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How can leaders foster creative and innovative thinking?

Jeremy Rowe

Jeremy Rowe

Managing director, AkzoNobel Decorative Paints, South East & South Asia, Middle East

In order to build an environment that encourages and develops employees’ creativity, leaders should empower their team members, establish platforms that reward innovative ideas, and encourage ground-up cross-disciplinary partnerships.

Along with these processes, managers can also impart a culture of creative thinking by embracing calculated risks while not losing sight of the organisation’s long-term goals.

Highlighting global trends, societal needs and customer needs related to the business also keeps the team on track to work and think innovatively and efficiently to achieve the company’s long-term goals.

By allocating time and resources to allow employees to think beyond their job scope, the organisation becomes nimble, and can successfully adapt to changing circumstances in the long run.

Franklin Tang

CEO, Philip Tang & Sons

The age-old wisdom applies: Lead by example, and set boundaries and not rules.

Leaders can foster creativity by setting goals with clear boundaries but at the same time breaking all the rules. Society sets a lot of rules, often unspoken. Our creativity and innovation is often capped by these unspoken rules, which condition our thinking process. I often challenge my team by asking leading questions that point them towards an innovative solution. What surprises them most often is that these are solutions they already know, that break all the rules and are unconventional.

Leaders must create a spontaneous and forgiving environment and give their team unfailing support and assurance that there no right and wrong answers. Creativity and innovation need to be internalised and personalised and when applied within a team, the collective output is astounding. Change is a prerequisite of creativity and innovation. It is the missing piece in the puzzle.

Noam Berda

CEO and co-Founder, Zyllem

We are all about innovation. To succeed in our business (delivery services) and stay ahead of the competition we strive to find the best solutions and have to constantly think outside the box to challenge the status quo.

Leaders do not always have the best ideas, but if they can identify talent and are able to harness their creative minds, they will succeed. In meetings, I encourage open discussions. An idea is put on the table and each member is encouraged to express themselves and share their views, to challenge the idea and try to find a better solution.

This process promotes a learning culture in an organisation where members can share their thoughts on strategic topics, and debate different perspectives to ensure all possibilities are covered before reaching a consensus.

Wong Heng Chew

Country president, Fujitsu Singapore

The best leaders know that innovation and creativity is not solely dependent on and driven by management. It is a collaborative effort that requires all staff to be aware of their internal and external environments.

This includes having an in-depth understanding of the business and the ability to analyse competitors and the industry.

Leading by example, employers need to instil an entrepreneurial mind-set among team members to allow fresh ideas to be showcased. Leaders should challenge them to think more critically and see through a lens of continuous improvement.

Innovation and creativity also does not always entail something new — innovation is not the same as invention. The workforce can create value by building on existing products and solutions.

At the end of the day, it is about asking the right questions and finding the answers.

Matt Sutton

CEO, Adknowledge Asia

I believe that great leaders initiate creativity. To achieve this, companies need to create the right infrastructure, environment and processes to allow employees to facilitate that. This includes having the right collaboration tools, forums for discussion and compelling incentive metrics.

Most importantly, for innovative thinking to convert into positive change, businesses need a whole company of leaders, not just one. The real magic happens when you plug the right people into that environment and then encourage them to become leaders.

Another critical cog in harnessing creative and innovative thinking is vision. Can every employee clearly articulate the company’s vision? Is everyone aligned? Are they all active stakeholders in adapting and refining it? That is what keeps me up at night. We live in an era of almost unfathomable change and so your business needs to be set up for that.

Compiled by Rumi Hardasmalani (rumih [at] mediacorp.com.sg)

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