Seven Ways to kill ideas and innovation

It is not hard to kill new ideas or even the willingness to share them. Think of these seven responses that are guaranteed to shut down such discussion.

• "That is the dumbest idea I have ever heard!"
• "We have never done anything like that before."
• Body language that says, "You have to be kidding."
• "I will think about it" - and that is the end of it.
• Ignore it
• "That will never work."
• "Leader such and such will never go for that."

There is hardly an invention in history that someone in the process didn't think was a really dumb idea. Every organization has an ethos that either welcomes new ideas or resists them. Which represents the place where you work? 

This matters because change, ideas and innovation are essential to ministry success - or in any other arena. As the context of our world changes, our strategies must also change even though our core mission does not. Lack of flexibility brings with it a withering of effectiveness. 

If you are a leader, do you invite and encourage ideas and innovation? How many innovative ideas have been initiated in your organization in the last 36 months?

All of T.J. Addington's books including his latest, Deep Influence,  are available from the author for the lowest prices and a $2.00 per book discount on orders of ten or more.