November 08, 2009 – The Herald | HeraldOnline.com – SC, USA
Tell me if this sounds familiar:
You come up with a great idea that will help your company save money. You do some research and legwork. Yep, this is a golden idea. You mention it to coworker Bob.
Bob casually mentions the idea to the boss. The boss loves it. Success! This will certainly be good for your career. This winning idea will be associated with your name for years to come. Life is good.
You can’t wait to read the office memo that’s sure to come, the one singing your praises.
“Thanks to the hard work and innovation of Bob, we’re going to save millions,” the boss’ memo reads. “Great idea, Bob. We’re lucky to have you.”
Huh? Bob’s idea? There must be some mistake. Surely Bob will make things right.
Not a chance.
It’s a classic case of workplace idea theft.
And it’s something that’s happened to roughly a third of U.S. office workers, according to a recent survey by the staffing firm OfficeTeam. The firm surveyed nearly 450 workers and found that 29 percent reported having a coworker take credit for an idea.
But here’s a more telling statistic: Of those who said they’d had an idea stolen, more than half (51 percent) said they did nothing in response. Just 26 percent said they spoke up to let coworkers know, and just 13 percent said they confronted the idea thief.
So how do you prevent this? I asked Lee Richardson, a certified business coach in Fort Mill, for some advice. What it comes down to, he said, is documentation.
“When you have a great idea, the first thing you should do is get it written down and dated. That way, you established some type of claim that you had a good idea,” said Richardson, owner of Focal Point Business Coaching. Read story. http://www.heraldonline.com/106/story/1732084.html
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