Inspiring Innovation – Pushing Beyond Your Comfort Zone to Achieve the Impossible

31 Jan 2013

Successful innovation flourishes with good leadership that unleashes the potential in both themselves and others.  High impact leaders challenge themselves and others to see and achieve beyond expectations. They do this by building trust, building engagement and creating the confidence to take risks that will inspire innovation  – to push beyond your comfort zone and achieve the impossible.

So what do high impact leaders do to create and capture value. How do they they inspire themselves and others to take action, take risks and seek challenges? There are a number of key behaviours and elements that set them apart.

They:

SET THE COURSE
Set and continuously talk a vision. They seek to inspire people with change goals and challenges and then support them as they set out to deliver in an innovative way. They are also tolerant when there are no maps for unchartered waters.

EXPLAIN CHANGE AND CHALLENGE RISK
Seek to capture the enthusiasm and ambition for change and attack complacency. They help clear away the debris so people can innovate. Leaders help people understand the risks of changing and standing still.

CHANGE THE GAME
Help people to find ways to change the game and springboard over current practice and competitors. Leaders challenge thinking and assumptions and give air to the possibility of new ways that may require a calculated leap of faith.

CHALLENGE ASSUMPTIONS AND BREAK THE RULES
Encourage people to challenge assumptions and find ways around and through old ways that are not productive or fun for employees and clients. Leaders seek managed risk and the search for opportunity and the permission to think creatively and laterally to find new paths.

CHALLENGE WHAT WE DO
Ask people to be clear about what they do and question whether what they do has real value for clients. Leaders encourage people to question whether there is a better way.

DEMAND COLLABORATION, INTEGRATION, LEARNING
Partner with others. Join up the “internal dots” to innovate and add value. They challenge people to be agile, nimble and testing. The capacity to learn from success and failure is critical to the future.

TEST IDEAS
Controlled testing is critical. Talk fests drown people and suck energy out of the organization and innovation. Rigorous critiquing is a sign of an innovative culture.