In his recent ‘Closing the innovation gap’ series of thought pieces – available here – Rhys Davies considered the need for innovation in the further education (FE) and skills sector and how leaders can encourage and facilitate innovation through shaping culture and removing barriers. In this new series he considers how innovative mindsets can be delivered, beginning by focusing on leaders.
Covey (2023) makes a convincing case for organisations to move from a ‘command and control’ leadership style to a ‘trust and inspire’ leadership paradigm. Everyone wants to be trusted and when we feel trusted, we are more motivated to take risks and to find creative solutions to complex problems. According to Covey, the ‘command and control’ approach to leadership is a relic of a previous, industrial, age and can only ever achieve compliance. If we are to encourage staff to innovate, they need to feel inspired and safe to do so. In other words, they need to be led in a different way, a way which creates higher levels of engagement, innovation and inspiration. This way of leading others requires leaders to ‘let go’ and to accept greater risk. As Tim Cook, CEO of Apple puts it, “We take risks knowing that risks will sometimes result in failure, but without the possibility of failure, there is no possibility of success”. Micro-managing others and having no appetite for risk taking stifles innovation.
Taking another perspective, a Harvard Business Review of 2019, ‘The EI Advantage. Driving Innovation and Business Success through the Power of Emotional Intelligence’, presents the case for such an approach. “Today, decisions are made so quickly that organizations can no longer rely on time-consuming top-down decision making and orders dictated from above. More often, individuals must collaborate with each other to solve problems and develop innovative solutions on their own. To do so requires the mastery of interpersonal skills that are often downplayed as ‘nice to have’ soft skills. Mastery of interpersonal skills has become more critical as employees, particularly those on the front lines, make decisions that can seriously impact a brand’s reputation and its connection to customers.” Leaders who develop Emotional Intelligence in themselves and others:
There are countless articles, papers and books written on the subject of how leaders can foster innovative mindsets in their work. A concise starting point for establishing the behaviours of innovators can be viewed on YouTube [1], where Insead Business School share their findings from interviewing over 100 innovators. They found that innovators:
Action Research projects can provide leaders with the space, time and focus to lead innovation and I will share examples that demonstrate this in the second part of this series. Such projects are a key feature of the ETF’s Strategic Innovation for Skills (SIS) professional development programme. One such project was led by SIS attendee Asma Ahmad, Director for Young People’s Essential Skills at the South Bank Colleges Group, London. Asma’s project looked at how to harness innovative approaches to developing the maths skills of ESOL learners. The findings of the project point to the need to win hearts and minds of delivery staff when seeking to find innovative solutions which often involve asking those staff to step outside of comfort zones; couching the ‘why’ in terms of improving learners’ experience and life changes was instrumental in getting staff on board. Equally as important is the way in which Asma could take advantage of the culture of the colleges, a culture which openly embraces and encourages innovation; leaders provide time to staff to work collaboratively on creative approaches, with professional development days specifically designated to allow staff to discuss and try out new approaches.
The second blog in the series, looking at developing innovative mindsets in teachers, is available here.
Notes
[1] The Four Behaviors Of Innovative Leaders | Forbes – YouTube
References
Armstrong, E. J. (2019). Maximising motivators for technology-enhanced learning for further education teachers: moving beyond the early adopters in a time of austerity. Research in learning technology. 27.
Covey, Stephen M.R., 2022, Trust and Inspire, Simon and Schuster UK.
Dweck, C.S, 2017, Changing the Way you think to fulfil your potential, 6th edition, Robinson UK
OECD (2021) OECD iLibrary | Teachers and Leaders in Vocational Education and Training (oecd-ilibrary.org)
Forbes, 2013, The Four Behaviors Of Innovative Leaders | Forbes – YouTube
Harvard Business Review Analytic Services, 2019, The EI Advantage. Driving Innovation and Business Success through the Power of Emotional Intelligence. TheEIAdvantage.pdf (hbr.org)
Lewis, P, 2023, Innovation, technician skills, and vocational education and training: connecting innovation systems and vocational education and training, Taylor and Francis online, Full article: Innovation, technician skills, and vocational education and training: connecting innovation systems and vocational education and training (tandfonline.com)
Peng, F., Wang, S., and Yang, T. (2023), Enhancing Vocational Education through Innovative Skills Competitions: Challenges and Solutions, Beijing Polytechnic, (PDF) Enhancing Vocational Education through Innovative Skills Competitions: Challenges and Solutions (researchgate.net)
Ryan, B, McGarr, O., McCormack, O., 2020, Underneath the veneer of techno-positivity – exploring teachers’ perspectives on technology use in further education and training, University of Limerick, McGarr_2021_Underneath.pdf