Don’t expect anything original from an echo.

There is something fascinating about an echo! Kids particularly love it when they discover this wonder of sound waves.

As a manager, it’s easy to fall in love with echoes all over again! Only this time, the echo is our desire to have our own words communicated back to us. Specifically, it’s our desire to want others in the workplace to always agree with us.

In the workplace, the love of an echo — at the expense of different and dissenting voices — hurts organizational productivity. It’s a roadblock to innovation and creativity as employees learn there’s no upside to expressing their ideas about doing things differently. They come to understand that their voice will be silenced or ignored no matter how valid their ideas may be.

To be effective at freeing the potential of your employees to help you with workplace innovation and creativity, recognize the danger of falling in love with echoes. Instead, create an environment where your employees feel free to disagree with you about workplace operations. When they’re right, acknowledge the value of their differing opinion. When they’re wrong, respectfully help them understand why their differing opinion is not the best approach.

If all that you ever hear is agreement from your employees, seek out dissenting opinions from them. If you want innovation and creativity, learn the value of seeking out those whose opinions are different from your own.

It’s a human quality to want others to agree with us but if we want it too much we can become our own roadblock to workplace innovation and creativity. Too many echoes stifle organizational innovation and conformity kills creativity. There’s value in having people work for you who will let you know when they disagree with you!