Innovation may have found its legs or it may be the latest fad. I believe it’s the former and that it will propel us into a new and exciting era of growth and goodness just as it has moved us in new directions whenever humankind needed to pivot. AND wow…do we ever need a pivot.
Regardless, I love it. I prefer to be in a world and work in an environment that identifies active innovation as a core value. I recall starting work with AT&T Transtech in the mid 90’s and being delighted to see innovation listed as one of the Core Values. Was it possible that a big company actually valued innovation. Well in many ways they did…with a 90’s focus…which is different from what I feel in the market place today in 2016…in the 90’s when we weren’t quite ready for smart phones but the digital mobile phone thing was all the rage at AT&T (I still remember the Nokia 6160 they issued to me and later an upgrade to the 8260)…exciting times as they adjusted the business away from home phone and dial up services. Funny I remember how strange it was to distinguish between home phone and mobile…now part of the language. Well the shift served them well in some respects, just as my experiences working with and for AT&T during this time served my career growth needs well. In many, if not most ways though, they were caught in the web of dated, even antiquated systems and structures…and yet they’ve survive in this disruptive marketplace so maybe AT&T has found a way to be balanced in creativity and perspective.
Okay I may be revealing my inner Cynthia, The Creative Innovator who is more focused on being inspired by the notion of innovation than the practical applications. If you are keeping up with the current series, you know she is a character in the foundational story (listen to Episode 28 for part 1) for this series. If I were channeling my inner Pete I would be logically assessing the impact sustainability of the innovation valuing a more measured understanding. I know enough to do this but it isn’t my preferred way of being in the world so I only bring it out when I know its needed or warranted.
In Episode 30 I explore creativity and perspective. Some of my clients listened to last week’s episode (Ep #29) and concluded I was encouraging them to balance their inner diplomat with their inner truth teller. It’s not quite that simple. I grouped them together because the more you over-use one, in my experience, the more likely you will under-use the other HOWEVER I am really encouraging you to look at them separately and focus on the one that is your bigger strength or preference and, for now, to simply find balance in it.
Self awareness is foundational for self-mastery.
Maybe a more personal reflection will help….I’ve already revealed I lean more toward Cynthia’s preference for creativity & innovation. Like Cynthia I value and appreciate change and all that comes with it. When I was leaning heavily into creativity, looking for new ways to do things and provided I was operating from balance I welcomed, encouraged, even championed new ideas sometimes pushing them through every roadblock to make it happen…often finding shocking new short cuts. Like other leaders focusing on their strength in creativity I cared deeply about keeping things moving, trusting intuition (sometimes overly) with a devil-may-care attitude…willing to take risks.
I respected logic and saw value in seeking perspective and yet when I over-used my strength of creativity or innovation I often lost sight of the value offered by perspective. While I have found clearer balance in recent years there were situations when I would get so attached to a creative plan that I wasn’t willing to hear the logical perspectives of others. I thought I was being logical and determined and of course I was bold enough to ignore those who chose to be “negative”, which helped me. Then I learned I was over-using my creativity and others were experiencing me as opinionated or sometimes “difficult”. I saw myself in Cynthia so it was easy to give greater weight and value to her views. I also watched how she used ridiculing humour to diminish the careful thoughtful, possibly safe, approach Pete offered. It did make me wonder whether I had done the same to peers.
Without self-awareness you, like me, may get caught up in valuing the approach of direct reports whose preferences are most like your own. This is a pretty big challenge for the newly minted leader.
My purpose in doing this series is to offer a framework to provide insights about your leadership strengths to help you discover balance and ultimately increase your influence and mastery of the art and practice of leadership. While I encourage you to observe the four approaches I saw in my direct reports to learn more about yourself, from time to time I will insert my own experiences.
If you missed it, there’s an assignment in BlogPost #28 to help you get the most out of this series. Check it out.
So if it is our human creativity that will save our planet, our economy and our way of life, we need to keep it in check, balanced.
