Category: Leadership of Innovation

Teams that Get on Well Together are Less Creative

If you ask hiring managers what they are looking for in a candidate they will often say, ‘ I want someone who will get on well with the team.’ They want someone who will fit in and reinforce the team spirit. Homogeneous teams that get on well together may be good for executing clear plans but the evidence shows that they are less creative than diverse teams that have some internal tensions. In... Read More--

How to run an Innovation Audit

Before we embark on the innovation journey it is useful to know from where we are starting.  An honest and accurate assessment of the creativity, agility and innovation capacity of the organisation is essential. An innovation audit looks at a number of issues to see what is working well and what is impeding innovation in the company.  It asks analytical questions like these: How many new products... Read More--

Don’t Get Obsessed with what went Wrong; Focus on what went Right.

In looking for improvements and innovations we tend to focus our attention on what went wrong. We try to fix problems. A typical management meeting consists of a group of people who are looking at what is not working and trying their hardest to come up with ways to put things right. But in the process they are often allocating blame, arguing, becoming negative and getting frustrated. Most managers... Read More--

How Great Leaders Empower their people

A young PhD in electronics, Ted Hoff, joined a start-up company in California in 1968. He was the 12th employee in a new venture called Intel. One of Intel’s customers was a Japanese calculator manufacturer, Busicomp, who gave Intel the job of designing the electronic circuits for a new calculator. The job was given to Ted Hoff who had never worked on calculator designs before. Busicomp had specified... Read More--

Only do what only you can do

Leaders at all levels could significantly improve their performance if they observed this succinct seven-word precept; only do what only you can do.  The problem is that many bosses get too involved in details, in day-to-day issues, in firefighting and in micro-managing their staff.  The more senior you are, the more time you should spend on strategic rather than tactical issues.  Leaders can dramatically... Read More--

Check your Assumptions

Every time that we approach a problem, in any walk of life, we bring to bear assumptions that limit our ability to conceive fresh solutions. Our experiences condition us to see any new situation in terms of situations we have seen before. We make assumptions unconsciously and put things into a framework with constraints that limit our thinking. Innovative thinkers are always aware of assumptions... Read More--

Do you have an effective Suggestions Scheme? If not then start one.

Does your business have an effective employee suggestions scheme? An increasing number of organisations in the both private and public sectors are finding that they can drive innovation and reduce cost by moving their suggestion box from the office wall to the intranet. Siemens Automation and Drives is a good example. They employ 400 people in Congleton, Cheshire in the UK making electric motor drives.... Read More--

Why Innovative Leaders think like Venture Capitalists

Innovative leaders have a mindset like that of a venture capitalist. They take a portfolio view of innovation projects. The Venture Capitalist will invest in a basket of different start-up companies, fully knowing that most will fail. A few might break even and one or two might be successes. But one big success can pay back the costs of all the failures. Even though he is smart the VC does not know... Read More--

Innovation in the Public Sector – hard to do but essential

There is an informative investigation by the UK National Audit Office entitled  Achieving Innovation in Central Government Organisations.  It draws on evidence from specific innovation cases in the public sector to assess government poductivity and effectiveness at innovation. Among the findings are ‘Compared with leading commercial organisations, there is potential for departments to develop... Read More--

Doing the Day Job is not enough. You must allocate time for Innovation.

One of the commonest barriers to innovation is lack of time. People are just too busy doing their day job to spend time trying new things. The common assumption is that working hard and working long hours are good things and sufficient for success. The mantra is – ‘Focus on delivering this quarter’s results.’ It is as though we are so busy building rafts to cross the river that... Read More--