To stay competitive in the modern world, companies and organizations need to innovate.
They need leaders who are able to recognize great ideas and turn them into reality.
Here are seven practical and effective steps to becoming an Innovative Leader:
- Define the direction
- Fast Decision-Making
- Challenge the rules
- Welcome failures
- Be persistent
- Reward success
- Be Passionate
The first step is Define the direction.
Innovative leaders who are successful at innovation usually think outside the box.
They spend time illustrating the vision, the goals and the challenges.
They explain to people how their role is vital in fulfilling the vision and meeting the challenges.
Great innovative leaders are able to inspire creativity and promote growth and performance in the organization.
The second step is Fast Decision-Making.
Decision-making is a crucial skill of the innovative leader.
Innovative leaders can make quick decisions without having all of the information because they trust their teams.
They are able to make decisions that rely on the expertise of their teams.
In fact, today, innovative leaders must be able to make good decisions quickly in order to stay alive in the market.
The third step is Challenge the rules.
To achieve disruptive innovation innovative leaders need to challenge, and eventually break the rules that represent potential barriers.
For example, when a member of the team finds a new way of doing things that can have a big impact on how others work, the leader must encourage the sharing of the information among team members.
At the same time, it is important to consider that new ideas are born in environments where it is possible to experiment, try and also fail.
This means that companies may lose money by trying new ideas and approaches, but that is an inevitable part of growth.
This brings us to the fourth step which is Welcome failures.
It is important to remember that failure is a part of innovation, and that teams and companies learn both from success and failure.
Innovative leaders need to create environments in which team members are free to make mistakes.
These leaders teach people that each failure is a step along the road to success.
They give people the freedom to innovate, experiment and succeed or fail.
This way team members will continue taking the risks necessary to move the team and the organization forward.
The fifth step is Be persistent.
What often happens is that the visible results of innovative initiatives are seen only years after the efforts are undertaken.
Successful innovative leaders are able to keep going despite major setbacks and a lack of evidence that they are moving closer toward their goals.
They have an inner energy that keeps themselves and their teams motivated during tough times.
They basically believe that failures and periods when it seems like no progress is being made often come just right before any major breakthroughs happen.
The sixth step is Reward success.
To create a team that can think outside the box innovative leaders must be willing to reward team members’ effort when they succeed.
The best approach is public recognition because people can feel the impact of the appreciation. In fact, this way other team members will start thinking innovatively and proposing new ideas because they want to be part of that recognition.
To encourage people to think outside the box and help them not to be worried about their reputations or careers, some innovative leaders could also decide to reward failures.
The seventh and final step is Be Passionate.
Probably, one of the most important skills for a leader is passion.
This is also true for innovative leaders because these leaders need to have a lot of energy and drive to lead and inspire people in difficult situations especially when success is not certain.
To inspire people to innovate and achieve extraordinary results innovative leaders must be passionate about what they believe in.
To be successful leaders need to communicate that passion and energy every time they talk with their teams.
So, these are the seven steps to becoming an innovative leader.
Remember: becoming an innovative leader is a journey that will take time.
The more you practice and study the faster you become a leader who inspires people to take risks, experiment, and grow.
