Idea Stealers
Have you ever had one of your ideas stolen? By a colleague perhaps. Or even a friend.
I have.
EXTREMELY annoying isn't it?
I've thought of ideas in problem solving conversations with a colleague, and seen them presented back to my boss as if they were that persons ideas.
I've shared ideas with a boss and seen them presented upwards as if they were my bosses ideas.
While this has happened to me in the past, it doesn't happen as often anymore. I'm a highly collaborative person and enjoy creative sessions where we consider ideas and options, challenge our thinking, build on each others points.
And we know collaboration works well for business - get people with different perspectives and experience in a room and you can generate great ideas that solve diverse problems.
So I want you to carry on creating, but I'd like to share some self preservation ideas to build and protect your reputation.
Top 3 tips for avoiding idea stealing:
- Start your sentence with 'I have an idea to share'
- WAIT until you have the groups attention (or your colleagues attention) before continuing. They're listening now, to YOUR idea
- ask for others input - 'what do you think of this idea?' - you invite the discussion, because it is your idea and you are leading this part of the conversation.
Top tips for dealing with it when it happens:
- if someone is 'building' on your idea - call it out positively e.g. 'that's a great addition/ build'. You're reminding them that the initial idea was yours without behaving oddly/ going OTT
- LEARN from it and then do something differently. If they do it repeatedly, share your ideas with your boss or bosses boss in passing, before sharing it with that colleague. Just cut them out where plausible or tell them afterwards.
- Often idea stealers don't realise they're doing it. Your idea has sparked neural activity in their brain - they will notice the 'newness' of the idea and potentially assume it is theirs. With these people, call it out and judge their reaction - something like 'I'm glad you agree, you'll remember I raised that at our last meeting'.
Or if you need to be more blunt - sit them down and let them know that you've noticed this and give specific examples. They'll likely be surprised, so give feedback gently.
Why is it important who presents the idea? It's important because only you can manage your career. Hiding in the shadows is not a virtue - how can you bring all you have to bear if you don't make your ideas known?
How can you be invited to participate in the discussions where you can add value if no-one knows how great your ideas are?
Make your impact and share your ideas. Get in touch if you want to discuss a personal approach for you to achieve this authentically.
