DESIGNING MALAYSIA

Dr Viraj Perera is the CEO of PlaTCOM Ventures Sdn Bhd – the national technology commercialisation platform of Malaysia which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Agensi Inovasi Malaysia (AIM) formed in collaboration with SME Corp Malaysia.

Innovative Leadership

SOME time ago, the late Steve Jobs was quoted as saying, “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower” and that statement has never been more meaningful than it is today. At a time when even the most fundamental elements of business success are being questioned, reassessed and redefined, one thing becomes crystal clear - innovation is no longer a “nice to have”, it’s a “must have.” It’s what we call the “innovation imperative” or “innovate or perish”. If innovation distinguished between leaders and followers in the recent past, today it increasingly differentiates between survivors and the barely breathing. Innovation is the new Darwinism in business. It is no longer “survival of the fittest”; it is rather “survival of the most innovative.”

What does it take to be an innovative leader?

Becoming a powerful leader of innovative organisations rests in many critical factors including ways of being, ways of thinking and ways of conducting oneself. Self-awareness and insight into oneself as a leader and as a colleague of a social group will determine how much one contributes to or cause innovation in one’s world.

A number of factors determine the success of an innovative leader. One of the key elements is strategy. Another key element is organisation where innovative leaders create roles that allow people to demonstrate and apply initiative and flexibility, and at the same time provide the time and resources to do that. Furthermore, an innovative leader has a unique behavioural mindset. Leaders who encourage innovation are predominantly authoritative, providing strong vision

and direction in their style of leadership but they are also participative, providing encouragement and commitment to new ideas and diversity. Further, they also tend to be natural coaches where they deliberately build and foster harmony in the organisation focusing on long-term individual development.

It takes more than just good strategy and organisation to be an innovative leader

An article published in Harvard Business Review in December 2014 elaborates on 10 traits of innovative leaders. This piece of research was conducted by collaborating with a respected company in the telecommunications industry whose leaders scored well above average on most managerial competencies. The group identified 33 individuals who scored at or above the 99th percentile on innovation, as measured by their peers, subordinates, and bosses in a comprehensive 360-degree feedback survey. The research group believed these closest colleagues would have the most accurate view of what made this group of leaders stand out from the pack in this large organisation. Their findings are as below:

Trait 1 - Display excellent strategic vision: The most effective innovative leaders are laser sharp in their strategic vision of the future. They have a very clear picture of the destination and work collaboratively with their colleagues to get there.

Trait 2 – Have a strong customer focus: Merely interesting facts to the customer becomes fascinating details to these individuals. They seek to get inside the

customer’s mind. They network with clients and ask never-ending questions about their needs and wants and strategically utilise this information. In other words, they master market-driven innovations.

Trait 3 – Create a climate of reciprocal trust: Innovative leaders call for warm, collaborative relationships with the innovators who work for them and make themselves highly accessible. What’s fascinating is that the colleagues trust their leader would cover their backs and not throw them in the bin if something went wrong.

Trait 4 - Display fearless loyalty to doing what’s right for the organisation and customer: Innovative leaders take a back seat in pleasing the boss or some other higher level executive for doing the right thing for the project or the company.

Trait 5 - Put their faith in a culture that magnifies upward communication: This breed of leaders believes that the most innovative ideas originated from the bottom of the organisation. Creating a culture that unleashed good ideas from the first level of the organisation is a strategy to them. They are often described as projecting optimism, full of energy, and always receptive to new ideas. Gloominess was replaced with joking and amusement.

Trait 6 – Are persuasive: These leaders are highly effective in persuading others to accept good ideas and do not force their ideas onto their teams. Instead, they present ideas with enthusiasm and conviction that teams willingly follow.

Trait 7 – Excel at setting stretch goals: Innovative leaders set goals that require people to go far beyond just working harder but require teams to find new ways to achieve higher goals.

Trait 8 – Emphasise speed: These leaders switch to quick experiments and rapid prototyping as opposed to lengthy studies conducted by large committees.

Trait 9 – Are candid in their communication: Innovative leaders provide honest and even blunt feedback. Subordinates feel that they could trust and count on straight answers from their leader.

Trait 10 – Inspire and motivate through action: Coming from a clear sense of purpose and meaning in the work, innovative leaders believe that one has to feel inspired for innovations to exist. They are masters of inspiration and motivation through action.

The research group reports that although the aforementioned traits have been identified through an investigation into a single company, the 360-degree feedback data are consistent with their analysis of highly innovative leaders in hundreds of other organisations in industries as varied as automotive, pharmaceutical and consumer products as well as from different cultures throughout the world.

Are you an innovative leader? Do you possess the aforementioned traits? It’s a good checklist to examine and to strengthen the traits we already possess as well as to develop any missing traits so that we can be true innovative leaders.

Your feedback welcome at info@platcomventures.com

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MALAY MAIL Thursday January 21, 2016