Innovations and Leadership
About Leadership and Innovations
By Nasser Shomo, 17 August, 2013 th "Old rules for success become recipes for failure" According to Dr. Maynard Brusman Consulting Psychologist and Executive Coach, one needs to have 5 "discovery skills" that will catalyze innovation: Associating, Questioning, Observing, Experimenting and Networking. Innovations are about asking what one is doing/ needs to stop/start doing/ should be doing differently.It may require taking initiative; which means taking action without being asked to do so. When one takes initiative he/she decides to act, takes the driver’s seat and makes things happen – this is what leadership does.An excellent decision is independent, informed and responsible (Pace, 2006: 13). Consider Park Place Lexus where employees are encouraged to hold a "50/50" meeting with half of it focusing on ideas and concerns, and the other half looking at solutions, followed with on-spot support to resolve concerns. This clearly shows a commitment to quality through empowerment and innovation. Psychologists have found that individuals go through four stages of learning: 1. Unconscious incompetence - where an individual does not know that he/she does not know 2. Conscious incompetence - this is where one realises that he/she does not know 3. Conscious competence - this is where one learns to do something with conscious effort 4. Unconscious competence - performance comes effortlessly Organizations follow the same paradigm and many languish in the first stage until receiving a wakeup call with regard to quality. Unfortunately, as many move to stage two they tend to shoot the messenger and refuse to accept their state of incompetence (Evans, J.R. 2008: 450). To move from stage two to three and four, organization change is inevitable. Organization change is needed to implement quality initiatives. Leaders need to see that from the beginning there is effort to begin to change the culture in a way that the focus is not seen as being
By Nasser Shomo, 17 August, 2013 th "Old rules for success become recipes for failure" According to Dr. Maynard Brusman Consulting Psychologist and Executive Coach, one needs to have 5 "discovery skills" that will catalyze innovation: Associating, Questioning, Observing, Experimenting and Networking. Innovations are about asking what one is doing/ needs to stop/start doing/ should be doing differently.It may require taking initiative; which means taking action without being asked to do so. When one takes initiative he/she decides to act, takes the driver’s seat and makes things happen – this is what leadership does.An excellent decision is independent, informed and responsible (Pace, 2006: 13). Consider Park Place Lexus where employees are encouraged to hold a "50/50" meeting with half of it focusing on ideas and concerns, and the other half looking at solutions, followed with on-spot support to resolve concerns. This clearly shows a commitment to quality through empowerment and innovation. Psychologists have found that individuals go through four stages of learning: 1. Unconscious incompetence - where an individual does not know that he/she does not know 2. Conscious incompetence - this is where one realises that he/she does not know 3. Conscious competence - this is where one learns to do something with conscious effort 4. Unconscious competence - performance comes effortlessly Organizations follow the same paradigm and many languish in the first stage until receiving a wakeup call with regard to quality. Unfortunately, as many move to stage two they tend to shoot the messenger and refuse to accept their state of incompetence (Evans, J.R. 2008: 450). To move from stage two to three and four, organization change is inevitable. Organization change is needed to implement quality initiatives. Leaders need to see that from the beginning there is effort to begin to change the culture in a way that the focus is not seen as being
Bibliography: 1. Pace, J. (2006) The Workplace: Interpersonal Strengths and Leadership. The Professional Development Series 2. McGraw Hill. USA: NY. 2. Evans, J.R. (2008) Quality & Performance Excellence.Management, Organization and Strategy. 5th Edition. South Western Cengage Learning. USA 4