Everyday innovation report - Nesta

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27. Tierney, P. (2008)
Leadership and employee
creativity. In Zhou, J.
and Shalley, C.E. (Eds)
‘Handbook of Organizational
Creativity.’ New York: Taylor
& Francis.
Part 5: Managing, leading and promoting innovative
working
5.1 Leaders and managers play a
key role in nurturing and motivating
innovative working
Research evidence clearly identifies leaders
and managers as playing a decisive role in
fostering and nurturing innovative working
within organisations. 27 However “the role and
influence of leaders may not be as widely
understood outside the behavioural and
psychology literature. For example, economists
who are traditionally involved in the area of
innovation have not necessarily seen the role
leaders can take in relation to behavioural
change, and may find it difficult to see the
tangible and measurable impact of leaders”
(Su Maddock, Innovation Whitehall Hub). Our
results imply that a better understanding of
Jan Training Rideout, Innovation and development Technical Director to promote innovative working
Jan Rideout, Innovation Technical Director,
at Saint-Gobain British Gypsum says:
“Promoting skills training and development
was perhaps the most important thing
we did to underpin the push to promote
innovative working at Saint-Gobain British
Gypsum. Creating a discipline and rigour
in our work from design through testing
and then product launch. The amount of
resource we have spent on training and
skills development directly correlates with
our product development outputs. We
also improved the quality of feedback and
recognition that our people received through
the appraisal system called Agreement for
the role for leaders in promoting innovative
working and innovation behaviours may
facilitate changes in management practices in
this area.
Responding to the challenges associated
with the current recession places substantial
demands on leadership and management skills.
A leader’s ability to successfully develop and
manage a skilled and motivated workforce
is crucial. The importance of leadership and
management skills in this area is recognised
worldwide. In the UK, government initiatives
included a £30 million per annum ‘Train to
gain’ programme designed to improve the
leadership and management skills of SMEs.
Such initiatives raise the profile of management
skills ensuring UK firms can more easily
Growth. The Executive were committed
to ensuring everyone in the business
had regular feedback, that excellent
performance is rewarded and employees
were presented with stretching but realistic
targets. We made sure we celebrated good
work rather than creating a ‘bad news’
climate. It was challenging at first, especially
in communicating what innovation looks
like in terms of behaviours. The Execs were
also keen to see early pay-offs and I had to
fight my corner in reinforcing the message
that innovation takes time. Our focus was
on everyday innovation more than radical,
revolutionary innovation.”