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By: Beth Flynn, Tuesday, July 26th, 2016
From: Dyer, W., Dyer, J.H., and Dyer, W.G. (2013).  Team building: proven strategies for improving team performance.  San Francisco: Jossey-Bass


"Do you have what it takes to create an innovative team?  An organization's most valued leaders are those who lead innovative teams - teams that generate and implement valuable new product, process, and strategy ideas.
So what are the characteristics of leaders - and teams - who excel at innovating?
  • A leader with strong innovation skills who leads by example and creates a safe space for others to shine instead of dominating them
  • Team members who possess a complementary mix of innovation and execution skills, as well as complementary expertise in multiple functions and knowledge domains
  • Team processes that explicitly encourage, support, and even require team members to engage in questioning, observing, networking, experimenting, and associational thinking as they hunt for creative solutions to problems
When a team has all of these qualities, it has the capacity to become an innovation lighthouse for an organization.  To realize this role, though, requires a leader fully capable of leading an innovative team (p. 183-184)."
 
What are some ideas you have about how to be an innovative leader?

 

By: Beth Flynn, Tuesday, July 19th, 2016
From: Ellis, C.D. (2013).  What it takes: seven secrets of success from the world's greatest professional firms.  San Francisco:  Wiley.
 
"In an old story, a pilgrim came to the construction site for what would become Chartres Cathedral and asked the stonecutters what they were doing.  One tersely said, 'Squaring this stone.'  Another proudly said, 'Squaring this stone to build a strong wall for a major building.' And the third, with joy in his heart, said with a wide smile, 'Building a great cathedral to honor the glory of God!' With which stonecutter would you want to work (p.5)?"
 
With which stonecutter would you want to work?
 
Which character in this story represents you?
 
 
 

 

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Tags: work, workers, leadership, leaders, management
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By: Beth Flynn, Tuesday, July 19th, 2016
From: Dyer, W., Dyer, J.H., and Dyer, W.G. (2013).  Team building: proven strategies for improving team performance.  San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
 

 Questioning allows innovators to challenge the status quo and consider new possibilities.

  1. Observing helps innovators detect small details in the activities of customers, suppliers, and other companies that suggest new ways of doing things.
  2. Networking permits innovators to gain radically different perspectives by talking to individuals with diverse backgrounds.
  3. Experimenting prompts innovators to try out new experiences, take things apart, and test new ideas through pilots and prototypes.
  4. Associational thinking is a cognitive skill of finding connections among questions, problems or ideas from unrelated fields.  It is triggered by new information brought in through questioning, observing, networking, and experimenting and is the catalyst for creative ideas (p. 185-186)."
  5. Associational thinking is a cognitive skill of finding connections among questions, problems or ideas from unrelated fields.  It is triggered by new information brought in through questioning, observing, networking, and experimenting and is the catalyst for creative ideas (p. 185-186)."

What other skills would you suggest for being a Disruptive Innovator?

 

 

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Tags: innovation, innovator, skills, leaders, leadership, management
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By: Beth Flynn, Tuesday, July 19th, 2016
From: Richardson, T. (2015).  The responsible leader: developing a culture of responsibility in an uncertain world.  London:  Kogan Page.
 
 "Responsible leaders are open, confident yet humble.  Moreover, they have personal resilience that comes from this.  Individuals who demonstrate inner strength and personal resilience are able to draw on their personal assuredness from a clear sense of their identity.  This leads to an inner confidence.  However, when this is not balanced with sober self-assessment or mature emotional intelligence, it becomes skewed and egocentric.  It also closes people to other perspectives as these kinds of leader begin to believe their own propaganda and narrative and exclude others' perspectives. 
 
Being truly open is a mindset and orientation.  It says to others that you are approachable and receptive - receptive to the possibility of new ideas, of fresh thinking, of criticism or coaching.  The ability to work collaboratively with others sets apart responsible leaders and to do so effectively requires this orientation; for example, knowing that I will get an appreciative reception when I bring a new way of working to the boss allows me to feel confidence in the first place (p. 38-39)."
 
What ways do you demonstrate being a responsible leader?
 

 

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Tags: Leader, leadership, management trust, collaborative
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