David G. Gliddon, PhD in Workforce Education from Penn State, researched what it takes to become an innovation leader for his dissertation. Out of that research, he developed a competency model of innovation leaders which can be used in human resource development initiatives. To read more about his study, go to http://live.psu.edu/story/18678. He discovered:
It is not necessarily the innovation leader who must generate new ideas; rather, they must understand what creative employees value. They must encourage new ideas by seeking active input from their employees.
Innovation leaders collaboratively interact with their employees and support high levels of teamwork, providing opportunities to share innovations. Once an innovation has been shared, employees should be empowered to then adopt the innovation if it is useful. Employees then can support the innovation leader by initially adopting the innovation, and encourage the diffusion of the innovation throughout organization's social system, Gliddon said.
Innovation leaders also must take personal responsibility for and be dedicated to projects that require innovations. Therefore, innovation leaders must establish a trust culture and maintain relationships based on trust. They must display initiative, set challenging project goals, and link those goals to the needs of the customer, department and enterprise.
Thanks for posting about my article on the blog. This is an excellent resource and I'm very honored to be a part of it.
Posted by: Dr. Gliddon | July 26, 2006 at 11:20 AM
Thanks, David. I enjoyed your article. If you have an e-newsletter, please put me on your list.
Warmly,
Muchelle
Posted by: Michelle James | July 26, 2006 at 04:42 PM