You want to be a leader who fosters innovation. What are the most effective ways to develop your style?

1 Assess your current style

The first step to developing your style as an innovative leader is to assess your current strengths and weaknesses. How do you approach problems, opportunities, and challenges? How do you encourage creativity, collaboration, and experimentation in your team? How do you deal with uncertainty, ambiguity, and failure? You can use various tools and frameworks to evaluate your style, such as the Innovator's DNA, the Creative Leadership Model, or the Innovation Leadership Assessment. These tools can help you identify your preferences, blind spots, and areas for improvement.

2 Learn from other innovators

The second step to developing your style as an innovative leader is to learn from other innovators. You can find inspiration and insights from leaders who have successfully fostered innovation in their fields, industries, or organizations. You can read their books, blogs, podcasts, or interviews, or attend their events, workshops, or webinars. You can also seek mentors, coaches, or peers who can share their experiences, feedback, and advice with you. You can learn from their successes, failures, and best practices, and adapt them to your own context and goals.

3 Experiment with different methods

The third step to developing your style as an innovative leader is to experiment with different methods. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to innovation, and you need to find what works best for you and your team. You can try different techniques, tools, and processes to generate ideas, test assumptions, prototype solutions, and implement changes. You can use methods such as design thinking, lean startup, agile, or scrum, or create your own hybrid or custom method. The key is to be flexible, curious, and willing to learn from your experiments.

5 Seek diversity and inclusion

The fifth step to developing your style as an innovative leader is to seek diversity and inclusion. Diversity and inclusion are essential for innovation, as they bring different perspectives, experiences, and ideas to the table. Diversity and inclusion also foster creativity, collaboration, and engagement in your team, as everyone feels valued, respected, and empowered. You can seek diversity and inclusion by hiring, promoting, and mentoring people from different backgrounds, identities, and abilities, by creating a safe and supportive environment, and by soliciting and acting on diverse input and feedback.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?