How to tell someone I supervise that their idea shows terrible judgment

[Coffeetree]

I supervise someone who supervises a team. The team keeps asking him to bring an idea to me because it's something they really really want to do.

It's clearly outside our regulatory remit so I say no and explain why. We do something completely different; they're just trying to fill a gap for some service users. He's fine with it, but his team are unhappy and want to have a dialogue. I mean, there's no real dialogue to be had, but I could meet and show them/explain that it's just not something we can do.

Here's the thing, even if it were within our remit, I'd say no because what they want to do is incredibly misjudged and patronising. It's along the lines of lecturing homeless food bank recipients about how to make soup. (It's nothing to do with food or homelessness, that's just an example.)

I feel I should mention the patronising element. I'm naturally kind of blunt and I'm hoping I can find a way to explain without putting them on the defensive.

Any ideas?

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Yes in a lot of places this would get shut down with "asked and answered" but the ethos of this place is very touchy feely.

I didn't want to do the bullshit management thing of "consulting " and asking how everyone felt when in fact the decision had been made. That said, I did meet with the team yesterday and mostly listened. Their idea came out of frustration at seeing the unmet need. One of them is going to start a side project on her own time to try and meet it. There was the overall point too that they felt like mgmt had lost sight of how hard it is doing the operations work, which frankly is not wrong.

So thanks for the above suggestions, which helped me get into listening mode.

Ask some people who work with the service users. They will be able to tell you why its not appropriate. Just keep reiterating same message. Plus the mismatch with organisational values.

You don't just tell them it is inappropriate. You explain, simply and clearly, why it is inappropriate..

I see you’ve done it now but here’s what I would do:

Meet with them, acknowledging they have found a problem and praise them for wanting to address it and fill the gap.
Explain why it isn’t appropriate for them to fill it and in that way - out of their remit and due to lack of expertise, the proposal is perhaps not the best way to do it.
Ask them where might have the expertise needed and how they could engage with that service to offer partnership referrals.

Send them off feeling recognised and with a solution.

Sounds like you had a useful meeting with the team about it.