Innovative Leadership.docx

Inovasi merupakan suatu kemampuan untuk menciptakan atau mengembangkan dan atau mengimplementasikan ciptaan, proses ataupun layanan baru dengan tujuan meningkatkan efisiensi, efektifitas ataupun keunggulan bersaing. Dasar inovasi adalah kreatifitas. Hal tersebut sangat beralasan karena di dalam kreatifitas terkandung komponen thinking (pikiran), feeling (perasaan), sensing (prakarsa), intuiting (intuisi), ditambah denga imaginating (imaginasi/citacita), dan trust (kepercayaan). 1. Bagaimana merekrut dan menyeleksi pemimpin inovatif? The criteria they use to select, hire and promote future innovation leaders, four words come up again and again: Passion, mission, vision and performance. Memiliki visi dan misi. (ini adalah syarat mutlak, karena inovasi lahir dari visi dan misi yang jelas, terukur dan memiliki tujuan/sasaran), terbuka terhadap perubahan (perubahan adalah kebutuhan, bukan hambatan), berani berbeda dari kebiasaan (fleksibel, berani keluar dari keadan yang ada), mampu mencari alternatif (tidak terpaku pada satu pilihan), siap menghadapi kegagalan, berani mencoba, selalu bersemangat, dan selalu siap berkejasama dan membuka diri serta mau berkolaborasi. a) Detecting Passion When asked what they look for in a candidate, apart from basic intelligence and technical fi t for the position, Logitech managers reply that they look for a sense of passion, emotion and connection with the product. A business unit vice president explains: “I would like someone to give me a sense of love of products, not necessarily from Logitech. Someone who is passionate about the product is also going to be passionate about the user”. “If they want to learn, if they are curious, if they see that they can change the world, if they see in front of them that change is an opportunity, not a threat – a disruptive element is something which we can leverage, something which would be a springboard for us to do things better and differently – then we have people who have the passion, the passion to change the world, the passion to make things better, the passion always to strive for better results and always excel.” That one can generally spot a candidate’s enthusiasm at the job interview. People believe in what the organization stands for and in the products that they are selling. But of course, that passion is expressed differently by different functions. b) Demanding Devotion to the Company’s Mission and Vision Passion per se, despite being a great source of managerial energy, is not suffi cient. It has to be embedded in a sense of purpose and channeled toward common objectives. And this is where the notion of mission fi ts in. Innovation leaders try to

detect in job candidates an affi nity with the company’s declared mission and vision, which often reflects a deep interest in the company’s products or services and in its customers. A strong understanding of and dedication to the company’s mission is a guarantee that the new hire, particularly if he/she is a senior manager, will pull in the right direction. But companies express their mission very differently, of course. For a company in lifesaving or health-restoring medical devices like Medtronic, the mission is easy to communicate. For Logitech, the mission refl ects the company’s sense of identity and builds on its raison d’être, as Daniel Borel stresses: “We have a very strong vision and mission of who we are and what we do. So, as we evolve, we have to hire new people who have new skills in new areas, and those people need to be trained in the same way. We can never repeat enough the ‘who we are’ to make it alive.” c) Setting High Performance Standards Guerrino de Luca at Logitech is not shy about his expectations: “I need people that can think intelligently and learn fast. This means people who are not content with the obvious answer. People who are challengers! People who – because they have not done it before – bring elements of creativity and discipline. If I have to choose between two people for an important mission: Someone who has done it before and someone who has not done it before but is on his way up, then I choose the second one. We need hungry people who have something to prove who take risks.” Concerned about the danger of an excessively inbred culture – a risk faced by startups that have built their own culture and grown rapidly – De Luca does not think twice about looking for and bringing in very senior managers from outside the company. Cenderung melihat suatu persoalan sebagai tantangan untuk menunjukkan kemampuan diri; cenderung memikirkan alternatif solusi/tindakan yang tidak dilakukan oleh orang-orang pada umumnya atau bukan sesuatu yang sudah biasa dilakukan; tidak takut untuk mencoba hal-hal baru; tidak takut dicemoohkan oleh orang lain karena berbeda dari kebiasaan, tidak cepat puas terhadap hasil yang diperoleh; toleran terhadap kegagalan dan frustasi; mampu memikirkan apa yang mungkin dapat dilakukan atau dikerjakan dari suatu kondisi, keadaan atau benda; dan melakukan berbagai cara yang mungkin dilakukan dengan tetap berdasar pada integritas, kejujuran, menjunjung sistem nilai, dan bertujuan positif.

