Tip 5: Ensure your leaders are innovation focused

Think of innovation and Richard Branson is one of the first names that comes to mind. To me he is a real example of someone who has led his organisation through innovation after innovation. Examples include Virgin Airlines, where they provided a different customer experience from any other, Virgin Money, where it's all about online investing and Virgin Trains, where he brought an airline type experience to day to day travel. By leading from the front Richard Branson has driven a culture of innovation across his companies.

Richard Branson, chairman of Virgin Group, talks about innovative ideas "Very often, innovative ideas are not received well by their own generation and must wait for the next generation to be fully accepted". 

 There is nodoubt that a leader's attitude towards innovation will provide a big influence on how an organisation works, what processes it uses and how it approaches innovation to gain competitive advantage. Leaders can drive innovation through setting goals, rewarding ideas, asking for suggestions, investing in training and even rewarding learning from failure.

There is evidence though that different types of leadership are needed to support innovation in different types of organisations.What is appropriate in a school might not be appropriate in a large multinational organisation such as Apple. Also, different types of leadership style might also be needed at different stages of the innovation process.

".... in the early stages of innovation a more directive, authoritive leadership style characterised the early stages of innovation and this was appreciated by all participants as it inspired them with confidence in the leader." 

(Morrison, 2002)

(Swanson)

Is Innovation all to do with creativity? I believe that creativity is key in a company and a leader needs to encourage this and welcome this. I agree with Kelly Swonson that creativity has a big impact of how people innovate but I think there is another factors to consider. Although I do think regular patterns of reinforcing creativity in a company will help the idea process and a positive corporate culture. Swanson said that innovation is the "art of creating", to me innovation can be a range of things, not just creating, it also has to be about focus on gaining competitive advantage and understanding what is going to make customers buy anything new. Creativity for creativity's sake will not lead to innovation. 

References

Morrison, K. (2002). In School Leadership and Compexity Theory (p. 81). Routled Farmer.

Richard Branson, chairman of Virgin Group, talks about innovative ideas: “](n.d.). Retrieved 1 3, 2012, from VitoDiBari.com: http://www.vitodibari.com/en/richard-branson-chairman-virgin-group-talks-innovative-ideas-innovative-ideas-received-generation-wait-generation-fully-accepted.html

Swanson, K. (Director). Creativity is the Path to Innovation (http://www.kellyswanson.net) [Motion Picture].