20 Ways Leaders Can Foster Innovation
Adapted from 41 Ways Business Leaders Can Foster a Culture of Innovation by Barry Gruenberg
The rocketing success of Apple and so many other business underdogs in the last decade has demonstrated the game-changing potential of organizations that encourage creativity from the top to the bottom. Among his suggestions Barry Gruenberg offers the following not-so-secret ingredients for a culture of innovation:
1. Give up needing to be the smartest person in the room.
2. Seek out people who think differently than you do.
3. When you delegate, REALLY delegate.
4. Be a learner in every project and in every relationship.
5. Celebrate failures and explore failures for learning.
6. Surface conflict and support minority positions.
7. Protect the new from the old.
8. Get feedback to test whether what you think you communicated is what people actually heard.
9. Reward teamwork and unselfish effort -- not individual heroics.
10. Recognize the talents of those around you and leverage them to the max.
The rocketing success of Apple and so many other business underdogs in the last decade has demonstrated the game-changing potential of organizations that encourage creativity from the top to the bottom. Among his suggestions Barry Gruenberg offers the following not-so-secret ingredients for a culture of innovation:
1. Give up needing to be the smartest person in the room.
2. Seek out people who think differently than you do.
3. When you delegate, REALLY delegate.
4. Be a learner in every project and in every relationship.
5. Celebrate failures and explore failures for learning.
6. Surface conflict and support minority positions.
7. Protect the new from the old.
8. Get feedback to test whether what you think you communicated is what people actually heard.
9. Reward teamwork and unselfish effort -- not individual heroics.
10. Recognize the talents of those around you and leverage them to the max.
11. Pave the way for your subordinate's success and develop all followers to be your successor.
12. Provide very specific, timely, behavior-based positive feedback.
13. Always begin your feedback with what you like about a new idea.
14. Make the path to considering, evaluating, and deciding on new ideas clear and easy to navigate.
15. Spend at least 20% of your time in two-way communication with people at all levels of your organization.
16. Be intentional and deliberate. Be clear about what you are trying to achieve and test whether that is what you are getting.
17. Stick your neck out for what you believe in and value.
18. Acknowledge when you don't know something and admit mistakes -- just learn and rely on others to help you figure it out.
19. Eliminate fear from the workplace. Foster excitement and commitment.
20. Increase freedom and accountability. Let employees experiment with whatever approaches they think are worth exploring while
remaining accountable for results. Let them own the "how." You own the "what".
Interested to know why innovation fails? Check out the 56 Reasons
Used with permission from The Heart of Innovation who offer the Idea Champions University.
12. Provide very specific, timely, behavior-based positive feedback.
13. Always begin your feedback with what you like about a new idea.
14. Make the path to considering, evaluating, and deciding on new ideas clear and easy to navigate.
15. Spend at least 20% of your time in two-way communication with people at all levels of your organization.
16. Be intentional and deliberate. Be clear about what you are trying to achieve and test whether that is what you are getting.
17. Stick your neck out for what you believe in and value.
18. Acknowledge when you don't know something and admit mistakes -- just learn and rely on others to help you figure it out.
19. Eliminate fear from the workplace. Foster excitement and commitment.
20. Increase freedom and accountability. Let employees experiment with whatever approaches they think are worth exploring while
remaining accountable for results. Let them own the "how." You own the "what".
Interested to know why innovation fails? Check out the 56 Reasons
Used with permission from The Heart of Innovation who offer the Idea Champions University.
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