Leadership for Innovation

I absolutely do not claim to be a leader, or one who commands a workforce in ways that promote innovative behaviours. But all topics are fair game in this wide open flat world, and this topic is the one under my scope now, which means I have to write as if I know everything there is to know about it.

Top-down leaders beware. I have a say, but I have no force behind me, which makes it even easier for me to give it in a clean and dirty fashion. I also know it is easy for a non-accountable, non-responsible fellow who is not on the payroll, to talk his mouth off when there is no financial or quantifiable bottom line to meet…but heck, someone has to take responsibility to rock the organised establishments.

In simple terms, innovative leadership boils down to a single concept believed by and filtering down to, many levels of the workforce.

This concept is the idea that leadership for innovation provides choice and freedom for the workforce to THINK, and it shows in all Standard Operating Procedures, Engagements, Conversations and Policies.

There is a cascading effect here.

The workforce will truly believe and see that their thoughts and opinions count for something.

It enables them then to have confidence in and see that in real world and implementation matters, they do have Autonomy, which gives them Meaning and Purpose in their professional lives, and this motivates them to gain Mastery of their environments.

Remember too, that we are always talking about the idea of a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous environment; where Design Thinking methodologies and beliefs are the steps to achieving Innovative behaviours and prototypes.

Let’s get down to the central issue of leadership.

My basic premise is that the management tiers, be it single or many, do actually acknowledge the fact that inclusivity and bottom-up interaction protocols, are the modern rules of engagement in the workplace. The Collective IQ of the workforce is pretty clearly the more powerful one if comparing that of a whole organisation versus that of a one or a few leaders. But I also believe strongly that one person’s ideas CAN make a difference in ensuring the success of a ten thousand strong workforce. On the other hand though, it does requires the buy-in of all ten thousand to implement the idea and to ensure its success.

Many leaders also believe, extremely wrongly, that the carrot and the stick actually work as inducements for heightened performance, most especially the offering of money. The Candle Problem has already demonstrated and proven though scientific research conducted over the past 70 years or so, that neither the carrot nor the stick works when it comes to very high order performance demands. Instead, rewards or punishments create FUNCTIONAL FIXEDNESS, where creativity and critical thinking becomes non-existent, and the idea of success and failure revolve around the reward or punishment, not on the problem or solution themselves.

In many ways, functional fixedness could be that one big idea that represents the obstacle to innovative behaviours and thinking.

People will perform when INTRINSIC MOTIVATIONS are activated, and this can never be activated by carrots nor sticks. What does motivate the activation of intrinsic motivations are belief, self-esteem, trust, empowerment and autonomy, and having an impact on the world, especially putting wrong things right.

Yet we still have all manner of leaders thinking any problems can be overcome, and correct actions and interest be motivated, simply by offering money. Which is why we have a world where, “No money, no talk!” – a very well-known and oft used Asian fact of life.

• Leaders who want to encourage innovative behaviours are also those who very wisely are able to check their egos at the door, and forget to ever check it our ever again. They can sit down with the cleaners to have tea, and attend the [parties of the most junior of staff, and make the most lowly staff feel confident and proud enough to comfortably welcome you into their homes.

• Leaders by their very natures are also type A personalities, control freaks who do not believe that anything without their input can ever be successful. Unfortunately, the very act of giving up control is the only clear way to show you trust. So what will it be – relinquishing power or shutting down the intrinsic motivations of your workforce?

• Leaders who inspire innovation are also those who have a total disregard for appeals to history, tradition, status quos, authorities and as usual, the almighty THEY. It takes a lot of guts, and some amazing risk taking behaviours, to be able to look at your managers or your workforce in the eye, and say, “Forget all that. This is what we will do, although it goes against everything that history, traditions, experts and even the ghost of Steve Jobs say will not work.”

In the end, there is no recipe to stimulate innovative behaviours through the appropriate leadership.  The sum or a workforce is still many individuals, and every individual has to be engaged with as a separate and unique person.  That is the only way you can ensure that every single unit is functioning as an efficient and innovative organism, weakest link in the chain and all that notwithstanding.

Of course…it will be HARD!

If anyone of you think it is easy to get of your backside in your plush comfortable office and make the rounds to get to know your people and to understand and inspire them, hah…think again!

It will be almost downright impossible, especially when you believe that giving great salaries and rewards, and cracking an ever present whip over their heads; are sufficient conditions. On the other hand, if you come to believe that the human condition needs the human factor to make connections and inspire intrinsic motivations, then you might be starting to inch your way up to great leadership.

Above all else, remember too, that the customer is your boss, and business’s bottom lines as an organisation, are about money (!). And if customers decide your offerings or image stinks, something has to give.

Even leaders get shipped.