Learn the Ways Leaders Encourage Innovation

Learn the Ways Leaders Encourage InnovationLearn the Ways Leaders Encourage InnovationAccording tothe Center for Creative Leadership,Studies have shown that 20 to 67 percent of the variance on measures of the climate for creativity in organizations is directly attributable to leadership behavior. What this means is that leaders must act in ways that promote and support organizational innovation. You often hear managers blame the company for not allowing employees to be innovative. While that may be true to some extent, its frustrating that unterstellung managers dont seem to understand that in the eyes of their employees,?theyare thecompany. Regardless of what kind of company you may work in, here are some things a leader can do to create an environment where employees are encouraged to be innovative?? Dont Pop the Balloon - Put a Little More Air in the Balloon What this means is, when an employee comes to you with an idea, resist the urge to come up with all kind of reasons why the idea wont work. Thats throwing darts at the idea. Instead, come up with ways to help the employee identify barriers and solutions, encourage the employee to test the idea, or look for things about the idea that will work. In other words, put air in the balloon. Allow Your Employees Time to Innovate Some call this Google time giving employees a few hours a week to experiment, work on projects that are outside of their jobs, to read, or to solve problems. Encourage Employee to Hang out With PNLUs (People Not Like You) People that are different bring a different perspective and fresh ideas. Some teams invite PNLUs to be a part of theirproject teams. I once heard someone say he purposely requests the middle seat on airplanes because it doubles the change that he will meet someone interesting. Practice and Encourage Possibility Thinking Instead of saying, It wont work, or, We already tried that, say Well,up until nowit hasnt worked, or, What if? Set a Realistic Expec tation for Innovation Success Innovative ideas, by their very nature, probably wont be readily accepted or they will fail. Whats a good batting average for innovation? Some would say around 200, or one out of five ideas. Dont let your employees get frustrated about the four rejections instead, reward the effort and encourage them to come back swinging until they get a hit. Accept Failure as Learning Yes, its become a clich that has been mocked in the Dilbert comic strip, but if you dont fall now and then, youre not really trying. When an employee fails, ask them to reflect on what they learned, and encourage them to apply those learnings in the future. Provide as Much Autonomy and Ownership for Jobs, Projects, or Tasks According to Daniel Pink, employees are motivated the most by autonomy the freedom to do things their own way. The challenge for many managers to allow employees to do things differently than they would do them, as long as they are getting good results. Who knows, they may come up with abetterway Provide Training Innovation is not something a person is born with (DNA) innovation can be learned. Provide training inassociating, questioning, observing, networking, and experimenting. Ask Questions That Encourage Innovation See70 Awesome Coaching Questions Using the GROW Model. Allow Your Employees to Attend Conferences and Networking Events Again, in order to get them exposed to PNLUs and new ideas. Encourage Employees to Observe Their Customers or Users This is central to the concept of entwurf thinking, pioneered by the innovative design company IDEO. This isnt about reading market research reports or user surveys its about actually going out and observing the users of whatever it is you make or provide.