How Do You Manage an Employee's Bad Idea?

It's always nice to have your team members to come up with various fantastic ideas. However, your team can't come up with great suggestions every time; there will be bad ideas that sometimes make their way on the whiteboard. 

Obviously, for us, it's easier to find out which ideas are good and bad, but the person who comes up with the suggestion might not be able to understand why it is terrible. When we manage a team, we need to know that our response to bad ideas can affect the member's future performance, morale and office harmony.

Fortunately, there are ways to handle an employee's bad idea and avoid destroying their self-esteem. You might even gain better ideas too!

How do you reject an employee's idea without making them feel discouraged?

1. Ask the member to clarify their idea

One of the best ways to get rid of a terrible idea is to underline its flaws. Let's say you have a proposal that won't work, ask your team member to explain in more detail how they would approach the areas where you feel it is lacking. 

For instance, a coworker suggested that every employee be mandated to eat nasi lemak every day to ensure that the team has enough nutrient and won't be hungry at 10:30 AM. But you know that not everyone in your office can eat nasi lemak, be it for health or other reasons. 

Instead of saying that his idea is terrible, you could ask him to give more detail, letting him share how he would approach all those in the office who have dietary restrictions. 

When you ask a team member to think through the holes in their proposal, they may realise that their idea would need some work. They will withdraw their idea and do further research. 

There are better ways to handle an employee's bad idea.

2. Pretend it is the only choice available

This method is a bit tougher, but there's also a potential to change a bad idea into a great one: Before we judge an idea, we should try to see if it could work. 

The reason is simple: when we are forced to accept a specific result, we naturally adopt a problem-solving mindset. A problem-solving mindset can lead us to creative solutions. Also, inspiration could come from anywhere. There's a chance that in that terrible suggestion, there's a sliver of a great idea just waiting to be found. 

Let's consider the earlier idea, pretend that the "nasi lemak" is the only choice you have. How can we make nasi lemak work? Should we opt for a healthier version, or can we offer various other protein-filled breakfast choices for our staff?

By making a few adjustments and talking through how to make a bad idea work, we might find that a great idea is developing. If not, our team member will at least know we made an actual attempt to work together and build their idea, instead of just rejecting it from the beginning.  

3. Put yourself in your team member's shoes

Lastly, there are some suggestions that we will just have to veto. In this situation, one of the most important reminders is to consider how your team member might feel when receiving our feedback. 

We all remember how we felt when someone rejected one of our ideas, we can probably think of some ways to make it less hurtful for them, yes?

Phrase your feedback in a way that will consider any sensitivities your team member may have (for example, did you shoot down the last three ideas they had on this subject already?), and deliver your message with empathy. By considering how they might listen to your feedback, your feedback will likely be much better received. 

But, it would help if you also tried no to sugarcoat it. You do not want the team member to feel you're giving them any special treatment. A practical method is to begin by:

1. Identify the merits of the idea,

2. Highlight where it needs improvement. Be constructive, not critical.

3. Close with a positive word so they will keep trying. 

The best way to create great ideas is to promote an environment where everyone feels like their ideas have fair treatment. Now and then, someone will come up with a bad idea, but if you follow these steps, you will ensure your team members will keep trying until they come up with a great one!

Source: The Muse

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