Innovation: 5 Ways Leaders Enable Innovation In Their Teams

A recent Wall Street Journal article titled, Together We Innovate addressed the importance of workers working together in an effort to pull new ideas from multiple sources regardless of rank.  It states that, “most companies continue to assume that innovation comes from that individual genius, or, at best, small, sequestered teams that vanish from sight and then return with big ideas.”  The article argues that “most innovations are created through networks — groups of people working in concert.”

Forbes contributor, Glen Llopis states, “The best leaders know that innovation must come from multiple sources, both internally and externally. When people and their different points of view and experiences converge, they create the types of innovations that individuals could not have done or found alone.”

In Llopis’s article, 5 Ways Leaders Enable Innovation In Their Teams he shares 5 immediate things leaders can do with their teams to foster an environment of innovation and initiative. They apply whether you are forming a new team or revamping an existing one. Read the full article by clicking above.

The tips include:

1. Trust yourself enough to trust others. Innovation requires breaking down the old rules of thought and creating new ones.
2. Collaborate and discover. Collaboration is not just about working closely together, but also about taking leaps of faith together to discover new ways of thinking and create greater outcomes.
3. Communicate to learn. A team should view themselves as an innovation lab – constantly challenging each other to learn from each others ideas.
4. Be a courageous change agent. Looking through this lens requires the mindset of a “courageous enabler” – one who takes charge and embraces the role of a change agent.
5. Course correct to perfect. Course correction keeps people on their toes and teaches them to adapt to new environments, where they can showcase their abilities and skill-sets.

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