1. Have a Vision for Change
You cannot expect your team to be innovative if they do not know the direction in which they are headed. Innovation has to have a purpose. It is up to the leader to set the course and give a bearing for the future. You need one overarching statement which defines the direction for the business and which people will readily understand and remember. Great leaders spend time illustrating the vision, the goals and the challenges. They explain to people how their role is crucial in fulfilling the vision and meeting the challenges. They inspire men and women to become passionate entrepreneurs finding innovative routes to success.
2. Fight the Fear of Change
Innovative leaders constantly evangelise the need for change. They replace the comfort of complacency with the hunger of ambition. ‘We are doing well but we cannot rest on our laurels – we need to do even better. ’They explain that while trying new ventures is risky, standing still is riskier. They must paint a picture that shows an appealing future that is worth taking risks to achieve. The prospect involves perils and opportunities. The only way we can get there is by embracing change.
3. Think like a Venture Capitalist
VCs use a portfolio approach so that they balance the risk of losers with the upsides of winners. They like to consider a large number of proposals. They are comfortable with the knowledge that many of the ideas they back will fail. These are all important lessons for corporate executives who typically consider only a handful of proposals and who abhor failure.
4. Have a Dynamic Suggestions Scheme
Great suggestion schemes are focused, easy to use, well-resourced, responsive and open to all. They do not need to offer huge rewards. Recognition and response are generally more important. Above all they have to have the whole-hearted commitment of the senior team to keep them fresh, properly managed and successful.
5. Break the Rules
To achieve radical innovation you have to challenge all the assumptions that govern how things should look in your environment. Business is not like sport with well-defined rules and referees. It is more like Art. It is rife with opportunity for the lateral thinker who can create new ways to provide the goods and services that customers want.
6. Give Everyone Two Jobs
Give all your people two key objectives. Ask them to run their current jobs in the most effective way possible and at the same time to find completely new ways to do the job. Encourage your employees to ask themselves – what is the essential purpose of my role?What is the outcome that I deliver that is of real value to my clients (internal and external). Is there a better way to deliver that value or purpose?The answer is always yes but most people never even ask the question.
7. Collaborate
Many CEOs see collaboration as key to their success with innovation. They know they cannot do it all using internal resources. So they look outside for other organisations to partner with. A good example is Mercedes and Swatch who collaborated to produce the Smart car. Each brought dissimilar skills and experiences to the team.
8. Welcome Failure
The innovative leader encourages a culture of experimentation. You must teach people that each failure is a step along the road to success. To be truly agile, you must give people the freedom to innovate, the freedom to experiment, the freedom to succeed. That means you must give them the freedom to fail too.
9. Build Prototypes
People’s Bank has a refreshingly original attitude to new ideas. ‘Don’t debate it, test it’ is the motto of this innovative American financial services organisation. Try the new idea at low cost in a section of the marketplace and see what the customer’s reaction is. You will learn far more in the real world than you will in the test laboratory or with focus groups.
10. Be Passionate
Focus on the things that you want to change, the most important challenges you face and be passionate about overcoming them. Your energy and drive will translate itself into direction and inspiration for your people. It is no good filling your bus with contented, complacent passengers. You want evangelists, passionate supporters; people who believe that reaching the destination is really worthwhile. If you want to inspire people to innovate, to change the way they do things and to achieve extraordinary results then you have to be passionate about what you believe in and you have to communicate that passion every time you speak.
Paul Sloane is an author and speaker on leadership, innovation and lateral thinking. His most recent book is The Innovative Leader. He helps organizations improve innovation, creativity and leadership. He is the founder of Destination Innovation. He has written 15 books of lateral thinking puzzles and hosts the lateral puzzles forum.
