Are You Leadership Styles Limiting Innovation?

Posted On: July 18, 2014

North American businesses have been at the forefront of innovation in technology and other industries for decades. However, some of the world’s most powerful inventions are now being created by other countries. Could businesses in North America be perpetuating a lack of innovation by replacing it with procedures and processes? Companies can change their corporate culture to encourage development and innovation starting today.

Here are a few reasons your leadership style might be limiting creativity.

• You micromanage. If you spend most of your time standing over the shoulders of your employees to ensure they complete every task exactly as you direct, you may be causing more employee dissatisfaction than you are avoiding production problems. Creativity is stifled by direct supervision. Allow your employees room to breathe. Give them parameters to follow and a goal to achieve but see how they reach it on their own.
• You’re too procedure oriented. Many formerly innovative companies have become overly bogged down by procedures. In an attempt to systemize business many organizations implemented detailed processes designed to achieve the same results over and over again regardless of who was doing the work within the company. This is a surefire way to suffocate the creative influence from each team member’s personal skills and abilities.
• Top employees are leaving. Are you having trouble keeping your top performers in their jobs? This is probably because they no longer feel challenged in their careers. As they start to feel stagnant and bored with their jobs they will look for somewhere else to be that creative outlet. You can keep them engaged if you offer them more ways to explore their career path and an opportunity to grow and innovate.
• You don’t encourage competition. Another killer of innovation in America has been large scale corporate mergers. Big companies are finding it cheaper to buy smaller organization that produce products they want rather than hiring them to design something or partner on a project. This leads to the homogenization of these businesses and eliminates competition. Without that there is no longer a drive to create the next big thing. Start small by encouraging healthy competition within your organization.

Do you want to promote a culture of innovation for your company?
Anserteam Workforce Solutions, North American staffing provider, can help you with your creative workforce solutions to drive creativity in your business.Contact our team of experienced recruiters today for additional information.