BUSINESS RESEARCH

The Art of Innovation Leadership

Innovation processes are useful, but innovative people are essential: individuals need to understand themselves (their capabilities and limitations), and organisations and teams need to have the right mix of behaviours to innovate. This research focuses on how leaders can set the stage for making innovation happen.

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July 2014

Setting the Stage for Innovation

Conventional leadership styles are based on direction-setting. This type of leadership is appropriate when the solution to a problem is known – but it will fail if the problem demands a novel solution, as the correct response cannot be known in advance. The challenge of leading for innovation, therefore, is not about selling a concrete vision to employees and then leading them into action. Instead of asking “How do I make innovation happen?”, innovation leaders should ask “How do I set the stage for it to happen?”

Innovation is often emotionally and intellectually demanding – and innovative problem solving may at times seem unnatural without skilled leadership. The role of an innovation leader should be to create a community that is both willing and able to innovate.

Willingness to innovate depends on three factors:

  • Purpose: why we exist
  • Shared values: what we agree is important
  • Rules of engagement: how we interact with one another and think about problems

Ability to innovate requires three specific and reinforcing capabilities:

  • Creative abrasion: the ability to generate ideas through discourse and debate
  • Creative resolution: the ability to make integrative decisions that combine disparate or opposing ideas
  • Creative agility: the ability to test and experiment through quick pursuit, reflection and judgement

Sources: Hill, A., Brandeau, G., Truelove, E. & Lineback, K. (2014) Collective Genius, HBR, June; Adair, J. (2009) Leadership for Innovation, Kogan Page.

 

Referenced techniques

Technique

Adaptation Innovation Theory

Adaption–Innovation (A-I) Theory helps organisations make practical use of cognitive diversity in problem solving and change. Recent work shows how A-I underpins leadership practice, team design and the management of complex problems in real settings (Sheffield and Friedel, 2022).

Technique

Transformational Leadership

The concept outlines core ‘constants’ that can be used to develop effective leadership within the organisation and describes the principles that underpin transformational leadership. The concept will give you an understanding of how to adopt this approach in any organisational setting.

Technique

Innovation Diamond

The innovation diamond concept explains the four cornerstones of innovation for building competitive advantage. The concept uses cutting-edge research and case studies to show how companies can stay ahead of the innovation curve and outlines the critical success factors and measures needed to implement the innovation diamond.

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