Successful Leaders Separate ‘Grain From Chaff’ To Spur Innovation

‘Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower’. Steve Jobs

When you are a leader, you usually shuttle back and forth between ‘to be or not to be’ moments. And such moments are aplenty, with all the Shakespearean elements. There would be doubt, suspicion, mystery, drama and above all hoards of audience who would be watching every step you take and every sigh you let out. Because, a leader’s job is not only to lead; it is also to ensure that the organisation you lead also has a vision for the future.

Leaders in more ways than one, need to be catalysts of success and futuristic outlook. They are the driving forces behind teams that strive for the organisation, both today and tomorrow. An effective leader will always know the importance of marrying differences in people and knows how to connect the dots to get a picture that could be better than the last one.

Fostering commitments and embracing differences is the surefire way of remaining relevant in a dynamic marketplace.

Why does it become significant with leaders alone? Is the leader responsible for the innovation? In more ways than one, a leader is solely responsible for innovative mindset to develop within individuals who work across teams, and bring them together and forge the innovation to create a meaningful frame for further improvement.

Leaders are most crucial elements who drive innovation. So, does that mean no one else is responsible for it? Of course, they are! Just as everyone brings their little something to the table, every participating member has his/her due responsibility towards innovation. When there is someone like a leader who can create a bridge to connect different ideas and work on an overall concept of innovation, the boost that’s provided by such an exercise can help organizations travel thousands of miles in one shot, on the path to progress and success.

It is not only that a leader provides the platform and connects ideas to create conducive environment for innovation. A true leader will also act as the initiator of such concepts. Actually, innovation begins with those people who touch the business across all conceptualising and executing departments of an organization.

In fact, innovation is not (and probably never) dependant on high-ranking executives. The need to innovate, and the drive to be an innovator comes with the deep understanding of the business one is operating in and a mind that’s open to new ideas, than taking the beaten track.
Innovation is about a drive that captures the imagination of markets. A leader can and should identify passionate explorers who are courageous enough to dream, conceptualise and follow it with all their heart.

Best leaders know by an instinct that innovation is never playing the ‘safe’ space. It would always be a risky proposition. But, that’s where the leader’s vision comes into play. A true leader knows an innovation by his experience and will help his colleagues and teams ideate regularly, than simply beating around the bush.

They also know innovation comes from multiple sources. A leader who encourages innovation knows when people of different kinds come together, he isn’t in for a headache where egos are at play; but he would look forward to some new ideas flying across the room. And that he would be able to catch a few and get potent people to work on improving them.

In fact, when a leader encourages innovation he is also enabling workplace transformation. This will lead a situation from being task-oriented to goal-oriented, which has a broad base and has longer duration of thriving and sustaining than just catering to today’s market demands.
A leader should learn to trust himself with others, and innovation is sure to be the best byproduct in a renewed equation. Learning to collaborate and discover are a few things a leader would certainly know to get innovative minds together. He isn’t someone who is Mr Know-it-all. A leader is fix-it-all and will do this time and again, when innovation is the end result. Being a ‘agent of change’ is what will set the leader apart from other average leaders. Innovation, after all is a mindset of viewing problems differently with a focus on the end result.

Image: indiatimes