment I don’t have time for”

Fit Leaders confidently contribute to discussions and to decisions.

Fit Leaders may even offer up a “half-baked” idea in hopes of having a colleague complete their initial and partial thought.

My experience has taught me that people often remember less of what we actually say, and more that we can be counted on to offer our unique point of view.

Successful teams comprise members willing to say what they think, respectfully and tactfully of course.

When leaders are inhibited by the strong voices within their own heads, their teams often are deprived of an important perspective that no one else may have at the time.

Self doubts and saboteurs are unavoidable. Our goal is not to eliminate them. Rather, our challenge is to manage them so they don’t prevent us from doing the important work we as leaders have come to do.

Remember this: the bolder your vision, the louder the negative self-talk becomes.

If you are hearing these voices, there’s a good chance you are dealing with important and maybe even transformational issues.