How to Lead and Support Teams that Innovate
EVERY LEADER, regardless of industry, needs to possess the ability to build a great team and support it. But as teams go, innovation teams are unique. Research shows that innovation benefits from a high degree of diversity, technical depth and people with complementary mindsets and process tendencies.
Leaders don’t always get to choose their team members from the start, so they often need to nudge people to find new ways to work, even as they actively bring people in or move people out of the group. Following are five principles for leaders of innovation teams to keep in mind.
EMBRACE THE ‘BUILDERS’. These are people with a track record of getting things into the world in some way, shape or form — hopefully within your organization and hopefully in different environments. Sometimes scrappy and entrepreneurial, they exhibit intense curiosity, value continuous learning and are willing to try new things, welcoming as much feedback as possible.
Builders aren’t going to wait for you to tell them what to make, and they’re rarely going
