If your boss keeps shutting down your ideas, it is absolutely appropriate to investigate a bit. Try the following approaches/words that work:
- It seems like my idea wasn’t appropriate here. What would make my idea a better fit? (OR More realistic? OR Work for our team?)
- Many times when I offer ideas, they don’t seem to be well-received. What would make them more valuable to you? How do you like to receive suggestions?
- I love brainstorming and generating new ideas. I notice that mine don’t seem to fly. Would you provide some feedback? I’d like to learn how to better tailor them to what would work for our firm/customers/team/etc.
In order to move forward and have a better relationship, you’ll want to understand why this keeps happening. There are usually 3 reasons why:
- It’s you: you don’t fully grasp the politics, what your customer wants, the environment your company operates in or some other vital piece of information that invalidates your approach
- It’s your boss: he or she feels threatened by you, doesn’t want to share the credit, is uncomfortable with making any changes, or has already decided what they want to do and doesn’t want to revisit the decision. Many folks at all levels subscribe to the “not created here” mentality and only like ideas they personally come up with.
- It’s neither of you: Maybe your boss has information that he/she is unwilling or unable to share? Perhaps your idea would require headcount or budget that just doesn’t exist and they don’t want to waste their time asking for it? Or it could be your idea would trample on the CEO’s pet project and be career suicide. Or maybe a reorg is coming they can’t talk about? Or perhaps the timing is wrong to have the discussion of your idea? There could be folks in the room in front of whom it’s not appropriate to share. The possibilities are endless!
