Leadership

Focused on becoming a better leader – article is good for those leading a company, building a business, leading a team, or otherwise in a position where they can direct or influence actions of others. Also good for articles about aspiring leaders.

You’re Stifling Innovation, And You Don’t Even Know It

It is a common belief that encouraging creativity will lead to higher levels of innovation. In actuality, most organizations already have the creative ideas they need. But they are missing or outright rejecting them, and they don’t even realize they’re doing it.

Ideascale2021-12-14T12:59:55-08:00August 3rd, 2017|Categories: Leadership, Organization & Culture|Tags: company culture, Creativity, Employee Engagement, employee recognition, employee satisfaction, innovation blockers, innovation champion, Innovation Culture, innovation psychology, innovation team, leadership, management, personality types, team building|

6 Reasons Some People Are Uncomfortable with Innovation

When we talk about innovation, we sometimes forget that not everyone is on board with the new and revolutionary. Some people would rather stick to their same schedule and do the same thing, day after day: a predictable and comforting routine. For champions of innovation, this mindset is difficult to understand. However, you’re likely to meet many people over the course of your career who are simply uncomfortable with innovation, and you will have to learn to work with them. The first step to compromise is understanding, so let’s take a look at some of the reasons people are sometimes uncomfortable with innovation.

Ideascale2021-12-20T16:47:26-08:00July 19th, 2017|Categories: Innovation Psychology|Tags: caution, Change Management, Creativity, innovation blockers, innovation psychology, innovative people, risk aversion, risk management, threat|

How to Foster an Organizational Culture that Encourages Innovation

Innovative and forward-thinking companies are successful because they have new, exciting, and useful products or services before others and consumers take notice of companies regularly producing the next big thing. These companies are more effective and they can grow more rapidly because their company culture encourages innovation among their employees. A company of “intrapreneurs” can quickly become a successful and noteworthy company.

Ideascale2021-12-14T12:51:50-08:00June 29th, 2017|Categories: Innovation Psychology, Leadership|Tags: 20% policy, beat practices, beta testing, Collaboration, collaborative innovation, company culture, efficiency, Employee Engagement, employee ideation, forward-thinking, google, idea management, Ideation, Innovation Culture, innovation team, innovative companies, lessons learned, listening, mistakes, process improvement, Product Development|

6 Potential Roadblocks to Innovation

Does it feel like your efforts in innovation lately have been…lackluster? Are you finding that your team just isn’t coming up with the great ideas you know they can produce? If your business is feeling stale and stagnant, you obviously want to know why, so you can make changes. Innovation efforts aren’t always simple and easy—and there are definitely some roadblocks that can come up along the way. Don’t get discouraged if you run into any of these common problems—you just have to be determined to prevent and work through them whenever possible!

Ideascale2021-12-14T12:51:26-08:00June 28th, 2017|Categories: Innovation Psychology|Tags: burnout, Employee Engagement, idea management, Ideation, innovation blockers, motivation, productivity, resource allocation, team building, Teamwork, trust|

Critical Steps to Validate Your Startup’s Business Model

A business plan is at the heart of every business. But instead of just writing down your business plan, your startup’s business model will require proper validation before you start doing business. If you don’t validate it, the investor simply won’t invest. You can validate your business model through three core assumptions: delivering, creating and capturing value.

Ideascale2021-12-14T08:12:15-08:00June 20th, 2017|Categories: Strategies|Tags: Best Practices, business canvas model, business model, business plan, churn, customer engagement, feedback, in-depth article, market research, minimum viable product, Product Development, revenue, startup, validation, value, value creation, value proposition|

Optimizing Meetings to Maximize Individual Brainstorming Time

Are you overwhelmed by unnecessary meetings? We’ve all been there: one more meeting, and you feel like you’re going to scream. You’ve been trying to make some real progress on your creative project, but the constant meetings have really been cutting into your individual brainstorming time. If you feel like the number of meetings you’ve been attending is cutting into your productivity, you’re not imagining it.

Ideascale2021-12-14T08:05:21-08:00May 30th, 2017|Categories: Organization & Culture, Strategies|Tags: brainstorming, co-creation, Collaboration, Creativity, efficiency, Employee Engagement, meeting, meetings, optimization, planning, productivity, strategy, team building|

Charisma is Important for a Leader, But There are Other Qualities to Consider

It is important for any group or organization to have one or more strong leaders. To be a leader, it is critical that an individual has charisma as it will increase the odds that others will follow their words and believe in their ideas. However, charisma is not the only thing that an individual needs to be a good leader. What are some other qualities that are just as important?

