10 things great leaders do that drive innovation

Do you recognise any of these traits in yourself?

I asked 25 leaders from across a range of sectors, who know a thing or two about innovation, for their thoughts on the most important traits of an innovative leader.

This is their top 10.

  1. They are ambitious to achieve their organisations’ mission with a very clear focus on what must be delivered.
  2. Innovative leaders aspire to make innovation everyone’s job.
  3. They lead by example, they are visible, they meet people and take time to understand teams, the business, customers, supporters, and service users.
  4. They ensure the organisation has a clear focus, a flexible and simple process and structure for idea generation and development of ideas to market.
  5. They have a balanced approach to risk, they are prepared to invest time and resource to test new ideas.
  6. Innovative leaders are generous in thanking and acknowledging individual and team contribution to innovation, promoting idea schemes and encouraging collaboration.
  7. They support time for people to gain insight and explore their ideas and thinking. They know that best ideas do not happen sat behind desks.
  8. Innovative leaders give staff permission to experiment, and to fail. They are good at celebrating success and also sharing learning from the ideas that didn’t work.
  9. They are deliberate about employing diverse teams with a range of skills, experience and perspectives.
  10. They are open to being challenged about how things are done and encourage suggestions on how to make improvements. And then they make them. They act quickly.

Do you recognise any of these traits in yourself? Or perhaps you have more to add?

At Lucidity we help leaders, managers and whole teams develop their skills for innovation. For training, coaching and masterminds to help you develop your skills as an innovative leader, check out the Lucidity website, get in touch at lucy@lucidity.org.uk or book a time to talk here. 

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