Who’s Leading Innovation?

Late 2008 not only marked the beginning of the Great Recession, but a pivotal moment when many CEOs began neglecting innovation — the engine that drove their organizations’ growth up to that point — to focus on cost-cutting, retrenchment and, in many instances, survival.

That moment has passed. Innovation has returned to its rightful place as a top focus area for executives. In The Conference Board’s 2012 CEO Challenge study, innovation was identified as the top CEO priority. This renewed interest confirms the importance of innovation to organizations now.

But just as no CEO concerned about his or her organization’s long-term success can ignore innovation, no amount of focus from the chief executive will drive sustainable innovation unless the organization’s leaders — at all levels —create and reinforce a culture where innovation can flourish. This is a truth and a risk because leaders may not actively step up and do what they need to do to drive innovation.

This is of particular concern as some things leaders must do fall beyond, and may conflict with, their normal work styles. When leaders do what they need to, innovation thrives. When they don’t, talent management consultant Development Dimensions International’s (DDI) “Creating the Conditions for Sustainable Innovation” survey shows a different picture.

For this research, DDI, in partnership with LUMA Institute, surveyed 513 leaders and 514 non-leaders in the U.S. and asked about the frequency with which leaders demonstrate innovative behaviors, the innovation climate in the organization and how innovation is prioritized alongside other objectives in the leaders’ own work group and the organization as a whole.

Connecting the Leader’s Role
DDI sought answers to a question that should be on every leader’s mind: “How do you institutionalize innovation so it can be done in a repeatable and sustainable way, spanning the entire workforce, and bring measurable business value?”