One way for
organizations to become more innovative is to capitalize on their employees’
ability to innovate. Employees can help to improve business performance through
their ability to generate ideas for new and better products, services or work
processes. But the challenge is to put this theory into practice.
In order to
realize a continuous flow of innovations, employees need to be both willing and
able to innovate. For that reason it is imperative to create a good working atmosphere and provide the right tools and skills.
Probably the
most important ingredient for both things is the leader as enabler and enhancer of innovative behaviours among
the employees. Leading by example is
the best way to promote this kind of behaviour as far as leaders have a
powerful source of influence on any work behaviour. In addition to that the
leader must promote employees’
interaction with others in the workplace.
Innovation
theorists often describe the innovation process as being composed of two main
phases: ideas generation and implementation. For the first one the leader must
reinforce the creativity capabilities of the team. The goal is to find good
ideas that can be productive for the firm and implemented in the short-medium
term. The leader should stimulate team members to view problems in new ways and
help them to develop to their full potential.
Most companies however fail in the implementation
(when ideas should become real products, services or processes). The role of
the leader in this point is key. He should act as a real organizational
facilitator and help the team to implement the new idea.
Finally there's another important task for the leader: expectations management. The leader must ensure that everyone understands that innovation is not just finding great ideas. Make small improvements in processes is another useful form of innovation.
