Are your team’s best ideas getting on the table?

Get better ideas by giving your team a chance to work ahead.

THINK ON IT: Are your team’s best ideas getting on the table?

Effective leaders promote great ideas — even if they are not their own. And the best leaders know that most of those great ideas will not be their own; they have long ago surrendered the need to be the smartest (or loudest) voice in the room.

Still, in the desire for fast-paced decisions and efficient meetings, even the best ideas may not be getting on the table. Simply asking for your team's opinion, during a meeting for instance, may not bring out their best. Social dynamics and our brain's desire for short-cuts (psychologists refer to these short-cuts as "heuristics") may prematurely shape acceptance of an idea or suppress a better one altogether. 

Instead, to get the best ideas on the table, ask your team to do a little pre-work: in advance of the meeting, have them write a summary of their position on an issue and what they would do about it. That simple act of advanced writing forces each participant to think through the situation intentionally and strategically, without the pressure to think on their feet and share untested ideas out loud in front of the rest of the team.

Use pre-work to bring out the best in your team. You'll likely make that brainstorming meeting more efficient, too.

“Most ideas are born and lost in isolation." — Scott Belsky

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