By: Innovation Management
Holly Green, CEO of The Human Factor Inc., is an experienced business leader and behavioural scientist. Holly has a rare combination of extensive academic training and in-the-trenches experience working in and leading organizations. She tells IM that the most important lesson for innovation managers to learn is to slow down to allow for creative thinking.
What is innovation management to you?
Making sure I am constantly gathering, evaluating and acting on ideas that add value to my stakeholders. This includes clarity on where my business is going (what it looks like when we win), sharing that information constantly, and pausing to consider how we might add more value.
What are the most important lessons for an innovation manager to learn?
In today’s hyper paced world, probably how to slow down (just a little) to think differently – how to challenge assumptions, consider different perspectives, balance the big picture and the details, etc. and how to help others do so as well.
Do you think innovation management as a profession is headed in the right direction?
In some ways – just an awareness that it is needed is an important first step. When the ability to think differently and manage the processes required to move ideas to actions that have real value, there will be tremendous value in the role of innovation management.
What’s your next big challenge?
Helping others to pause…when everything in the world says “just run”, we strip away the time to think and innovation does require thinking! It requires us to make a little space to ponder possibilities and then the time to execute on them effectively.
About Holly Green
As CEO of The Human Factor, Inc., Holly helps business leaders and their companies achieve higher levels of performance and profitability. Her unique approach to consulting – based on the approach Pause, Think, Focus, Run – provides the tools, techniques, and skills companies need to reach their destinations and achieve their strategic goals. Holly’s clients include AT&T, Microsoft, Expedia, Nokia, and Google as well as numerous small and midsized businesses. She helps organizations get clear on what winning looks like, and then how to align the resources and energy of the organization to get there.
In addition to consulting, Holly delivers highly acclaimed keynote presentations and workshops at tradeshows, industry gatherings, and business meetings. Holly’s top selling book, More Than a Minute: How to be an Effective Leader & Manager in Today’s Changing World (available in 9 languages globally) goes beyond the theory of leading and managing by providing practical, action-oriented information. She has contributed to several other best-selling books as well.
For more info, please visit www.TheHumanFactor.biz and www.MoreThanaMinute.com.