Innovation Inhibitors

Leaders often get it backwards. “We need to be more creative”, someone says so we brainstorm ways we can “get people to come up with ideas” to make things better. Let’s have a suggestions box. Conduct an anonymous survey. Make our meetings more fun. Of course in the right environment these can be useful strategies. But too often as leaders we fail to ask whether the culture of our team and the style of our personal leadership is helping or hindering those around us bringing their best concepts.

Culture is to ideas what soil is to seed. What kind of soil is your leadership? Remember, leaders are ultimately responsible for the culture of their team. Don’t just blame the plants for the poor harvest, check the soil. What if it’s not about getting people to “have more ideas”? What if it’s really about how you can “stop stopping” your team from being the innovators they already are?

So here are 7 Inhibitors of Innovation – bad soil for good ideas

Three leadership styles inhibit innovation-

1. Stealers. One of the fastest ways to stop people from contributing great concepts is to steal their ideas. Do you hijack things your team members initiated? Do you take more than your share of credit when ideas succeed? Are you secure enough as a leader to allow others to own their own achievements?
2. Shamers. Another leadership style that kills ideas before they bear fruit is the leader who makes people feel foolish for making a suggestion. Fearful of being embarrassed, most people will play it safe and keep their ideas to themselves. Passive shamers might allow people to run with an idea, but then shame them if it doesn’t succeed.
3. Stiflers. The stifler makes their team feel like the only good idea is the boss’s idea. They challenge every possibility with a problem. They suck all the creativity out of the atmosphere by making the bar so high that no-one would be so foolish as to suggest something new.

And four team cultures are toxic soil for creativity too-

1. Silos. As organisations grow it’s only natural that departments and specialisations appear. But when these groups become separated, insular, competitive and self-centred then a key advantage is lost. Many of the best innovations come from the cross-pollination of teams and the collaboration of diverse groups around common goals.
2. Superficiality. Does your culture allow the team to address the challenges that really matter, or is their forum limited to the trivial and window-dressing? Our best efforts tend to be reserved for the things that really matter. Are you seeking input on the superficial issues or the critical ones?
3. Stereotyping. Few people want to be labelled ‘creative’ if that title is used to box people or marginalise. Is creativity the job of a creative department or a certain type of person on your team? Remove the stereotype and you’ll find we’re all creative; it’s just expressed in different ways.
4. Swamps. The final culture that kills innovation is the swamp. In a swamp water goes in but nothing comes out. So is your team an idea swamp – all input, no output. People give ideas but nothing ever seems to happen with them. Remember that what you actually do as a result of feedback governs how likely people are to contribute again in the future.

So ask yourself honestly-
• Do you need to “stop stopping” innovation and ideas?
• How do your leadership style and the culture that’s developed around you need to change?
• What are you going to do about it this week?

Paul Andrew

0412 658 444 | enquiries@innovationcoaching.com.au

Director, Innovation Coaching (www.innovationcoaching.com.au)

Author of The Leadership Coach (blog - www.theleadershipcoach.com)