Pillar 2 : Innovativeness

What is innovativeness and why is it important for leaders?

Innovativeness is the ability to generate new and useful ideas, products, or solutions. It is a key skill for leaders who want to create value, solve problems, and adapt to changing environments. Innovativeness can help leaders to:

• Stand out from the competition and attract customers, investors, and talent
• Inspire and motivate their teams to achieve higher performance and satisfaction
• Foster a culture of learning and experimentation that encourages innovation
• Respond to challenges and opportunities with agility and resilience

How can you develop your innovativeness as a leader?

Innovativeness is not a fixed trait that you either have or don't have. It is a skill that can be learned and improved with practice and feedback. Here are some tips to help you enhance your innovativeness as a leader:

1. Think out of the box. 

• Challenge yourself to look at things from different perspectives, question assumptions, and explore alternatives. Try using techniques such as brainstorming, mind mapping, lateral thinking, or analogies to generate more ideas.

2. Find your time and space for creative thinking.

Schedule some time in your calendar to focus on your creative projects, without distractions or interruptions. Find a comfortable and stimulating environment that suits your preferences, such as a quiet office, a coffee shop, or a park.

3. Overcome assumptive limitations and associative barriers.

These are mental blocks that prevent you from seeing new possibilities or connections. Some examples are:

• The fear of being wrong or failing, can make you avoid risks or reject ideas prematurely. To overcome this, embrace failure as a learning opportunity, seek feedback and celebrate successes.
• The tendency to assume rather than ask, which can make you miss important information or insights. To overcome this, ask open-ended questions, listen actively and empathize with others.
• The habit of reversing assumptions, which can make you challenge the status quo and discover new opportunities. To overcome this, flip the problem or solution on its head, imagine the opposite scenario or use contradictions.

Use the Kaizen technique. 

This is a Japanese philosophy that means "continuous improvement". It involves making small, incremental changes that add up to big results over time. The benefits of this approach are:

•   Small changes are easier to implement and test than big ones
•   Small changes are more likely to be accepted by your organization and stakeholders than big ones
•   Small changes can lead to unexpected discoveries and innovations

Use the SCAMPER technique. 

This is an acronym that stands for:

•   Substitute: Replace one part of your idea or product with something else
•   Combine: Combine two or more ideas or products into one
•   Adapt: Modify your idea or product to suit a different context or purpose
•   Modify: Change the shape, size, color, or other attributes of your idea or product
•   Put to another use: Find a new way to use your idea or product
•   Eliminate: Remove any unnecessary or redundant parts of your idea or product
•   Rearrange: Change the order or layout of your idea or product

These are some of the ways you can stimulate your creativity and innovation as a leader. Remember that innovativeness is not a one-time event, but a continuous process that requires curiosity, courage and collaboration. By applying these tips, you can become a more innovative leader and create more value for yourself and others.

New :

We are doing a campaign to help those who are eager to learn more about what we learned during our course - FLY (Finding the Leader in You) by Competitiveness Mindset Institute this Friday, 2nd November 2023.

To join us and have a healthy discussion on the topic click the Google form below

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Note:- We are not professionals to teach the course, we are a group of learners who attended the FLY course and now we are eager to exchange our ideas and cultivate a culture of Leadership.