Leadership as a liaison to innovation
“Leadership is
not about the leader, it is about how he or she builds the confidence of
everyone else“[1]. In
the global environment where companies are acting, it is considered crucial to
innovate to develop competitive advantages.
Innovation has
an essential role when companies are finding new ideas to survive in the future.
Thus, human capital it has to be the forefront of the innovating process.
“People must be innovated to innovate”.[2]
This paper explains a general idea of how companies can use leaders to develop
their human capital in order to reach a higher percentage of different ideas
and better understanding of the holistic idea of what innovation involves.
This document
encompasses an overview of the importance of knowing thyself for leaders to better
understand the people who are working in them. It also compiles how creativity can
be improved in order to increase the capability of innovation.
Achieving the
real potential of leadership implies managers need to know themselves to make
the difference between a good and great performance.[3]
Therefore, leaders have to seek coaching, feedback and need to be receptive.[4]
People try
mostly to state their strengths and they are
very often wrong. That occurs even seeking for weaknesses. It is important
because a great performance comes from strengths rather than weakness.[5]
Accordingly, feedback is crucial to discover what leaders are good or not at. As
an example, writing down expectations before a tough decision will help to
compare in the end whether strengths and weaknesses are
matched or not.
Feedback not
only give a real view of our strong and weak points but also it provides an
evidence of the potential lack of knowledge[6].
Through this tool, it is possible to detect what areas should be improved so
that, afterwards, leaders can work on them. Similarly, there is a third
potential outcome from feedback which is the revelation of manners. Behaviours
are the key to building a culture within an organization and essential to
teambuilding. Consequently, sharing a culture accepted for every member of the
organization enables the team to work together even when there are personal differences.[7]
According to the
last explanation, it is relevant to have a look at values as well. Values are
the base of any behaviour or assumption.[8]
Therefore, the values of the leader as well as of the team have to be matched
with the values of the organization in order to perform in the same direction. Once
strengths, weaknesses, manners and values are acknowledged, leaders are able to
understand others as well as influence on them, which it is quite important
when every member of the organization must be in the same direction, at the
same level of commitment to achieve goals, in other words, to reach the synergy
and, therefore, effectiveness as a result.
Nowadays,
innovation is crucial[9]
to help the organization to adapt to the global environment as well as to
survive in terms of competitiveness. For that reason, it must be developed the
ability of innovation. Therefore leaders have to take action through the
members of the team to increase the innovation system within the organization. Innovation relies on three main pillars[10]:
Relationships, trust and creativity.
Accordingly,
leaders have to consider that every member of the company is valuing. Relationships
are based on people within the company and outside such as subordinates,
colleagues, suppliers or customers. Knowledge, resources, experience, people are
elements that have to be encountered in the process of innovation. Due to that
fact, relationship helps to bring opportunities to reach those components to
success in innovation. Therefore, leaders must build relationships among the
company as well as external trusted people.
Trust is the
second main element to consider. In order to build up this trust, the members
of the enterprise have to feel they are part of the process which is,
interestingly, one of the options to motivate people[11]
in companies. Trust is built through the culture:
“Simple things like saying
“please” and “thank you” and knowing a person´s name or asking after her family
enable two people to work together whether they like each other or not”.[12]
As a consequence,
leaders must build this team culture in order to achieve the required trust to
perform successfully in the innovation process. Everyone has to act in the same
direction and have the same commitment in order to bring more exchange of
ideas, cooperation and more creativity. The sense of contribution produces a
higher commitment from employees.
As people need
to be handled as individuals, a one-on-one mentoring programme is one the most
effective ways to develop soft skills[13].
Leaders by mentoring enable the followers to improve teamwork, motivation,
creativity and others skills which bring a greater performance for them and for
the organization.
The third pillar
for innovation is creativity. Creativity brings endless possibilities in a
changing environment where the companies are trading. Therefore, it can be related
to the ability to see clearly[14].
Seeing clearly means to be aware what already exits and what may come in the
future.
Creativity can
be achieved from inside the company, employees, and out of their boundaries. Focusing
on employees, it has been chosen for the purpose of this paper two main
alternatives to increase the creativity. On one hand, as it has been treated
before, there is the improvement of relationships and culture within the
organization which enhance people to improve their soft skills to reach greater
results in terms of innovation. On the other hand, there is the right side of
the brain.
