What to do with some of your best ideas …

Do you want to develop a creative and innovative team?

Do you want to develop a productive team?

Do you want to develop a loyal team?

Then share some of your best ideas with your team members in such a way they think they came up with the ideas on their own, then praise them for their accomplishment!

Leaders usually gain their positions not simply for their capacity to achieve operationally, but for being thought leaders in their area of work. Leaders become leaders because they have had the better ideas that have achieved more success than others. Because of this, the temptation for leaders is to keep every great idea as being their own “brain child” so they can receive all the reward for themselves. The result of such a leadership approach is to pit yourself against your own team members.

Instead of doing that, you will spark greater creativity and innovation from your team members by leading them to the edges of great ideas so they can see possibilities and then run with them. This helps your team members to stretch their own thinking and experience a sense of creativity and innovation that will likely teach them how to expand their thinking and motivate them to push their own level of creativity and innovation.

The goal of a leader isn’t to constantly outshine his or her team members, but to use their gifts, talents, skills and experience to create opportunities for their team members to succeed and grow.

Leaders who are stingy with ideas will develop teams who work against them rather than teams that are working in unison with them. Additionally, you’ll be earning the loyalty of your teammates when they see your direct contribution to their success.

Scotty