Innovation is crucial for the success of any organization. Finding out-of-the-box ways to improve the operation or satisfied your customers can give you a competitive edge over your competitors. Innovation can produce a new product or service. It can also help you to empower your team. Regardless of the purpose, creative thinking is a must. Given the competition out there, leaders need to know how to promote innovation as part of the daily processes.
To promote innovation, develop your team’s skills.
To empower the team, leaders need to ensure they have what they need. How do they know what skills to develop? Some skills, like problem-solving or data visualization, are easy to recognize, but others are not. If you are not sure, go to the best source for this information. Ask your team member what do they need for success? What skills or knowledge do they like to develop? Then, evaluate if the request is reasonable or worth the resources. Finally, approve the request or work with them to find a solution that fits their needs and aligns with the company goals.
Create a safe place to learn.
One of the rules for a kaizen event is to create a safe place to learn, voice ideas, and test their hypothesis. A safe environment is fundamental for a learning experience. Employees are more likely to engage in the problem-solving or creative process when they feel safe. Creating such a place is one-way servant leaders show that they care about their team. The absence of fear of losing their job or retaliation is critical for innovation.
Even when there is no fear of losing their job, exposing themselves to failure is a deterrent. Although in continuous improvement, you win or you learn, it feels like a failure if you don’t get what you expected. To change that, leaders will need to step up and model the expected behavior.
Promote innovation modeling the expected behaviors.
They can model them in two different ways. First, they can show how to react when they face failure. Great leaders do not hesitate to show their vulnerabilities. Leaders make mistakes like everybody else. When people see the boss has fears or insecurities about following his ideas but do it anyway, they feel good. It is that aha moment when they realize that their boss is human and feels fear like they do.
The second way to model correct behavior is by demonstrating the expected reaction when things turn out differently than expected. During those times, it is normal to feel defeated or upset. However, it is the reaction to that feeling what counts. Instead of roaming your sadness or anger, good leaders show their team that it is ok not to win all the time. Ask your team how they feel and let them vent their emotions.
After that moment of relief, reset the mindset by showing them how to reflect on the lessons learned. With those learning on hand, adjust the plan and test it. Moreover, show them to never stop exploring, learning, and growing!
