Everyday innovation report - Nesta

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28. Zhou, J. (2008) Promoting
creativity through feedback.
In Zhou, J. and Shalley,
C.E. (Eds) ‘Handbook of
Organizational Creativity’.
New York: Taylor & Francis.
Leadership and management styles that promote innovative working
Linda Holbeche, former Director of
Research and Policy, CIPD says: “Managers
of innovative groups, those of high
performing teams, act as a shield – taking
the flak. Symbolically, this signals to the
team they are safe to do what they need to
do. The nature of their support encourages
engagement, and managers of innovative
teams have frequent communication
with the team in order to sustain high
performance. Innovative working is both an
enabler and an output and the culture must
be conducive – there must be a culture that
values learning, that encourages people to
cross boundaries.
“Speed and pace are things that help
promote innovative working although
there are clearly sector differences in how
innovative working happens. Some of
the key ingredients that promote leading
innovative working are self-efficacy,
capacity for learning, good quality strategic
thinking and an ability to unpack big issues;
having personal autonomy and sustained
motivation. You’ve also got to be working
in an organisation that is aligned with your
values. The things that block innovative
behaviours are anxiety, uncertainty about
futures, too much short-term thinking and
too little resource.
‘encouraging innovative individuals to plan
and organise’ (see Figure 5). In general, for
both employees and those managing them,
employee motivation remains a key component
to successful innovative working. The research
literature suggests that motivation is the key
link between employee innovation and the
role of managers in promoting innovation
behaviours.
5.2 Leader characteristics, behaviours
and leadership styles for innovative
working
Research suggests that traits specifically related
to the ability to lead for innovation include
intellect, planning ability, problem-solving
“Creating an emotional commitment is really
important in driving innovative behaviours.
It’s clear that in times of emergencies, this
creates an emotional connection where
‘whatever it takes’ becomes the modus
operandi. I’ve also seen this in companies
that have some form of external threat
such as in the tobacco companies. Here,
often employees have a shared identity as
people might judge them looking from the
outside. In a way they accept each other for
what they are, and share a climate of ‘us
against the world’, a shared purpose and
engagement. This ‘we are in it together’
culture really does promote innovative
working”.
In the public sector, Su Maddock (Whitehall
Innovation Hub) also observes that in
examples of recent innovation: “It is leaders
that champion the activity but often with an
emotional commitment or component where
they have felt moved to do something.
A string of networks, and persuasion
and driving a business case for new idea
implementation make it happen. Leaders
need to be brave and have the courage in
implementation”.
skills, and emotional intelligence. 28 In the
interviews conducted a range of key leadership
characteristics were confirmed as promoting
innovation, including: confidence, motivation,
curiosity, openness to ideas, approachability
and flexibility. Important leadership behaviours
include encouragement of risk-taking, an
open style of communication, participative/
collaborative style, giving autonomy and
freedom, support for innovation (verbal
and enacted), constructive feedback, and
being optimistic about the future. Of these,
according to several of our interviewees, one
of the most critical characteristics of leaders
is their ability to encourage risk-taking.
However, in many organisations there are
specific processes and metrics in place for the
sole purpose of controlling risk. The question
of how to balance the need for risk taking,