Feirong Yuan and Richard W. Woodman,
in a survey of 425 employees,
uncovered that worries about image risk
significantly decrease
the number of employee innovations.
What is image risk?
It is the fear that your coworkers
will think less of you
for suggesting an unpopular innovation.
Yuan and Woodman suggest creating a culture
of innovation,
making innovation a desirable image.
Another suggestion was to
“break job position stereotypes”
by requiring all employees to contribute new ideas.
I’ve never been shy about suggesting innovation
(because I realized long ago
that someone will think less of me
no matter what I do or don’t do)
but the best managers I’ve worked with
are proactive about innovation.
They meet with employees regularly
privately
and ask about possible innovation.
They also ask if the employee wishes to take credit
for that innovation.
Those with image risk issues say ‘no.’
Those that without say ‘yes.’