leading innovation series

Create space, a locus – both physically and conceptually – for robust discussion and decision-making to occur

Leading innovation: Finding the right locus (week 21)

Traditional leadership:

Conventionally, decisions get made at the leadership level, and top-down decisions are preferred. Structure is rigid and discourages cross-role thinking and communication.

A fresh approach:

Finding the right locus for “creative resolution” in the innovation framework refers to both a physical place and a conceptual place or level at which robust discussion and decision-making can occur.

New-era leaders should allow decisions to be made at the level best-equipped to make the decision. Top-down decisions are made only when necessary. Cross-role communication is critical for collaborative discovery and can be fostered and encouraged through flexible organizational structure.

Bring it to life:

• • • Be Clear and Consistent. Ensure that decision-making rights in the organization are clear and consistent.
    • Be Inclusive. Gather Input from the appropriate people when making decisions, including opposing viewpoints.
    • Know Your Limits. Assess which decisions can be made at which level in the organization and under what circumstances decisions need to be escalated.
    • Stay Close to the Customer. Avoid making top-down decisions that can be made by employees who are closer to the customer.
    • Break Silos. Create cross-functional decision-making bodies in the organization.
    • Be Flexible. Approach structure as a flexible tool to foster the process of collaborative discovery and creative resolution.
    • Change the Structure. Recognize the benefits of informal or social structures that can trigger discussion and ideas.
    • Change Your Space. Pay attention to physical workspace, create spaces that are easily adaptable, and use work and common areas to encourage random interactions among people from all parts of the organization.

Next Week: Creative Resolution – Integrated decision-making.

 

Leading innovation: Psychological safety (week 9)

To lead innovation with psychological safety, nurture an agreed-upon setting that allows everyone to share their ideas without fear of retribution. 

Traditional leadership:

The conventional view has been that creating an environment where people feel psychologically safe is conveyed from the top down. Information is formal, corporate in tone, and tightly controlled, Employees are passive consumers of information.

A fresh approach:

In the new era, psychological safety is established through shared purpose, shared values, and agreed upon rules of engagement allowing everyone to share their ideas without fear of retribution. Leaders talk with employees not to them, and the culture fosters back-and-forth interaction. Leaders relinquish a measure of control over content, and employees actively participate in organizational messaging

Bring it to life:

• Invite participation by showing you care and want to hear from others.
• Respond to challenges, mistakes, or other issues in encouraging ways, such as by asking what is needed and offering to help vs. punishment, which discourages people from being honest or coming forward
• Emphasize listening to your employees rather than just speaking to them.
• Encourage employees to engage in a bottom-up exchange of ideas and to act as brand ambassadors and thought leaders
• Establish a clear agenda to inform all communication and carefully explain the agenda to employees
• Admit to mistakes and failures, and seek to learn from them
• Show humility, with curiosity, interest and fallibility
• Provide context for your team’s work—how complex, what they are trying to do, what’s needed from them, so they understand the journey
• Create an environment where people can bring their whole selves to work

Next week: Question Everything.

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: Mutual Trust (week 8)

To lead innovation with mutual trust, focus on your people’s competence and character over seniority and knowledge.

This is our 8th installment in the Leading Innovation series. See the rest of the series here.

Traditional leadership:

The conventional view has been that trustworthiness is based on one’s seniority and knowledge.

A fresh approach:

In the new era, mutual trust is based on competence and character.

Bring it to life:

• Actively create a trustworthy environment, which begins when you behave in a trustworthy manner and practice discretion.
• Be honest about your intentions, and encourage others to be as well.
• Make public statements that are consistent with your private statements and actions; do what you say.
• Hire on the basis of character, as well as competence.
• Balance confidence with vulnerability and encourage others to do so.
• Match your words to your actions.

Next week: Psychological safety

 

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: Mutual influence (week 7)

To lead innovation with mutual influence, build mutually respectful and beneficial relationships. Influence is two-way.

Traditional leadership:

The conventional view has been that influence is tied to your seniority, position, or who you know. Influence is one-way.

A fresh approach:

In the new era,  influence is mutual and tied to your ability to build mutually respectful and beneficial relationships. Influence is two-way.

Bring it to life:

• Try to discover everyone’s opinion and be patient and receptive while they make their case
• Expect and seek feedback from all that can be helpful
• Encourage people to advocate for their points of view
• Evaluate ideas based on their merits, not on who contributed the idea
• Take all employees’ ideas seriously, whether they are senior or junior, expert or novice, etc.
• Ensure that meetings and conversations are not dominated by a few voices, including your own
• Aim to step back in meetings. Avoid derailing/taking over conversations or always having the last word
• Ensure all teams are soliciting input

Next Week: Mutual Trust

Foster a culture of mutual trust based on competence and character.

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: 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)

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: 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)

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.