On this week’s Best of Killer Innovation Series, we analyze qualities that promote strong innovation leadership and will help any organization become a trailblazer in the game.
What are the unique skill sets needed for innovation leadership? We all have a list of what good leadership skills are but what are the unique ones you need to be a true innovation leader? Today on Killer Innovations, I will discuss what I have found to be the skills needed for successful innovation leadership.
Innovation Leadership Skills
These leadership skills apply to all organizations, whether you are a small organization or a large organization.
- Integrity
- You need to trust the people you are working with.
- You need to know they are looking out for what is in the best interests of the team and organization.
- Vision and Strategy.
- Team members are looking to the leaders to communicate what the vision and strategy are.
- You need to look long-range beyond where the team is and roll that back in so they can see what your vision is.
- You need to be able to tell the story, make the pitch, and share your dream with others.
- Communication is critical to successful innovation leadership,
- If you are going to be a leader, you need to be able to interact and build relationships and truly have an interest in other people’s lives.
- Know what is going on in your team members’ lives so you can help them eliminate distractions and get their heads in the game.
- You have got to persuade people to leave what they are doing now and join your team.
- You must be able to convince them that what are doing is something worth their time.
- Adaptability and Flexibility.
- As a leader you cannot be rigid, you must be adaptable and flexible with your team and organization.
- Can you operate as a leader of a team?
- You need diversity in your team to be successful.
- Coach and develop.
- Find young and upcoming people and coach and develop them.
- Decision-Making.
- You must be comfortable making the final decision.
- Realize that sometimes the decision you make is going to fail.
- Planning and organizing.
- If you are not good at planning and organizing, then hire people to do it for your team.
Basic Skill You Need
These are the basic skills you need to be a successful innovation leader. So, what skills do you need to do differently to truly be an innovation leader?
- Innovation leadership involves taking risks.
- You must be comfortable that some of the decisions you make are going to fail.
- Some of your decisions are going to be flipped.
- You need to keep looking for new opportunities and threats.
- Look for threats to your organization, industry, or geography.
- Innovation is about change.
- Stability is the death of innovation.
- Foster a culture where change is expected.
- Do not rest on the traditional management techniques.
- Every situation is different.
- You need to invent the way you manage and do leadership.
- Be an optimist.
- Innovation is about being an optimist.
- You need to convince and convey an optimistic view of the future.
- Innovators cut through the crap.
- Innovation leaders need to cut through the crap and get to the core.
- You need to step in and stop the corporate game-playing.
Let’s connect; I am on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. If we do connect, drop me a note and let me know. The email address is feedback@philmckinney.com or you can go to Philmckinney.com and drop me a note there.
Thinking Beyond the Obvious
The challenges on the creativity innovation side do not change based on scale. It is the same whether you have a five-person team or a fifty-person team. The challenge is operating and innovating at the same level. A lot of companies get in a rut because they are doing what they have always done. So, how do you push yourself and people to go beyond the obvious and do the next thing?
- Break the rules.
- Corporate antibodies will come after new ideas; you need to recognize that these antibodies exist.
- Sometimes you are the corporate antibody.
- You must think differently.
- You must unlearn what you have been taught when it comes to conforming.
- Make sure that you challenge yourself to go beyond the obvious answer to questions.
- It is all about asking.
- How do you ask questions that will make you think about something you have not considered before?
- How do you ask those killer questions?
- Better questions get you better answers.
To learn more about innovation leadership, listen to this week's show: The Best of Killer Innovations: The Art of Innovation Leadership.
Subscribe: RSS
Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.