Leadership Skills / Approaches for Successful Innovation

Leadership Skills / Approaches for Successful Innovation

Innovation leadership requires other approaches than general leadership for the core business. Furr and Dyer (2014) outline some unique leadership skills/approaches required for successful innovation:

1. RATHER THAN DICTATING A VISION, SET A BIG CHALLENGE
In traditional approaches to leadership, creating a vision in the sense that the strategic priorities of the company are outlined implies that the leader is the decision maker and directs the company to comply with those priorities.
In order to be a successful leader in innovation processes, it is important to “carve out the metal space within which the innovation process can be carried out” (ibid.). This means that a leader first need to set the expectation that the particular innovation will push the limits, which means that you transform some of the most important assumptions about your company’s goods, clients and business models. This can be a difficult task that can be shocking for people as it brings uncertainty, therefore it is critical to communicate that some risk and uncertainty can be advantageous and to put some limits around the uncertainty.

2. RATHER THAN MAKING DECISIONS, DESIGN EXPERIMENTS
In innovation processes, it is important not to believe that all decisions about innovative models should ultimately be made by the project’s leader. The project leader knows just as little as all other people when a product has not been launched yet. Because of that, systematically testing critical assumptions with clients is a better way to make tough choices and to decrease the risks of launching innovations on the market. So, innovation leaders should ask questions rather than answering them.

3. RATHER THAN JUST SELLING THE IDEAS TO A FEW PEOPLE, FOCUS ON PREPARING THE ENTIRE ORGANIZATION TO ACCEPT THOSE NEW IDEAS
Leaders often try to sell the idea only to the ‘sell side’ - the developing innovators. However, it is just as important to also focus on educating the idea to the rest of the organization.

4. INSTEAD OF GIVING PEOPLE THE TIME, IT IS BETTER TO PROVIDE THEM WITH THE REQUIRED RESOURCES SO THAT THEY CAN ACT IN A QUICK WAY
In the view of Furr and Dyer, it is a particular type of time that is needed in innovation processes: uninterrupted time. This means time in which the mind can be totally absorbed with one particular issue. Rather than spending about 20 or 30 minutes a day to certain problems, it is more effective to assign for example half day a week to the problem.
Other important tasks for the leader are to minimize organizational barriers, and to provide the innovation developers with the tools and resources they need.

Source: Furr and Dyer (2014) “Leading your Team into the Unknown” HBR December 2014

		Comments Sort by date Sort by rating Rating
		3 John Geurts Consultant, Netherlands
	Approaches for Successful Innovation First it's assumed that it's about innovation in an existing company and it's about disruptive innov... Sign up

		1 Glover Business Consultant, United Kingdom
	Leadership Skills & Approaches for Innovation Some nice points but I have to side more with John. I think you need a leader with strong vision to... Sign up

		3 K.Narayana Moorthy HR Consultant, India
	Leadership Sklls & Approaches for Innovation A. A good Leader has to be GREAT ACHIEVER: Innovation will be in the field of (a) 360 Personal Succe... Sign up

		2 Zaddock Oguta Consultant, Kenya
	Innovation Management Skills 1. Leadership and people management skills: attract, retain, coach, motivate, develop team members. ... Sign up

		4 John Geurts Consultant, Netherlands
	Focus Areas for Innovation Managers and Leaders Leadership should do the following: 1. Think about arenas, not in industries 2. Set broad themes a... Sign up

		2 Jos Kok, Netherlands
	Disruptive Change Management Why is the gap between theory and practice this big? The last 20 years I worked in companies and ins... Sign up

		0 Ali J. Boru Student (Other), Kenya
	Innovative Leadership Should Motivate Organization I agree with recommendation #3 that leadership should focus internally, build on existing resources ... Sign up

		5 Kurt Ludikovsky Consultant, Austria
	It Depends on the Organization I can agree to most what has been said here and disagree at the same time. - Let me ask a question:... Sign up

		1 ramos Manager, France
	An Innovation Leader Should not Be Alone, from Experience Practice and theory are still not compatible! From experience in companies from 100 employees to sev... Sign up

		1 Davor Markota Management Consultant, Croatia
	The Context of the Innovation Leadership I agree fully with Mr @Kurt Ludikovsky, what matters is the context of the situation. The art of man... Sign up

