How to Release an Untapped Innovation Funnel in Your Business

Remove the fear of sharing in public from your employees

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

As a manager at a high growth tech company, I didn’t put my work out in public. I was afraid of mis-representing the company or my team.

I was afraid to put my ideas and reflections on any social media channel for fear of losing my job over an opinion or an observation.

I shared the occasional “look at this awesome thing my company did” or that I was hiring, but rarely did I share reflections on my actual work.

I played it safe or just didn’t play.

Now that I have stepped away from the corporate environment for a minute, I have slowly dipped my toe in the water. I talk about what I am working on and what is important to me. I share ideas as I have them. I welcome the feedback and the new connections.

I can feel the momentum swinging. I am becoming more confident in my voice. I express my opinions and observations.

Beat fear with practice

Anxiety still whispers in my ear. Telling me not to be open or risk public shaming and adverse consequences. It’s a battle I’m fighting.

I’ve realized that it’s not actually that scary to put your work out into the world. Truthfully, the people I would worry about reading my writing, likely never will.

I believe that companies that don’t encourage their people to work in public miss out on a wealth of untapped opportunity.

Creativity flourishes through diverse connections and if employees only share inside their walled garden the company will eventually build its own bias that they can’t see.

I’m not suggesting sharing company trade secrets on the internet, I’m suggesting that we work on problems in public and gain the benefit of shared experience in the marketplace.

Sharing in public also has the benefit of building empathy with your brand. Your company gets perceived for its humanity and not just the snappy marketing language and fancy images.

By sharing, it adds depth to the front door of your business.

Welcome y’all! Watcha got cookin’?

Open your front door and invite people into your kitchen. Allow them to experience the mess making and hard conversations. The lessons others can learn from your mistakes, and successes, makes our community and other businesses better.

I’m new to putting myself out there. I see the benefits and I feel the fear. As I continue my journey in collaborative learning and iteration with the friendly internet cloud, I’m sure I will learn more lessons and make plenty of mistakes, but my hope will that others will benefit.