In this provocative article, Clive Lewis discusses the challenge facing leaders everywhere as they grapple with how to do more with less and be seen to be adding value to the organisations they lead.

I blame the politicians. It seems to me that every big idea has to be seen to come from the top – the very top. If you read newspapers or watch the news you could be forgiven for thinking that every big idea comes from the top. David Cameron has already been credited with a prodigious output of ideas and innovations – as if all the able (and less able) politicians and civil servants in his administration follow him around simply writing down this amazing outpouring of brilliance.

Whether I voted for Cameron, or whether I like him, or even whether I think he is headed in the right direction – are completely immaterial. I’m simply pointing to a model of leadership that might work in one situation, but has to be dangerous in others. In the corporate world the leader as the font of all ideas has got to be among the most dangerous of fantasies. And yet it is one that many leaders, caught up in their own carefully managed public persona, and anxious to prove that they are adding value, seem happy to promote.

So why is this so dangerous? Well, if the Chief Executive has to be seen to be having the biggest and best ideas, presumably it’s OK for his Board to have ideas as long as they are not as big as his. And this cascades down so that people are wary of having ideas that are too big or bold for fear of upsetting the apple cart. Of course ego and insecurity play a part in this scenario and it does bring into question the role of leaders, particularly with respect to innovation.

There does seem to be a growing consensus – at last – that innovation is vital for companies to be successful in the long term. The particular challenges of the last couple of years do seem to have focused attention on the need to think differently and to challenge the status quo. The spotlight is now shifting to the role of leaders in promoting, enabling and sustaining innovation.

Certainly leaders recognising and saying loudly and frequently that innovation is vital, is important. But it’s not enough. Not nearly enough. We’re fortunate in that we’ve worked with some of the UK’s leading organisations to help them to become more creative. But I’ve genuinely lost count of the number of companies who have: one, told me that creativity is very important to them; two, told me that they ‘encourage’ (whatever that means) their people to be creative; and three, put in place a (sometimes over engineered) suggestion scheme of some sort and feel that that is enough! Most do not seem to understand that creativity needs to be trained or that if you want more innovation there are deep seated cultural aspects that also need to be addressed. These range from formal and informal rewards, to building tolerance of ‘failure’, to building attitudes (and behaviours) that are based on an understanding of how creativity and innovation work and that deliberately promote them at work.

And the leaders in the organisation need to understand that their role as enablers of innovation is vital. They need to have in their organisations, people who understand the processes involved, can use specific tools and techniques effectively and who are actively and enthusiastically supported in their attempts to think differently. New ideas are the lifeblood of any organisation. But ideas need to come from anywhere and everywhere in the organisation. What a fantastic opportunity leaders have to turn everyone into a source for new ideas and that might, just might, be the next big thing.

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Tags: creativity and innovation, generate ideas, leadership development, leadership skills

This entry was posted on Monday, August 16th, 2010 at 9:07 am and is filed under 3. Creative Thinking & Innovation, Creativity and Innovation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.