Ideascale2021-12-14T08:04:55-08:00May 25th, 2017|Categories: Leadership|Tags: Best Practices, charisma, leadership, listening|

What Skills Are Rated Most Difficult When it Comes to Innovation? (The Answer Might Surprise You)

A common misconception is that innovation can’t be taught. Similar to how some people believe that artists are born, not made – innovation has often seemed to be the purview of the great thinkers, the elite, people whose creativity is given, not a matter of practice…

Rob Hoehn2021-12-14T07:59:34-08:00May 9th, 2017|Categories: Strategies|Tags: culture, implementation, infographic, innovation, innovation metrics, innovation skills, innovation team, innovation training, innovative people, innovator's DNA, leadership, learning program, metrics, team building, tracking, training, training program|

Leaders Should Listen More and Talk Less

Want to improve your leadership skills? Well, you can start by talking less and listening more. While your oratory skills may impress some, your ability to listen will impress even more. Great leaders understand the importance of surrendering the floor. Unfortunately, most leaders choose to dominate the conversation with rhetoric and fail to engage in proper communication, which requires listening.

Ideascale2021-12-14T07:55:59-08:00April 25th, 2017|Categories: Leadership, Organization & Culture|Tags: Collaboration, collaborative innovation, Communication, Employee Engagement, idea management, Ideation, influence, insight, knowledge sharing, leadership, listening, recognition|

Are Introverts More Innovative than Extroverts?

The assumption that an introvert is insecure or antisocial can do a major disservice to that person - and to your company. To truly innovate and grow your business, it's important to utilize all of the skills that your employees can contribute in their own way.

Ideascale2021-12-14T07:54:31-08:00April 20th, 2017|Categories: Leadership|Tags: brainstorming, Collaboration, extrovert, flexibility, innovative people, introvert, personality types|

Organizational Revolutions through Idea Hacking

Businesses face the dilemma dividing resources between protecting the current value chain and developing new value propositions that in time replace the old ones. Not every organization has the luxury to have its own dedicated innovation unit and still then the ideas might not always be too innovative. Hackathons are an affordable and energizing way to generate innovative ideas that can revolutionize your organization.

Ideascale2021-12-14T07:52:48-08:00April 13th, 2017|Categories: Collaborative Innovation|Tags: bias, business development, Collaboration, collaborative innovation, Communication, Creativity, decision making, Employee Engagement, evaluation of ideas, hackathon, idea hacking, Ideation, in-depth article, innovative companies, strategy|

Innovation Lessons from Rome’s Greatest Enemy

What innovation lessons can we learn from Hannibal, one of history’s most illustrious generals? In this piece based on a chapter from Paul Sloane’s ‘Think like an Innovator’, we’ll look at how Hannibal’s battle strategies and tactics can apply to innovation today - from using new and unexpected resources, to outflanking your competition, to understanding the importance of networking.

Ideascale2021-12-14T07:50:34-08:00April 10th, 2017|Categories: Leadership|Tags: Competition, hannibal, innovation leader, Innovation Strategy, innovative people, leadership, lessons learned, strategy|

Learning to Communicate With Difficult Co-Workers

No matter where you work, there's always some difficult co-workers you're going to have to deal with. Instead of wishing the situation away, which never works, it's time to learn how to perfect your skills for dealing with them.

Ideascale2021-12-14T07:48:28-08:00April 4th, 2017|Categories: Organization & Culture|Tags: Collaboration, Communication, company culture, compromise, conflict, conflict management, conflict resolution, difficult coworkers, Employee Engagement, employee recognition, employee satisfaction, personality types, Problem Solving, work environment|

Trends in Innovation Leaders: Greater Risk and Big Bets

The latest Innovation Leaders research shows that there is an increasing number of high-growth companies that are prepared to take greater risk and make big bets. Rather than focus just on incremental growth, they are being bolder and are seeking to develop more radical innovation opportunities. Despite requiring significant investment and offering no guarantee of success this approach has been transformational for some. Where and why is this happening and what has changed that has made this approach more common?

Ideascale2021-12-14T07:38:39-08:00March 14th, 2017|Categories: Collaborative Innovation, Report, Trend Alert|Tags: ambition, big bets, Collaboration, collaborative innovation, Communication, disruptive innovation, foresight, growth strategy, incubation, incubator, industry innovation, innovation leader, innovation success, insight, leadership, opportunity, partnerships, pivoting, radical innovation, risk, risk management, risk-taking, Success, Success Factors, trends|

Great Innovators as Great Mentors: Is This a Skill You’re Nurturing?

Companies that are looking to gain a competitive edge are also looking for the innovators among them. But what do innovators look like?

Rob Hoehn2021-12-14T07:38:20-08:00March 13th, 2017|Categories: Organization & Culture|Tags: Crowdsourcing, innovation process, innovation skills, innovation team, innovative people, innovators, jump, mentoring, mentors, oak ridge national laboratory, ORNL|