Elevate Your Leadership: Unlocking Pathways to Innovation
I was recently facilitating innovation workshops for some of Mexico’s top business leaders and invited them to consider what was getting in the way of innovation in their companies and was surprised when many responded “Me.”
It's not something many leaders would admit to, but it’s actually often the case that instead of fostering innovation, some leaders are inadvertently stifling it.
Innovation is the engine of progress, and as leaders, our role can be likened to that of a mechanic - we can either keep this engine running smoothly, or we can obstruct its function. The challenge is to ensure we're doing the former and not the latter.
Let's delve into how we, as leaders, can get out of the way and let innovation take the lead.
Dodging the ‘Visionary Leader’ Pitfall
Many great leaders are visionaries who are constantly generating new ideas, but sometimes that incredible ability and drive makes the rest of the team or organization falsely understand that the only person who can, and should, drive innovation is the leader. Balance is key: leaders should guide and give direction, but also make it clear that they are not the only source of innovative ideas and that they welcome and expect ideas from others.
Empowering Vs. Micromanaging
Consider a leader who controls every small detail. This behavior, known as micromanagement, can kill a team's spirit of innovation. A better approach? Trust your team. Give general guidance and desired results, instead of exact instructions. Let them take full control of their responsibilities. Get out of the team’s way. Encourage them to make certain decisions on their own. This way, team members have the space and opportunity to explore and innovate in how they achieve the desired results. Netflix’ culture of “Freedom and Responsibility” is a great example of finding the right balance.
Don’t expect volunteers, invest in your innovators
I’ve heard so many leaders say they want commitment to the company to be what fuels their people to innovate. They expect employees to do their day job (deliver operational results) and then do some innovating in their free time, out of loyalty and dedication to the cause. My response is, don’t hold your breath. If you want innovation, invest in it, have people use part of their remunerated work day to participate in innovation, either through a certain time dedication (like 3M’s program that encourage 15% of employee time to be dedicated to innovation), incentives, recognition, or a particular project they are asked to participate in. But please don’t expect people to be “volunteer innovators.”
Encouraging Experimentation
Innovation means taking risks, and taking risks mean having no guarantees. When team members present risky ideas, consider how you react. Do you shut ideas down if they’re not a sure thing. Is your response risk averse? Or do you encourage team members to move forward with such ideas by running experiments and gathering more info/evidence that can inform and maybe even reduce the risk. Adobe’s Kickbox program is an example of a simple and straightforward way to give employees with an idea some resources (and guidance) to run an experiment and report back.
Investing in Innovation Skills and Inspiration
Your team members don’t naturally know that they can be innovators nor do they know how to innovate. What inspiration, knowledge and skills are you equipping them with so that they can find and develop innovation opportunities? Consider how you can invest in your people’s innovation know-how and skills before and while asking them to innovate.
Walking the Talk
Finally, embody the innovative mindset you want to see in your teams. Be curious, open-minded, and willing to challenge the status quo. Show that you, too, are continually learning and evolving as a leader. Run your own leadership experiments and constantly find external inspiration that you bring back to the team. Continuously run diagnoses to ensure you are not getting in the way of your organization and your people’s innovation. Recognize and reinforce pro-innovation initiative and behaviors.
In the end, innovation is a culture and a process. As leaders, our job isn't to control either but rather to prepare the ground for them to unfold and evolve. We should be the facilitators of innovation, providing the tools, the environment, and the encouragement for our teams to think creatively and design the future.
