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move too quickly to address them. Because the organization, team, or
individual often does not know exactly what to do, a need then exists to
slow down, reflect on the situation, and approach it in an new way. This
usually requires taking some risks and using innovative thinking.

Innovative thinking does not depend on past experience or well-known
facts. It pictures a desired future state and figures out how to get there. It is
intuitive and open to exploring a number of possibilities, focusing on
asking the right questions rather than identifying the right or wrong
answers. The goal is to find a better way of doing work and providing

improved service by exploring various possibilities. It encourages the
question, “what if?,” which can lead to all sorts of exciting new approaches
for the organization.

Innovative leaders show support and confidence in the work of others and

value their contributions. They nurture and promote, when possible,
creative people. Leaders encourage innovation when they protect and
participate in the innovation process by neutralizing negative people,
watching out for organizational systems and responses that quash
innovation, and by using innovative thinking in their own work.
100

Leadership in an organization does not have to create an environment of

disruptive change to stimulate innovation. Instead, the focus should be on
fostering the conditions that allow dynamic innovation approaches to
emerge and flourish. Much of this can be accomplished by taking explicit
steps to bring about an innovation culture within the organization based on
trust among employees. In such a culture, people understand that their

ideas are valued, they trust that it is safe to express those ideas, and they
oversee risk collectively, together with their managers. Leaders can
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reinforce this trust by involving employees in decisions that matter to
them. Unfortunately, research demonstrates that only a minority of
executives lead and manage innovation in their organization, and only a
minority of employees appear to believe that their organizations accept

failure as a means of learning.
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100 http://www.ccl.org/leadership/pdf/research/InnovationLeadership.pdf.
101 http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/innovation/leadership_and_innovation.
102
http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/innovation/leadership_and_innovation.
David Kolzow 86