You WILL make a difference when you are willing to examine and improve your thinking, mindset, performance, way of seeing, and being in relationship to others.
Perspective or logic, not nearly as sexy as creativity, serves us equally well. When a leader or their team values perspective as much as creativity it allows them to wisely implement and apply all the ideas that percolate to the top. Pete kept our team thinking clearly through the chaos of the changes. I know he wasn’t enjoying the chaos AT ALL and yet he persistently voiced the concerns his team mates would have been all too happy to ignore or avoid. Yes he sometimes dampened the excitement when fresh ideas came to light because he cared more about getting it right and we benefited from the clarity he brought to the process and our conversations.
Sometimes Pete felt compelled to over-use his strength because he didn’t feel heard or valued which pushed him to be overly critical while blocking his ability to seeing possibilities in some of the great ideas. He had to examine every angle on every idea and offer a litany of reasons why it wouldn’t work. I swear the project still wouldn’t be done, 11 years later, if he hadn’t found balance. At the extreme moments Pete’s skepticism would be communicated with ridicule for what he described as sloppy thinking on the part of Cynthia and others. Privately he worried about what was said about him and he wondered whether he was even respected–which I learned, for him, meant they didn’t like him.
Balance is difficult. When you, the senior leader, accept that it is critical to your success you will do the necessary work. It’s inside-out work. I’m currently reading Rising Strong by Brene Brown wherein she reminds us how hard this part of the work is. You have to be willing to invest in going deep inside to develop self knowledge and awareness. The self aware leader will find balance and as a result, WILL make a powerful impact.
Self awareness is foundational to self-mastery. You will make a difference when you are willing to examine and grow your thinking, mindset, performance, and way of seeing & being.
NEXT TIME…. We are looking at the character traits of Focus and Inspiration…what if you are so purpose driven you are unable to recognize the value of or need for a compelling vision? Don’t miss it…
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Background on the source of the Series
While the observations are mine alone and they are coloured by my own journey and many of the tools I have learned along the way from MBTI, Enneagram, Kersey-Bates, DISC, Colours, StrengthsFinder and more… this series was inspired by a new tool and my own very specific reflection exercise. To increase my comfort with and ability to apply the tool with clients I created a case study for myself in 2013 to further my own learning.
The Tool
A number of years ago I was introduced to a progressive model that blended—a positive influence model, to be specific, called Tilt 365. Tilt 365 is a positive influence predictor. It combines a 360 degree assessment with a framework for leadership development. It uses the 21st Century language of strengths with a focus on interests or as the founder and research scientist behind it, Dr Pam Boney would say, interests or preferences.
In a recent mastery call with her, Dr Boney reminded us that leaders can be really intelligent, competent and driven but if they don’t attend to their character strengths, no one will follow them…at least not when it matters. Dr. Boney talked about how when a leader over or under uses their strengths or preferences, they steal energy, making your teams and organizations less creative and productive.
Not being a proponent of the typical 360 experience I wasn’t immediately interested in Tilt 365. Based on advice from a mentor I trust, I decided to invest in learning more and I earned my Certification as a Tilt 365 Practitioner and Coach.
My Case Study
The next step for me was to do my own case study based on my own experience to see how I could and would have used the learning as a leader AND to develop leaders reporting to me. One day in 2015 I realized how much my reflections (while completing the case study) had strengthened my ability to apply Tilt 365 AND how often I saw its application to the leadership experience of my clients.
Interestingly, as much as I learned from the exercise of the case study, creating this series has only enhanced my comfort in and belief about the tool. thoughts.
The story, that forms the foundation of my case study, and the people (not their real names of course) do exist and are part of my leadership journey.
If you are interested in learning more about Tilt 365 or would like to explore how I can help you in your leadership journey using Tilt 365 please contact me for a complementary conversation.
Leadership is a journey and it requires a commitment to continuous discovery and learning.