Leadership Edge Workshop

Fostering a Culture of Leadership and Innovation,

with Marcia Daszko, Marcia Daszko & Associates

Sponsored by DLA Piper http://www.dlapiper.com

Our May 4 Leadership Edge Workshop Series, was on the topic of Fostering a Culture of Leadership and Innovation with Marcia Daszko, Marcia Daszko & Associates

To lead your market and industry, a rapid-change organization, you must create a System for Innovation. The Return On Innovation (ROI) will surpass the return on any other investment or competency an organization holds. This highly interactive presentation will show how leaders must transform their current thinking and instead, systematically think and create a System for Innovation, a capability for creating new wealth. We will explore what innovation is, where innovation comes from, how to lead it, how it becomes operational, and the environment that allows innovation to thrive. We will talk about tchallenges to effective innovation and the power of innovation teams to make a difference.

In this workshop, leaders learned how to create:

• new leadership beliefs for an innovation culture and language;
• an organizational support structure for innovation endeavors;
• innovation projects with self-motivated champions, and
• a pace that will rapidly move innovations to market launch.

Below are notes from our session for your reference.

• What is your aim for today and for the future?
• By what method will you achieve that aim?
• Who are you serving?
• How will you measure your success?

• Remove the fear so that we can conduct the business of creating ideas and bringing them to market.
• Encourage leadership with knowledge in others
• Embrace a Bold Mindset; Have the courage to challenge what is.
• Link innovation to customers

• Permission to make mistakes
• Changing measures of success
• Leaders model actions (which are louder than words)
• Open-real communication
• Intellectual stimulation (speakers) / cross-functional industry benchmarks
• Removal of obstacles / Time and budget slack
• Having reason/belief to do so / Inspiration from leaders and clear driving toward common vision
• Being process-driven rather than event driven (proactive, nor reactive)
• Culture: Expecting evolution along the way / Accept being uncomfortable / % of time for creative work-corporate sponsored / Humor & Play at work / Diversity in the workplace / Listening / Open-mindedness / Non-linearity / Adaptavity / Celebrating failure / 2nd chances / Pioneering champions / Collaboration and flexibility
• Crisis situation
• Opportunity

• Fear of failure, of success, of embarrassment, job security, etc.,
• Poor communication
• Organizational infrastructure problems: Short Term Economics, Pigeon-holed budgeting, Inappropriate Reward system/Not rewarding success, Legacy Systems
• Complacency Issues: Limited perspective; don't know competition; tunnel vision; 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it' mentality; Inattention to trends
• People Issues: Egos; Management vs. leadership driving activity; 'Not my job'/Role Confusion; Politics; Resistance to change; Disbelief; Lack of interaction between functions
• Resource Issues: Lack of talent/resources
• Management/Leadership Issues: Too much position power; Arrogance; Lack of faith in management
• Flattened world/globalization
• Rushing to solutions
• Lack of diversity

• Unbelievable schedule
• Continuous improvement
• The concept of best practice (which is more about the past) rather than 'better practices' which focuses on the future
• Short term share holder value / short-term profit mentality
• Over-tasked and multi-tasked
• Prediction benchmarking
• Risk Aversion
• Re-engineered
• Work-Life Balance
• Not invented here
• Do it right the first time
• SOX compliance
• ISO blockers

• Challenge, for yourself and others
• Seeing Change, Evolution/Making a difference/impact; Leaving a Legacy
• Money/Compensation Package (in general ranked only 14th)
• Working with good people / sharing knowledge / not letting the team down / celebrate with team
• Beating the odds / Actualization of ideas/products / results
• Creating something new/ Creativity / Variety / Expression / Thinking out of the box / Autonomy within my creative domain / Having fun
• Opportunity for learning/growth
• The right amount of pressure
• Career advancement/potential / Verbal reinforcement
• Having a juicy problem to solve

• For more information about our series, please visit http://www.fountainblue.biz/executiveevents/leadership.html. 
• For notes on our previous sessions, visit http://www.fountainblue.biz/resources/leadershipnotes.html.

Please add any questions you might have for Marcia, or any resources you like on this topic.

Leadership & Innovation.pdf