Do You Have What It Takes To Be A Heretic?

How many times (as an employee) did you:

• go along when a difficult boss shut down your well-researched idea to drive new traffic to the company web site?
• bite your tongue when a coworker lobbied hard for “the blue version” of fluffy creative served up by your agency, when you really wanted to challenge them to re-examine the brief so they might actually get to the crux of the problem?
• agree to a change in tactics when you knew the real issue was the choice of strategy?
• let someone’s own bias and values shape whether you pursued what instinct told you was the right direction for the business?

Happens to us all, you might say. There are days we win and days we lose.  Some situations call for thinking about the greater good.

Yes, I understand all that. But.

This type of fear and frustration can cripple an organization as quickly as uncensored tongues and contentious attitudes.

Fear of having our ideas rejected, of being pigeonholed and treated differently. Fear of being singled out as a lone dissenting voice when we ourselves hear no logic.  Frustration at spinning wheels, sapping resources and being ineffectual.

Now, as a business owner, do you want employee ownership and personal accountability? Do you look for partners that perform as an extension of your staff? Or are you content with sycophantic robots?

Fear leads to sameness. Frustration causes contempt. Neither bode well for your brand.

Fear and frustration are a blight on any business relationship, whether internal to an organization or external with partners and suppliers.

Fear constricts free thinking and wondrous exploration like a vise. Fear limits the number of problems that can get solved, and the degree to which we pursue solutions.  Fear discourages intrapreneurship and creativity, the kind of creativity that births innovation. Fear freezes us to operate within a time and space we already know. It limits the flow of nutritious ideas and flux of waste. Fear is an icy gray.

Frustration is a seismic red. Frustration builds isolating walls. Frustration causes us to go into survival lock-down mode, doing with very little thinking.

There’s no room for fear or frustration in your growing business. A dose of  diligence and caution, yes. The right measure of focus, absolutely.

But if you find yourself hearing (saying!) things like “This is what got us to where we are today. It makes sense to keep doing it this way.” Or “I don’t really know much about [branding/customer experience/public relations/community management/whatever] so it’s hard for me to put much energy there. Let’s stick with what will impact revenue today,” you may have a problem.

Heresy isn’t a bad word (see #5). It’s the equivalent of having a mirror put in front of your face and being forced to identify what you see. It may be a little uncomfortable, but only then are you prepared to pursue the good and deal with the not so good.

To achieve change, you as a leader have to be willing to accept intelligent challenges to your thinking and the rational questioning of indoctrined processes. Trust employees with a safe, open culture free from reprisal, where calculated risk and honest failure are accepted as the building blocks of innovation. Empower partners to surface ideas and suggestions in a reciprocally respectful manner. Hire for expertise, accommodate passion, and resist tying anyone’s hands.

Do you have what it takes to be a heretic? To let your employees be heretics?