“All the money in the world, all the research and development resources in the world aren’t really worth a hoot, without innovative leadership. Money does not follow ideas; it follows leaders,” said Forbes Contributor Henry Doss in his recent post about innovation. Many organizations would like to create more innovative teams or to have a more innovative culture permeate the organization. However, the reality is that innovation starts with leadership.
In a recent Harvard Business Review article, the Zenger Folkman organization described what we believe is a somewhat unique study to answer the question of what successful leaders do to create more innovative teams. We began by collaborating with a highly respected organization in the telecommunications industry whose leaders scored well above average on most managerial competencies. We identified more than 30 of their leaders who scored at or above the 99th percentile on innovation, as measured by a comprehensive 360 degree feedback instrument. In other words, these were the best of the best, as seen by their closest working colleagues (peers, subordinates and boss).
We arranged for a telephone call that simultaneously brought together a number of their direct reports, peers, boss and the leader who had been selected. An interviewer then asked questions that probed for examples of what this leader did that caused them to be perceived as highly innovative. The interviewer also asked about the differences between this leader and others the people had worked with..
Here’s what we found. There were 10 distinctive behaviors of this group, as follows:
- Excellent strategic vision. They could vividly describe their vision of the future, and as one respondent noted about his boss: “She excelled at painting a clear picture of the destination, while we worked to figure out how to get there.”
- Strong customer focus. What was interesting to the customer became fascinating to these individuals. They sought to get inside the customer’s mind. They networked with clients and asked incessant questions about their needs and wants.
- A climate of reciprocal trust. Innovation often requires some level of risk. Not all innovative ideas are successful. These highly innovative leaders initiated warm, collaborative relationships within their group. They made themselves highly accessible. Colleagues knew that their leader would cover their back versus throwing them under the bus. People were never punished for honest, well-intended mistakes.
- Fearless loyalty to doing what’s right for the organization and customer. Pleasing the boss or some other higher level executive always took a back seat to doing the right thing for the project or the company.
- Culture that magnifies upward communication. These leaders believed that the best and most innovative ideas bubbled up from underneath. They strived to create a culture that uncorked good ideas from the first level of the organization. They were often described as projecting optimism, being full of energy and always receptive to new ideas. Grimness was replaced with kidding and laughter.
- Persuasive. These individuals were highly effective in getting others to accept good ideas. They did not push or force ideas onto their team. Instead, they presented ideas with enthusiasm and conviction and the team willingly followed.
- Excelling via stretch goals. These goals required people to go far beyond working harder, and also required them to find new methods in order to achieve a high goal. The challenge of meeting the goal was often framed as “getting to the next level.”
- Emphasis on speed. Innovative leaders consistently brought a sense of urgency. They believed that speed scraped the barnacles off the hull of the boat. Experiments and rapid prototypes were preferred to lengthy studies by large committees.
- Candid communication. These leaders were described as providing honest, and at times even sometimes blunt, communication. Subordinates felt they could always count on straight answers from their leader.
- Inspiring and motivating actions. One respondent said, “For innovation to exist you have to feel inspired.” This comes from a clear sense of purpose and meaning to their work. While these leaders used different methods to inspire, this quality accounted for much of their success.
In addition to the insights gleaned from this series of interviews with this remarkable group of innovative leaders, we also reviewed 360-degree feedback data for this group. Conclusions from analyzing that data were remarkably consistent with our interview results. Our 360-degree feedback data from this group is also consistent with our analysis of highly innovative leaders in hundreds of other organizations we follow, from varied industries and from all parts of the globe. This gives us confidence that these conclusions describe highly innovative individuals in all industries as well as from different cultures throughout the world.
Which of these characteristics reflect your own current leadership style? And which of these characteristics could you work to improve?
