Life
21st Century Leader
But there is a relatively new term that had gained a lot of popularity, and it should begin to challenge our idea of what leadership is and the role of a true leader. The term is ‘innovation’. I’m sure many of you have heard it, but you may not know what it means. Well here’s one definition: Innovation is people using their imagination, experience, curiosity, instincts and relationships to develop and implement ideas that create value. This is more profound than you may realize.
A 21st Century Leader is an innovative leader. They also approach leadership the same way as the Geese approach their V-formation. They accept the fact that they don’t have to have all the greatest ideas. They don’t have to be the most creative or the smartest in the group. They understand how and are able to draw the great ideas out of their people. They know how to create an environment that fosters creativity.
The 21st Century leader taps into the creative power of their people and draws it out. At my workplace, I’m working towards creating a culture of innovation. A culture where employees aren’t just seen as drones, but we tap into their creative genius and we leverage their intellectual power, their skills and knowledge to create solutions to business problems.
Regardless of whether they are business oriented or not. Leaders should be there to ‘guide’ their people, not just tell people what to do, how to do it, and when it needs to be done. Give your people a sense of autonomy under your guidance and see how powerful they are.
One day my Team Leaders and I, went out for dinner and created a Development Program for our store. A program that would not only train employees but also develop them and teach them skills that could be beneficial to their lives. This was something that was unorthodox, out of the norm, and unconventional within the company.
Programs like this were normally created by the executives of the corporation. However, because it wasn’t a matter of me telling them what to do and how I wanted it created, but rather drawing ideas out of them; they were more engaged, more focused and took a stronger sense of pride in the work. The program has been a huge success thus far,and is being adopted by other stores within the company.
This is not the only instance. Google Leaders have tapped into this as well. They employed what they call Twenty-Percent Time, where Google allows their employees to use twenty percent of their time to work on anything they want. So they don’t use their employees as just executors to just ‘do’ whatever the executives mandate, they tap into their creative genius and intellectual power of their people. And if you think that this is ineffective, take a look at the success of Google News or Gmail, just a few of the unofficial projects birthed out of Twenty Percent Time.
