Why Great Ideas Die Quietly

It’s not always the idea’s fault. Sometimes, it’s the manager’s.

In many organizations, innovation programs begin with excitement — idea challenges, digital platforms, rewards for creativity. Yet months later, the flow of new ideas slows. Submissions cluster near year-end, when KPIs are due, or when event's like hackathons draw attention.

Why?

Part of the answer lies in behavioural economics. Managers — the gatekeepers of innovation — face what researchers call “The idea endorser’s dilemma.”

Endorsing a creative idea is risky. If the idea fails, a manager loses status. If it succeeds, the employee gains more recognition than the manager.
In other words: loss aversion meets status dynamics.

Managers intuitively know this. Rejecting an idea feels safer — it preserves their standing. Over time, this creates a status quo bias, reinforced by System 1 thinking: automatic, protective, and emotionally driven. This type of thinking frequently happens when we are presented with too much information and not enough time to make a decision, a very common scenario for managers.

Behavioural science helps explain — and fix — this.

According to Makeit's Fourth Law of Behaviour (B = MAP), change happens when we increase motivation (M), ability (A), or add a timely prompt (P).

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So, how can we reduce the fear of status loss and unlock idea flow?

Three design tactics can help:

1. Focus on process over outcome
   • Make it social: Celebrate managers who endorse creativity, not just those whose teams “win.”
   • Make it empowering: Recognize the courage to try, not just to succeed. A “fail-forward” ritual can protect reputations and signal that creative risk-taking is leadership.
2. Disperse the weight of endorsement
   • Make it easy: Use innovation panels or peer review to reduce personal risk and cognitive load, this way one manager doesn't take all the heat.
   • Make it social: Transparency and shared evaluation shift the narrative from “my decision” to “our process.” Batching innovation ideas submitted into a web portal where employees and mangagers can view progress can be very helpful.
3. Shift endorsement to peers
   • Make it social & attractive: Encourage employees to endorse each other’s ideas. Social proof builds confidence and elevates both the idea generator and the endorser’s status — a win-win dynamic.

Incentives drive innovation, but so does psychological safety and status security.
If creativity threatens status, innovation will likely always stall at the manager’s desk.

The good news? With the right design — one that honours both ambition and anxiety — even the most cautious manager can become an ally to change.

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