2. Bagaimana mengembangkan pemimpin inovatif? Observasi dgn mengamati kondisi lingkungan sekitar, Brainstorming sblm membuat perencanaan baru (berpikir out of the box), Modifikasi ide sebelumnya menjadi lbh menarik Peter Sims, Bill George summarizes the key principles of an authentic leadership development philosophy: ‘Mutual Respect: The Basis for Empowerment: a. Treating others as equals. b. Being a good listener. c. Learning from people. d. Sharing life stories. Empowering People to Lead: a. b. c. d. e. f.

Showing up. Engaging people. Helping teammates. Challenging leaders. Stretching people. Aligning everyone around a mission.

Most of these general leadership development practices are relevant for the development of innovation leaders, of course. Concretely, though, senior innovation leaders seem to rely on three complementary approaches: a. promoting an open yet challenging environment; b. giving innovation responsibilities to people early on; c. coaching aspiring innovation leaders. Promoting an Open yet Challenging Environment It is probably safe to predict that innovation leaders will naturally develop and grow faster in an environment populated with other innovation leaders – like attracts like. This means that, in common with plain innovators, they need an environment characterized by a strong innovation culture to blossom. Giving Innovation Responsibilities to People Early On When asked about the best way to develop the next generation of innovation leaders, senior executives in innovative companies often stress the importance of testing the leadership skills of their young managers by giving them a concrete experience early on in their career. Coaching Aspiring Innovation Leaders

In technical environments, coaching is accepted as a way of developing a cadre of future R&D leaders his allows newcomers to understand what the issues, technologies and work processes are across the organization. It also encourages a culture of crosscollaboration between various product groups, promotes a family atmosphere and reduces tensions between product groups. “One of the key influencers is personal coaching. The engineering family coaches you. What we have is a strong learning process – it’s not a process, it’s more about information sharing. Part of the culture is transmitted in this one-to-one, or in small team sessions. It is a very informal learning, through coaching and observing.” 3. Bagaimana mempertahankan pemimpin inovatif? 1) Pertama, pemimpin inovatif adalah pemimpin yang memiliki keingintahuan tak terbatas, sehingga tak pernah berhenti bertanya. Mereka juga berupaya untuk menanamkan hal yang sama kepada segenap stafnya (Sloane,P.,2007:178). Para pemimpin harus mendorong setiap stafnya bertanya, termasuk menanggapi pertanyaan-pertanyaan yang muncul (Sloane,P.,2007:180). 2) Kedua, memberikan pujian kepada bawahan/karyawan yang telah mencoba hal-hal baru meskipun belum berhasil. Pujian yang diberikan pada saat belum berhasil lebih bermakna bagi individu daripada pujian pada saat kesuksesan. Hal tsb dpt mendorong krywn trs berinovasi. (Sloane,P.,2007:182). 3) Ketiga, memfokuskan perhatian pada hal-hal yang sudah berjalan baik. Hal tersebut dilakukan agar dapat melihat dan mengembangkan keunggulan yang dimiliki serta lebih cermat dalam melihat berbagai peluang (Sloane,P.,2007:182). 4) Keempat, menciptakan suasana yang menyenangkan untuk bekerja. Suasana yang menyenangkan merupakan hal penting untuk menumbuhkan kreativitas karena kreativitas berhubungan erat dengan hal-hal yang menyenangkan seperti humor, permainan dan kegiatan yang merangsang ide-ide secara spontan dan mencairkan suasana (Sloane,P.,2007:185). 5) Keenam, menanamkan pikiran dan sikap untuk lebih berhati-hati pada kesuksesan. Hal tersebut perlu dilakukan pemimpin karena keberhasilan cenderung membuat seseorang maupun organisasi menjadi terlena dan berpuas diri, bahkan menghambat munculnya ide-ide baru (Sloane,P.,2007:191). 6) Ketujuh, merangsang sudut pandang yang beragam dari masalah dengan membuat teka-teki. Setiap masalah bisnis adalah teka-teki sehingga salah satu cara yang dapat digunakan untuk merangsang ide-ide kreatif adalah membuat teka-teki pemikiran lateral/teka-teki situasi. Cara tersebut adalah metode untuk mengembangkan kemampuan bertanya, mendengarkan, kerjasama tim dan imajinasi dalam organisasi (Sloane,P.,2007:193). A Spirit of Challenge and Fun

Innovation leaders tend to love the work they do and the challenges they have to overcome to help their teams succeed. There are probably many reasons for this emphasis on work satisfaction. First, innovation leaders tend to display a higher level of passion than other types of leaders for whatever they do, and they typically choose to work on innovation-related issues and projects – there is always an element of excitement and fun in innovation, whatever the industry. Second, innovation leads to tangible results – like promising new technologies and new product or service launches – and innovation leaders like the pride that goes with introducing something new that customers will ‘like to buy and love to use,’ as Logitech’s Daniel Borel puts it. Third, innovation leaders love success. Success – Loving to Win Innovation leaders are attracted by opportunities and successful companies offer more opportunities than struggling ones.