Don’t Be Afraid to Have Your Ideas Challenged
I love to challenge ideas; even my own. Challenging someone else’s idea, however, can be perceived as obnoxious, unappreciative, or unsupportive, unless an appropriate relationship exists among the people on the team prior to issuing a challenge. I have to be careful, therefore, how I challenge another person’s idea, but I think the best ideas have undergone critical thinking prior to introduction.
I have been in organizations where the leader shut down ideas without discussion, and others where there was no challenge of ideas at all and bad ideas prevailed. (My son Nate wrote a good post about one reason that happens HERE.) Mistakes are okay if we learn from them, but why not challenge the idea on the front end and eliminate some of the pitfalls if possible?
One value of a team is that with more input, risks stand a better chance of being eliminated and success has a better chance of being achieved. The team effort isn’t near as effective unless the freedom to challenge ideas is welcomed.
Here is my thinking: If your idea can’t withstand the challenge of critical thinking, then either it’s not a good idea, you haven’t thought it through enough, or you are an insecure leader. Allowing your idea to undergo a healthy challenge can make your great idea even better.
What do you think? Have you experienced leaders afraid of the challenge? Could that leader be YOU?
