Innovation involves change. Innovation is cultivated and sustained in an environment where people are free to be creative. It won’t happen without leadership learning how to connect and inspire employees through relational leadership. Leaders have to empower their employees, and give them the “freedom” to “think outside of the box”. Leaders also have to be willing to cultivate a “learning organization” where everyone is encouraged to engage in the innovative process and take risks. Change, diversity, and creativity are important elements of innovation. First, for leaders to build innovative organizations, they must not be afraid of change. Change requires leaders remaining open to new and different options. It is impossible to get different results with the status quo. Leaders must be willing to “think outside the box” because innovation, change, and creativity go hand in hand.
Transformational vs Transactional Leadership
To build innovative work cultures, leaders must embrace transformational leadership rather than transactional leadership. In the transactional leadership approach, employees perform their duties only as instructed and they submit to the authority of their manager/leader. The transactional leader works through creating clear structures whereby it is clear what is required of their subordinates, and the rewards that they get for following orders. Punishments are not always mentioned, but they are also well-understood and formal systems of discipline are usually in place. The transformational style of leadership cultivates an environment where employees are encouraged to be creative. This happens primarily because the transformational leader cultivates relationships with their employees.
Unlike the transactional leadership approach, the transformational leadership approach has a less rigid demarcation between leaders and employees. As the employees and leaders openly engage in the vision, they are both transformed in the process because it is a “give and take” relationship. Change is obviously an important objective of the transformational leadership approach because transformational leaders inspire their employees by getting them to embrace a shared value and mission. Conversely, the transactional leader engages with his/her employee to accomplish specific tasks and goals. Employees only follow transactional leaders because they give clear instructions that must be followed; employees are not encouraged to be creative. Deviations from instructions would signify disobedience which is subject to punishment.
Learning How to Communicate Vision
The first step for any leader to build an innovative work culture is to understand how to communicate this vision to their employees. In doing this they must follow the following steps: (1) Describe what must be accomplished in the future. (2) Be specific, (3) Be positive and inspiring, (4) Be sure to identify how employees in the organization connect with the vision, and (4) Use the most effective tools to communicate the vision to employees—such as meetings, e-mail, management by walking around, promotional campaigns to market the vision to the organization and get “buy in”.
Learning How to Inspire and Motivate Employees
The third step for any leader to build an innovative work culture is to know how to inspire and motivate their employees. If leaders really believe their vision, it should trickle down and infect their employees. The same analogy can be applied to the principle of how sales people sell their products—when they communicate to their customers that they believe in their products, their customers can tell. Customers can see through the salesman’s passion and sometimes customers are willing to take the plunge to purchase products just because they are inspired by sales people. Just like the transformational leaders seek to get their employees to embrace their vision through inspiration, organizational leaders should do the same. This starts with leaders first believing in their vision—the principle is simple—if any leader does not passionately believe in their vision, he/she has nothing to pass down to his/her employees.
Modeling the Vision
The fourth step for any leader to build an innovative work culture is to stay true to the vision. Always remember that leaders cannot expect to maintain respect and influence from employees if they are not consistent—why should anyone believe in leaders who are not consistent? Leaders execute their vision through authority, power, and most importantly, through influence. Leadership influence is possible when employees are confident in their leaders. It is also important for employees to know where leadership is going and even more important they should know what to expect from their leader. This point also connects with a vital point of personal integrity. Consistency is very vital to personal integrity. Employees will respect their leadership if they demonstrate personal integrity.
The Importance of Honesty
The fifth step for any leader to build an innovative work culture is honesty. We have seen in history how even when leaders do such a great job just one indiscretion of dishonesty, our image of them dwindles over night. With just one act of dishonesty, all their great work, all their charisma, and all their hard work become irrelevance. The bottom line is that leaders have to be trust worthy because employees will not follow leaders they don’t trust.
Empowering Employees to be Creative
The sixth step for any leader to build an innovative work culture is to give employees the freedom to be creative—this is the only way to cultivate an innovative environment. One important point that has to be made is that leaders must allow help their employees remain aligned their organization’s vision at the end of the day; everything must tie back to the vision for the mission to be ultimately accomplished.
Learning how to Build Intentional Relationships
The seventh step for any leader to build an innovative work culture is for leaders to build effective relationships with their employees. Leaders must stay true to their natural leadership styles to remain authentic but use their natural style to effectively connect with their employees. According to Dyers (2001), relational leadership is vital to organizational success. There is no simpler way to put it—people are the greatest asset of any organization. No matter how much leaders know, no matter how great their vision, no matter how great the size of the organization, organizations must take the time to value and nurture their workforce. Leaders must really care about their employees. Employees won’t really care about their leader’s vision if they do not believe they are regarded as vital and if they do not see that their gifts and talents are regarded as essential to a mission.
Conclusion
In the final analysis, relational leaders are able to inspire their employees to be creative and take risks much better than transactional leaders. Transformational leaders are those who have a vision, and they seek to impart this vision to their employees. In order for transformational leaders to be successful, they must be able to establish meaningful relationships with their employees. Leaders must first embrace “relational leadership” and also take intentional steps to connect with their employees. Leaders must also take the additional step to measure the effectiveness of their relationships by soliciting feedback from employees frequently.
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