“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” It’s an old saying. But it’s all too true. A company’s culture can derail strategy execution. In fact, you may have seen it happen at your company. Culture can also stifle innovation. When it does, it threatens a company’s survival. Put simply, stifling innovation hurts both your top and bottom lines. A McKinsey study (2008) concludes that innovative leadership is the key differentiator between leaders and laggards in business.
Innovation is the key to success in today’s constantly evolving business landscape. As a result, cultivating innovative leadership has become crucial for companies looking to stay ahead of the curve. Leaders who can inspire their teams to come up with new ideas and push the boundaries of what’s possible can create a culture of innovation that can propel their organization to new heights. In this blog post, we will discuss some key strategies for cultivating innovative leadership.
- Foster a Culture of Creativity: One of the most important things you can do to cultivate innovative leadership is to foster a culture of creativity within your organization. This means creating an environment where people feel comfortable expressing their ideas, taking risks, and experimenting with new approaches. Encourage your team members to brainstorm and share their ideas, and create opportunities for them to collaborate and build on each other’s thoughts.
- Encourage a Growth Mindset: Innovative leaders understand that failure is a natural part of the creative process. They encourage their teams to adopt a growth mindset, which means embracing challenges and viewing mistakes as opportunities to learn and grow. By creating a safe space where people feel comfortable taking risks, you can help your team members develop the resilience and adaptability they need to succeed in an ever-changing business landscape.
- Empower Your Team: Innovative leaders understand that great ideas can come from anywhere within an organization. They empower their team members to take ownership of their work and encourage them to be proactive in seeking out new opportunities and solutions. By giving your team members the autonomy and resources they need to pursue their ideas, you can create a sense of ownership and accountability that can drive innovation and creativity.
- Lead by Example: Innovative leaders lead by example. They model the behaviors and attitudes they want to see in their teams, and they aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty and dive into the creative process themselves. By demonstrating a commitment to innovation and a willingness to take risks, you can inspire your team members to do the same.
- Embrace Diversity and Inclusion: Innovation thrives in an environment that values diversity and inclusion. Innovative leaders recognise the importance of building teams with a wide range of perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences. By embracing diversity and creating a culture of inclusion, you can create a more innovative and creative organisation.
- Stay Curious and Open-Minded: Finally, innovative leaders are curious and open-minded. They are always seeking out new ideas and perspectives, and they are willing to challenge their own assumptions and beliefs. By staying curious and open-minded, you can create a culture of continuous learning and improvement that can drive innovation and growth.
Innovative leaders lead themselves, their teams, their organisations and their larger stakeholder community through a lens of self-awareness. They appreciate that they exist in a broader, mutually interdependent context and have an understanding that aligning all elements of the system (including themselves) and evolving them together is what generates long-term success.
RightPath’s leadership programs build, transform and enable effective leadership. We conduct workshops that are customised in alignment with organisational goals and delivered via design thinking and principles of effectuation.