The human brain
is composed of two parts, the left and the right one. According to scientists,
the right side is in charge of the creativity.[15]
The more the right side is used, the clearer will be our sight with a holistic
picture of our environment. Training the
right side of the brain it helps people to develop the ability of visualization,
in other words, it allows them to experience situations with less uncertainty.
Therefore, leaders have to training employees in the way of writing expectations
down or devoting time to visualize what may occur whether they make a choice or
another. Then, by training the right side, employees are enabled to see beyond
the boundaries. In addition, it also nourishes the idea of evaluating strengths
and weaknesses by comparing what is expected in the beginning and what is the
result at the end.
Amid the global
competition that companies have currently to face, innovation is fundamental in
gaining new advantages that make the organization more competitive. Therefore,
leaders and followers have to be aligned in order to row in the same direction within
the company.
By understanding
yourself, it is more likely you will understand others. Once leaders have
located their strengths and weaknesses, they are in a better position to perform
well instead of good in terms of influencing employees to innovate. For the
same reason, feedback is an essential element to disclosure a better result.
Accordingly,
giving feedback has to be intrinsic in the culture of the organization so that
everyone can improve and the communication flows regularly. As mentioned above,
the sense of contribution increases the motivation of the human capital which
is key factor in bringing about new ideas. Furthermore, there are some other
factors that are essential to innovation such as knowledge, technology, and experience,
consequently, relationships are needed to reach them. In order to make working
the relationship, trust has to be the nuclear base of it. Thus, the
communication and the exchange of ideas are encountered. Nevertheless, trusted
relationships are not enough to success in innovating. Therefore, people must
receive training to move forward with their soft skills. According to the fact,
leaders should provide one-on-one mentoring programmes to the employees so that
they can perform accordingly to the innovation process.
Finally,
creativity plays an essential role within the requiring soft skills for innovating.
A suitable environment and culture within organizations and an appropriated
training system are fundamental elements to develop creativity for the members of
the team which is necessary to bring new products and services as a result from
innovation.
Boehle, S.
(2009). Millennial mentors. Training, 46(6),
34-36.
Covey, S.R.
(2004). The seven habits of highly
effective people. London: Simon & Schuster
Drucker, P.F. (1999, March-April). Managing onself.
Harvard Business Review, 65-74.
Grant, A. M.
(2012). Leading with meaning: Beneficiary contact, prosocial impact, and the
performance effects of transformational leadership. Academy of Management Journal, 55(2), 458-476.
Hoyes, M.B.
(2014). Seeing clearly- The first tool for leadership/organizational
creativity. Journal of Strategic
Leadership, 5(1), 59-66.
Kaplan, R.S.
(2008). Managing yourself. Harvard
Business Review, 45-49.
Moon, T.M.
(2014). Mentoring the next generation for innovation in today´s organization. Journal of Strategic Leadership, 5(1),
23-55.
Moss Kanter, R.
(2006). How cosmopolitan leaders inspire confidence: A profile of the future.
In: Hesselbein, F. & Goldsmith, M. (eds.), The Leader of the Future 2:
Visions, Strategies, and Practices for the New Era. 61-70. San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass.
Oster, G.
(2011). The light prize: Perspectives on Christian innovation. Virginia Beach,
VA: Positive Signs Media.
Steers, R.M., Sanchez-Runde, C.J., Nardon, L. (2010).
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[1] Kanter 2006, p. 66.
[2] cf. Oster, 2011, p. 1849, as cited in Moon, 2014, p. 24.
[3] cf. Kaplan, 2008, p. 47.
[4] cf. Kaplan, 2008, p. 46.
[5] cf. Drucker, 1999, p. 66.
[6] cf. Drucker, 1999, p. 66.
[7] cf. Drucker, 1999, p. 67.
[8] cf. Steers et al., 2013, pp. 50-51.
[9] cf. Moon, 2014, pp. 23-24.
[10] cf. Moon, 2014, p. 30.
[11] cf. Grant, 2012, p. 457.
[12] Drucker, 1999, p. 67.
[13] cf. Boehle, 2009, as cited in Moon, 2014, p. 24.
[14] cf. Hoyes, 2014, p. 59.
[15] cf. Covey, 2004, p. 130.
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