Archives for November 2023

Leading innovation: Respect (week 6)

innovative leadership culture respect

Fresh Leadership For A New Age: A Series On The Art And Practice Of Leading Innovation The award-winning book Collective Genius by our founding partners Dr. Linda Hill and team reveals the strategies behind some of the world’s most innovative organizations. Their research makes it clear that a fresh approach to leadership is critical for organizations needing to sustain innovation or create transformative change. This 22-week series features tips on when and how you can bring this new leadership style to life in your organization. - image shows a lightbulb made of fresh fruit

Leading innovation: Respect (week 6)

To effectively lead innovation with respect, establish rules of engagement that focus on mutual respect for all.

Traditional leadership: Old

The conventional view has been that respect is ascribed by seniority and those perceived to be experts.

A fresh approach: New Era

New-era leaders help establish rules of engagement to foster a creative community. One of these rules is that of mutual respect, where members all consider each other competent even though each brings different abilities and strengths. Every colleague is thought to have something to offer. This belief is critical because it fosters the listening, openness, and transparency necessary for an innovative culture.

Bring it to life:

  • Establish a clear set of behavioral expectations and rules of engagement for collaboration that everyone can count on.
  • Foster the belief that everyone has something valuable to contribute
  • Practice listening and model attentiveness in meetings, no matter who is speaking
  • Strive to be, and encourage others to be, honest and forthright in conversations
  • Invite diverse points of view, welcome differences of opinion and respectful creative clashes
  • Do not allow people to demean others publicly or privately

Next week: Mutual Influence

Build mutually respectful and beneficial relationships.

Innovation solutions from Paradox Strategies

Our Collective Genius simulation and learning journey is designed to help leaders inspire action, nourish creativity, and build a culture of innovation. We also offer keynotes and our proprietary innovation diagnostic assessments re:Mind™ and re:Route™ as first steps in developing the mindset, culture, and capabilities of innovative organizations. Contact us via the form below if you would like to know how to bring these great tools to your organization.

Leading innovation: Responsibility (week 5)

innovation leadership responsibility cultureLeading innovation: Responsibility (week 5)

To lead innovation with responsibility, be personally invested in your team ‘s success and the organization’s success.

Traditional leadership:

The conventional view has been that, as a leader, you are personally invested in the team’s success and doing one’s work.

A fresh approach:

Our research shows new-era leaders can better inspire innovation when they are personally invested in the team’s success AND the organization’s success.

Bring it to life: 

  • Possitive Accountability. Feel accountable to the entire organization, not only your team’s performance
  • Standards. Set and maintain high standards for follow through and accountability
  • Modeling. Model responsibility by holding yourself to the highest professional standards
  • Negative Accountability. Hold individuals accountable for actions that go against the organization’s values
  • Go Beyond. Be willing to go beyond your job requirements to get important work done.
  • Think Big. Feel personally responsible for the organization’s success. When solving problems, consider what’s best for the whole organization, not just what’s best for yourself.

Next week: Respect

Establish rules of engagement that focus on mutual respect for all.

Innovation solutions from Paradox Strategies

Our Collective Genius simulation and learning journey is designed to help leaders inspire action, nourish creativity, and build a culture of innovation. We also offer keynotes and our proprietary innovation diagnostic assessments re:Mind™ and re:Route™ as first steps in developing the mindset, culture, and capabilities of innovative organizations. Contact us via the form below if you would like to know how to bring these great tools to your organization.

Leading innovation: Learning (week 4)

culture leadership innovation learning

Fresh Leadership For A New Age: A Series On The Art And Practice Of Leading Innovation The award-winning book Collective Genius by our founding partners Dr. Linda Hill and team reveals the strategies behind some of the world’s most innovative organizations. Their research makes it clear that a fresh approach to leadership is critical for organizations needing to sustain innovation or create transformative change. This 22-week series features tips on when and how you can bring this new leadership style to life in your organization. - image shows a lightbulb made of fresh fruitLeading innovation: How to Use learning (week 4)

To lead innovation with learning, focus on developing broad skills through the flow of work.

Traditional leadership:

The conventional view has been that, as a leader, you see learning & development as an individual endeavor with the focus on improving technical skills.

A fresh approach:

Our research shows new-era leaders embrace learning as a collective activity with the focus on acquiring and developing broad skills through the flow of work with others.

Bring it to life:

  • Model life-long learning and share trends and insights with your team; keep apprised of happenings in other industries; live on the cutting-edge.
  • Be curious about your employees’ interests and their work. Connect them to people and knowledge (e.g. books, articles, resources) that can catalyze their interests and work.
  • Create stretch assignments and opportunities for employees to rotate or work in different areas.
  • Provide your employees with exposure to learning opportunities beyond the organization, sector, or geography
  • Create forums for intellectual exchange, to explore fresh ideas and share resources
  • Bring new knowledge into the organization. Be connected to other parts of the ecosystem (e.g. private sector, public sector, academia)
  • Encourage employees from across the organization to experiment and pilot projects together

Next week: Responsibility

Be personally invested in your team ‘s success and the organization’s success.

Innovation solutions from Paradox Strategies

Our Collective Genius simulation and learning journey is designed to help leaders inspire action, nourish creativity, and build a culture of innovation. We also offer keynotes and our proprietary innovation diagnostic assessments re:Mind™ and re:Route™ as first steps in developing the mindset, culture, and capabilities of innovative organizations. Contact us via the form below if you would like to know how to bring these great tools to your organization.

Leading innovation: Collaboration (week 3)

leadership innovation culture collaboration

Fresh Leadership For A New Age: A Series On The Art And Practice Of Leading Innovation The award-winning book Collective Genius by our founding partners Dr. Linda Hill and team reveals the strategies behind some of the world’s most innovative organizations. Their research makes it clear that a fresh approach to leadership is critical for organizations needing to sustain innovation or create transformative change. This 22-week series features tips on when and how you can bring this new leadership style to life in your organization. - image shows a lightbulb made of fresh fruit

Leading innovation: Collaboration (week 3)

To lead innovation using collaboration, focus on rewarding the team, not star performers.

Traditional leadership:

The conventional view has been that, as a leader, you reward star performers who get the job done well.

Here’s a fresh approach to leadership*:

Our research shows new-era leaders should reward teams who get the job done well together.

Bring it to life:

  • Model collaboration, Deomonstrate what collaboration looks like. e.g. with your senior team and other colleagues or groups; limit taking action in isolation and/or showing up with fully-formed thoughts.
  • Appoint diverse, cross-functional teams to work together on difficult problems.
  • Allow working groups the time, autonomy, and head cover to work on solutions to problems.
  • Allow yourself to be influenced by asking questions, presenting new data, and offering feedback, but refrain from directing a result.
  • Make space for employees at every level of the organization to give feedback on work in progress
  • Highlight teamwork in town halls, companywide emails, etc.

Next week: Learning

How to smoothly integrate continuous learning into your company’s ongoing operations.

*Fresh means up-to-date, modern, based on fresh research, ideas, real-world application.

Innovation solutions from Paradox Strategies

Our Collective Genius simulation and learning journey is designed to help leaders inspire action, nourish creativity, and build a culture of innovation. We also offer keynotes and our proprietary innovation diagnostic assessments re:Mind™ and re:Route™ as first steps in developing the mindset, culture, and capabilities of innovative organizations. Contact us via the form below if you would like to know how to bring these great tools to your organization.