For this week I wanted to discuss leadership from different angles, for example with the approach to innovation. I decided to start with a thought I had few years ago, while studying innovation management on which leadership skills and abilities would be needed in different innovation processes within the organization. I think it is extremely interesting, as scholars are identifying different phases/processes within innovation, and it is my belief that each of those phases/processes will require something from its leader that the other phases do not. So a leader in an innovative company has to be aware of the process s/he is in charge of and what skills/abilities are required from them. Goffin and Michell (2010) had been working with CEOs when they came to the conclusion that the CEOs felt the need for an overall framwork to understand the innovation performance of their companies. From that discovery Goffin and Michell developed an Innovation Pentathlon model. Davila, Epstein & Shelton (2006) identify similar elements as in the pentathlon when it comes to manage innovations which then prove the importance of those stages within the innovation process. They, however, put more emphasis on the leadership needed at each of the elements in order to manage the process and get the results needed. And that is where I came in and tried to identify those abilities per element to increase knowledge for leaders. The Pentathlon model is built up of five elements. Those elements are; Innovation strategy: In order for the innovation to be relevant there is a need to understand the market forces, understand the need for innovation within the organization and/or the market and what role will the innovation play in the company’s competitiveness. Ideas: the ideas are the basis for innovation so there is a need to understand how ideas and creativity can be best harnessed and how to manage knowledge within the organization. Prioritization: Making sure the best idea gets through the innovation process and becomes implemented Implementation: The process of development supported by cross functional teams lead to a successful launch of the product. People and organization: Inside the innovation process are many issues related to managing human resources and creation of innovative culture within the organization. Innovation strategy: Goffin & Michell say that the first step in developing an innovation strategy is to identify where innovation is most needed and then to determine the dimension of that innovation, meaning is it new product or new process. There are many ways to determine where the need for innovation comes from and how should the organization approach that need. Not only do the manager need to decide if their approach will be e.g Blue Ocean, meaning recognizing unmet needs and creating a new market from there, or capitalizing on knowledge from other organizations by using open innovation strategy. They also need to decide on if their approach to the innovation should be Play-to-Win or Play-not-to-lose. (Davila, Epstein & Shelton) As managers need to decide they have to keep in mind few internal factors such as; Technical capabilities, funding and top management vision, and external factors such as; Industry structure and competition. Whatever strategy approach managers end up deciding of their organization, that decision needs to be communicated to the whole organization. Ensuring that all stakeholders to understand the strategy and apply it will increase the likelihood of success. To drive success in this element the most needed leadership characteristics are therefore: analytical, effective in communications, persuasive, open-mindedness and flexibility, visionary etc. Ideas: The base for innovation is the ability to generate ideas and be creative. Goffin and Michell argue that, unfortunately, creativity is too often viewed in a wrong way and that it’s only about something completely “new”. That eliminates the view that creativity is also needed to make incremental changes of current problems. The role of management in this element of the pentathlon is to stimulate creativity within the organization and identifying the ways to capitalize on the business creativity and individual creativity. In order to do so, the managers have to choose tools that they believe will give the best results in stimulating creativity. One of the most commonly used tool is Brainstorming. To manage the flow of ideas effectively managers can use tools as Structured Idea Management (SIM) (Davila, Epstein & Shelton) where 7 steps are taken to reach few ideas/concepts that could go into implementation process. Part of this element is also the management of current knowledge inside the organization. Employees have their experiences, expertise and understanding of the customer that can be beneficial in the idea creation process. Davila, Epstein & Shelton say that it’s not only important to manage the knowledge of the organization but also to manage its ignorance. Identifying what the organization does now know can help in creating ideas of what could and should be innovated. To drive success in this element the leadership characteristics that will give the best results are: Fairness, flexibility, motivational, active listener, creative thinker, effective in communications etc. Prioritization: According to Goffin and Michell there are three important tasks for managers in this element that can determine success or failure. Those tasks are choosing the right project/idea for development, choosing the right people for the project group and to involve and motivate employees whose ideas might have been rejected. In order to select the right project managers have the access to financial and non-financial tools to reach the decision that fits the best. It’s important for managers to use, if possible, both tools as often in the beginning stages the financial information available is not too reliable. The non- financial tool can therefore give some needed balance in the information acquired. According to this, the leadership characteristics needed should be: ability to be transparent, effective in communications, emotional intelligence and empathy, open-mindedness and motivational etc. What can we take from this? Some skills and abilities overlap in phases/processes but processes require something new from their leaders. And that is important to be aware of. The last two phases will not be discussed unless you wish for it, due to time limits. But I hope this has given you some ideas of different ways to think about leadership and how it can be broken down to phases, stages, processes and therefore require something else from you as a leader. Hope you enjoyed.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Jul 2013 14:26:05 +0000
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