Leadership and Innovation: The soft and hard sides

Organizations and nations are shaped by transformative leaders who can make a difference and swim upstream and who can do good things in bad times. The western film industry vividly showed the human face of leadership which captured our imagination in compelling stories as reflected in The Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher, who transformed economy and markets; Hidden Figures which showed how women scientists made contributions in math; Mother Theresa of Calcutta painted fascinating images for women leadership in the public sphere. These models of innovative leadership are in demand but scarce and highly needed in all domains and levels of organizations. Besides, ensuring a gender balance of leadership is vital for innovation since “Men build houses, but women build homes”. 

The critical feature of innovative organizations is defined by the ability to grow and innovate at the same time. Surveys of CEOs had shown that about 70% believe that innovation is a driver for growth and a means to cope with global change. However, there is a gap between the aspiration of innovation and level of implementation. To remedy this, organizational development experts are likely advise to reform structure or process but the real solution lies in the organizational culture (or social DNA). Innovation is all about people and corporate culture. 

What is effective leadership? Research shows that there is a positive relationship between transformational leadership and organizational innovation. Organizational leadership is linked to core competences, innovative capacity and strategy.  The theory of leadership defines many models including transactional, transformational, servant, and spiritual leadership but there is no consensus on the best theory of leadership since it is contextual and situational. The theory of leadership is based on research variables and predictive relationships in terms of personality, capability, motivation, individual traits, behavior and activities. Most studies in leadership are quantitative so as to show creditability as part of positivist paradigm but what is needed is a system thinking to ensure deeper understanding of context and stakeholders since the challenge for leadership is to create value for multiple stakeholders. 

The question is how to develop an effective and innovative leadership? This means that we need to define a criterion for performance excellence and we need to re-think old theories and exercise free thinking. The roadmap for innovative leadership is based on simple principles: i.e., embrace innovation at senior management; transform some managers to be innovation leaders; and create opportunities for experimentation. First: integrate innovation into strategic management objectives and KPIs; Second: create conditions for harnessing external knowledge and networks to utilize untapped talents; Third: Foster a culture of innovations that is underpinned by trust, openness and risk taking. Fourth:  Add innovation in regular agenda and set metrics for innovation. 

Innovative leadership is about co-construction of a shared vision and entails soft and hard aspects. Innovative leadership is a big idea, one needs to approach it is small incremental steps. 

Prof. Odeh Al-Jayyousi, Head of Innovation and Technology Management, Arabian Gulf University, Bahrain, 

 E-mail: odehaj@agu.edu