LEADERSHIP STRATEGY

Nine Behaviors That Drive

Innovation

Jack Zenger Contributor

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I write about leadership development and building strengths.

May 14, 2015, 09:17am EDT

Earlier this year the Conference Board released the results of a survey of
CEOs to identify their most critical challenges. The hands-down winner
was the challenge of human capital, especially leadership. Second was the
challenge of innovation. For every region of the world, innovation was
among the top five issues identified. Asia placed it first.

Innovation is an ascending issue around the world. In our own practice,

we believe these two challenges are intertwined. Peak levels of innovation
are extremely dependent on the quality of leadership in the organization.
When leadership is strong, these organizations seem to invariably lead on
the innovation dimension as well.

One finding from the research my colleague Joe Folkman and I have done
on approximately 60,000 leaders who had received 360-degree feedback
data from nearly 830,000 colleagues was that innovation usually sits in
the middle of the competencies we measure. However, the bosses of our
participants placed it lower. They consistently ranked innovation at 13 out
of the 16 competencies we most frequently measure.

What do successful leaders do that elevates innovation to a higher level?

By parsing out the people who received the highest scores on innovation,
we were able to see what other behaviors align with high innovation.
Because nearly every organization seeks to escalate innovation , this
understanding is a valuable insight.
We found several behaviors that appear to drive innovation:

1. Leaders jointly created a vision with their colleagues.

Some have thought leadership to be about coming up with a grand
strategy, and then enticing the troops to follow you up the hill. But
our data showed leaders creating a vision collaboratively, not in a
directive manner.
2. They build trust. We interviewed leaders who were in the top 1%
of their organization on creativity. One quality stood out. These
leaders trusted their people and in turn their colleagues had an
enormous trust in them. One person noted, “To take a risk
demands that you feel really safe.” “She always has our back,” said
another.

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3. Innovation champions were characterized by a

willingness to constantly challenge the status quo. People
described innovative leaders as fearless and doing what’s right
versus what may be politically correct. Some highly effective
leaders of innovation were characterized as being “inverse to the
environment.”
4. Leaders who fostered innovation were noted for their
deep expertise. Colleagues noted that it was this “T” quality that
defined these leaders. These leaders had a wide range of
intellectual curiosity on a horizontal axis, while at the same time
were grounded deeply in their knowledge of the technology at the
center of what their group did.
 5. They set high goals. Leaders who created innovative teams were
noted for setting the bar extremely high, and giving their
colleagues the challenge and opportunity to achieve what they
believed would be beyond their reach.

7. They crave information. Innovative leaders keep the team on

the same page by flooding them with relevant facts. They excel at
asking good question and then being exceedingly good listeners.
The combination of “catch and pitch” helps the team to excel at
innovation.
8. They excel at teamwork. The next characteristic of the most
innovative leaders was excelling at teamwork and collaboration. It
was never about “me.” It was always about the team creating
something of value.
9. They value diversity and inclusion. The most innovative
leaders recognize that the creative process feeds on bringing people
together who possess sharply differing views and experience. It is
the blending of these elements that creates highly innovative
solutions.

Our greatest insight from this analysis is that innovation is very seldom a
one-person show. It is nearly always a team effort, and the culture that
spawns that effort is the result of a leader who recognizes the
organizational need for innovation, and recognizes the contribution
leaders make to create a culture from which innovation emerges.

To learn more about our research on Innovation listen to our

podcast, What Makes Leaders Innovate.

Gallery: Advice From The

Most Innovative Leaders
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Jack Zenger Follow

Jack Zenger is the CEO of Zenger/Folkman, a strengths-based leadership

development firm. He is the author and co-author of 13 books including including
How To... Read More

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