ENCOURAGING INNOVATIVE BEHAVIOR AT WORKPLACE
In this era of fierce
competition nearly every organization seeks to create a culture of innovation
which will encourage and motivate employees to take risks that direct them to
come up with something out of the box, something that is unique and lead to
break through products and services. Innovation is an ascending concern all around the world.
But the question that pops up is that
how exactly a company can build this type of culture? What could be the
barriers to innovation and how to overcome them and also what kind of
leadership style should be adopted for it? These questions often threaten senior
leaders menacing the success of their innovation initiatives.
Interestingly, it may be that
the attention on culture is what’s pushing organizations back. They think about
the big picture, instead of imbibing the incremental changes that would
actually enable that picture to exist. Culture is
an outcome of shared behaviors therefore inculcating innovative behaviors
must come first. The culture gets changed by becoming more innovative — not the
other way around. Certain behaviours if adopted can transform the culture and can help any organization take the leap. Following are
some of the behaviours that can be inspiring-
1. Motivating the Entrepreneurs - Entrepreneurs are
the ones generally the employees within a company who are consigned to work on
a special idea or project. They are trained to develop the project like an
entrepreneur would. Recognition to such innovators boosts enthusiasm and enhances
performance .Bonuses and incentives are a great source of motivation.
2. Raising collaboration across
ecosystem of organization- Innovation is a team activity. Excellent Ideas
get generated through brainstorming. It involves admirable collaboration among the
various business and functional units. Combing the best ideas and resources
inside and outside the organization is a characteristic of successful
innovation.
3. Setting high goals and gravitating through speed- Leaders
set extremely
high bar, and give the colleagues the dare and opportunity to accomplish what
they believed would be beyond their reach. They consider that things can be achieved sooner,
not later.
4. Constantly challenge status quo and develop expertise- To
be innovative it is imperative to enlarge knowledge and expertise in the
respective field. Some highly effective leaders of innovation
are regarded as inverse to the environment because they are always willing to
accept change.
5. Providing spiritual environment and building trust – If
one doesn’t feel safe, he wouldn’t feel motivated to bear risks. Sharing of
ideas involve building trust with the team members. Spirituality would provide
meaningful work, team work and a community feeling which is important for
encouraging innovation.
Barriers
to innovation in organizations
Following are some of the
barriers to innovation currently faced by Indian organizations –
1.
Lack of financial support – it has been
observed that in India the Government would makes a lot of noise when it comes
to films, arts, sports, etc., but the importance given to research is trivial. In
spite of various demonstrations, the government dither to fund innovative
projects.
2.
Risk intolerance- In India entrepreneurs
stay apprehensive while taking up innovative ideas because with huge
investments comes the chances of failure.
3.
Orthodox mindsets of society in India- Indians are not always prepared to
accept change. The general mindset is that from the very beginning students are
encouraged to read books and write what they have learnt from them. Thus they
don’t accept novelty in products and services very easily.
4. Lack of training and
development - for the attainment of short- term
results constant pressure is put on employees as a result they stay engaged in
achieving targets which doesn’t allow them to spend time to think, be creative
and productive.
5.
Strict communication channels and hierarchy - Some organizations restrict
their employees within certain boundaries and do not allow them to go beyond a
specified domain. This acts as hindrance for new ideas to flow. Often the employees
have creative ideas and also the capability to work upon, but they don’t succeed
to put across the information to their leaders.
Leader plays a crucial role
within the innovation process. In order to implant
innovative work behaviour in a multidimensional way, it is imperative that the leader
acts in a supportive way so that the employees feel at ease to put across their
ideas. Transformational leaders inspire their subordinate’s creativity by
encouraging them and helping them to see problems differently. Though Transactional
leaders monitor their employees much more, their employees work extremely hard
to achieve the goals. Supportive environment towards employees foster their
self determination to become innovative and take initiatives. A culture of
involvement should be encouraged through participation leadership allowing employees
to be involved in decision making, employees would enjoy autonomy and also take
risks. This leadership style will be an antecedent of innovative work behavior
in organizations.
Comments
Post a Comment