Share This
译文:
给创新领导者的十大秘诀
1、有变革的远见
如果你的组员连他们该朝哪个方向前进都不知道，你就不能期望他们会有所创新。革新必须要有一个目的。给将来设定一条道路和制定一个方向是领导者的责任。你需要一个总体声明，它为企业的发展确定了方向，并易于人们的理解与记忆。伟大的领导人会花时间解释说明企业的那些远景，目标和挑战。他们对人们解释说，在实现那远景和迎接挑战中，他们的角色是怎样的重要。他们鼓励男子和妇女成为充满激情的企业家，去寻求创新路线，以获得成功。
2、与害怕变革做斗争
创新领导者不断的传播变革的需要。他们用对目标的渴望来取代自满的舒适。“我们做得很好，但是我们不能吃老本—甚至，我们需要做到更好。他们解释说虽然尝试新的风险投资是很危险的，但是企业静止不前的站在那里是更危险的事情。他们必须漆一幅图，图里展示了一个值得用冒险来达到的吸引人的未来。那个吸引人未来的前景包括了危险和机遇。我们能到达那里的唯一方法就是实行变革。
3、像一个风险投资家那样来思考
风险投资公司用风险投资组合的方法，使得他们能用对等的赢家来平衡输家的风险。他们要考虑大量的建议。他们都清楚地知道，如果他们不考虑那些建议，那么他们的公司就会失败。这些做法是那些通常只考虑极其少数的建议和那些害怕失败的企业主管都要学的课程。
4、制定一个强有力的建议方案
好的建议方案应注重于：使用简单，资源丰富，反映迅速和对所有人开放。方案不需要花费大笔的酬谢金额。通常，他们能被人们所认可和人们对他们有所响应才是更重要的。最重要的是，他们必须要让上级团队全心全意的承诺，让他们与时俱进，让他们得到妥善经营与管理，最后取得成功。
5、打破常规
为了实现根本性创新，你要挑战所有的假设情况，这些假设情况在你的工作环境中支配着事物的发展。商业并不像运动那样有具有界定明确的规则和裁判员。它更像艺术。对横向思维家来说，它处处充满了机遇。那些横向思想家能够创造出新的方式来为提供顾客想要的货物和服务。
6、给每个人两份工作
给你的员工两个主要的工作目标。请他们尽可能地以最有效的方式来做他们目前的工作，同时，也请他们去寻找做这项工作的全新的途径。鼓励你的雇员问问他们自己—我角色的主要作用是什么？我能为我的客户（内部和外部）提供的有真正价值的成果是什么呢？有更好的方式去提供那样的价值或那样的成果吗？答案总回答说有，但是大多数人甚至从未问过这个的问题。
7、同心协力
很多首席执行官把合作看作他们改革成功的关键。他们知道只靠内部力量，他们的改革不可能成功。因此，他们向外寻找其它的组织机构一起合作。一个很好的例子就是奔驰公司和斯沃琪的合作，他们合作生产了智能汽车。他们每家公司都给那支合作的团队带来了不同的技能和经验。
8、欢迎失败
创新的领导者鼓励实验的文化精神。你必须教导人们，每次失败都是通往成功之路的一个阶梯。为了真正灵活地经营好公司，你必须赋予人们创新的自由，试验的自由和成功的自由。那意味着说你必须也得赋予他们失败的自由。
9、建立典范
人民银行对新观点持着极其不同的新型的态度。不要对它进行争论，对它进行检验吧—这是这个创新的美国财政服务机构的座右铭。以较低的成本在市场上的部分地方尝试这个新的想法，看看客户的反应是怎样的。你在现实世界中学到的东西要远远多于你在实验室学到的或和主要团队学到的东西。
10、充满激情
关注你想要变革的事物，关注你面临的最重要的挑战，并且充满激情地去克服他们。你的能量和驱动力将会自己转化为前进的方向，鼓舞着你的人们。你的巴士里乘满了知足自满的乘客并不是一件好事。你需要基督教布道者，热情的支持者和那些认为为了到达目的地，一切付出都是值得的的人们。如果你想要鼓励人们去创新，去改变他们做事情的方式，去实现非凡的业绩，那么你必须对你坚信的事物充满激情，并且，在你每次讲话时，你必须要把那激情传达给大家。
保罗斯隆是在领导能力，创新和横向思维方面的一位作家和发言者。他最近的书叫做为创新的领导者。他帮助机构组织提高他们的创新能力，创造力和领导能力。他是创新的目的地的创立人。他撰写了15本横向思维拼图的书，并且他是横向思维拼图论坛的主办人。