		4 Paul D. Wilson Manager, United States
	Innovation Leadership Must Demonstrate Need to Change While I believe that Furr and Dyer are "spot on" with their observations, I believe that it is also ... Sign up

		1 Greenhow, Sweden
	Innovative Leadership or Leadership for Innovation? Like Ludikovsky and Markota, I feel that the discussion requires a more specific description of the ... Sign up

		0 CALLIGARO Management Consultant, France
	Innovation Types At first many thanks for your work, from my part I think that there are 2 main ways of Innovation: ... Sign up

		1 m fransson Manager, Sweden
	Innovation Leadership Skills In my opinion such leadership must set the vision and direction. Leader must also point out importan... Sign up

		1 John Geurts Consultant, Netherlands
	Leadership and Followership in Innovation Innovation is a growth strategy. Also a broad concept, there are many types of innovation. From low ... Sign up

		1 CALLIGARO Management Consultant, France
	Innovation Leadership At first, I may thank you for your explanation, and I may add the following ways to prevent a single... Sign up

		1 John Geurts Consultant, Netherlands
	Leadership & Innovation @Kurt Ludikovsky: Dear Kurt, I disagree with you. Being involved in day to day business is not leade... Sign up

		1 janekariuki HR Consultant, Kenya
	Innovative Leadership and Vision @m fransson: Coming up with a vision should be a corporate decision where all stakeholders are invol... Sign up

		0 Pablo Illingworth Business Consultant, Ecuador
	Cultural Aspects in Leadership Skills in Innovation The 4 Areas mentioned sound really interesting but it is important to consider the culture when appl... Sign up

		0 CALLIGARO Management Consultant, France
	Leadership and Innovation, Many thanks for your comments, the normal way in developed nations is to increase the budget to incr... Sign up

		5 Gary Wong Consultant, Canada
	Into the Unknown is a Different Paradigm When dealing with the unknown and I also include unknowables and unimaginables, deploying traditiona... Sign up

		0 CALLIGARO Management Consultant, France
	Leadership and Innovation At first many thanks to Gary Wong, for this point of view, positioned as a disruptive and original w... Sign up

		0 jorge anibal hoyos hoyos Manager, Colombia
	Innovation as a Core Business Philosophy I think the innovation could not be something to get around to when it's convenient nor should it de... Sign up

		0 K.Narayana Moorthy HR Consultant, India
	Leadership and Innovation Thanks Mr. Calligaro, good day. Since we we were discussing about Disruptive Innovation in the Trans... Sign up

		0 m fransson Manager, Sweden
	Innovation Leadership Skills @Janekariuki: I agree, the board have to sign off the vision. But to make it real is the company lea... Sign up

		2 abedmadi Coach, Palestine, State of
	Effective Innovation Leadership To be an effective innovation leader, you should make the others innovate themselves, by making the ... Sign up

		0 K.Narayana Moorthy HR Consultant, India
	Leadership and Innovation Agreed with @abedmadi. But then a discussion is needed between the organization's vision and goal an... Sign up

		3 Anneke Zwart Student (University), Netherlands
	The Leadership-Innovation Relationship: Ambidexterity Theory (Rosing) Although many studies have researched the factors that are needed in a leader to encourage innovatio... Sign up

		1 K.Narayana Moorthy HR Consultant, India
	Leadership Innovation Relationship- Ambidexterity @Anneke Zwart: Ambidexterity is the state of being equally adept in the use of both right & left app... Sign up

		0 CALLIGARO Management Consultant, France
	Leadership Innovation... @K.Narayana Moorthy: I have read your comments about leadership and ambidexterity. My first reaction... Sign up

		0 K.Narayana Moorthy HR Consultant, India
	Leadership Innovation and Ambidexterity @CALLIGARO: Earlier I said a good leader has to be an Achiever- with knowledge of personal & people ... Sign up

		0 CALLIGARO Management Consultant, France
	Leadership Innovation... @K.Narayana Moorthy: Many thanks for your reply and the details that you precise, I agree with your... Sign up

		0 Gary Wong Consultant, Canada
	The Brain is More Interdependent Than Once Thought For years I believed that a left-brained person is more of a problem-solver, more linear, logical wh... Sign up

		1 Gary Wong Consultant, Canada
	Manage the Evolutionary Potential of the Present @Anneke Zwart: I am intrigued by the concept of Ambidexterity. When working with complexity, the key... Sign up