The Importance Of Innovation For Developing Leadership Skill In An Organization

The Role of Innovation in Developing Leadership Skills

Discuss about the Leadership Influences Organizational Citizenship.

Innovation is a part of the effective leadership. However, during the globalization, the leaders face challenges to continue the business flow in the competitive market. Innovation helps the leader to make their business unique in the global market (Stock, Totzauer & Zacharias, 2014). To improve the leadership skill innovation is crucial. It is considered as the competency skill. The leaders have to lead and manage innovation in their organization by using their skill. Innovation requires effective leadership. An effective leader is able to bring innovation into their organization by using their skill. In order to bring innovation in an organization, the leaders have to make them as a creative thinker. To develop a leadership skill innovation is important. This current study deals with the importance of innovation in developing leadership skill in an organization.

La Maison Simons is popular fashion retailer in Canada. It is also known as Simons in Canada. This organization operates in apparel retail stores. Besides providing fashionable clothing products it also offers home fashions. La Maison Simons has owned supply chain innovation award and innovative leadership award in the recent years. This organization has synchronized the supply chain to support expansion and growth in an Omni-channel environment. Peter Simons, the chief executive of La Maison Simons has given focus on expanding the store to strengthen the supply chain process. In last four years, he added 5 flagship stores and 3 large stores in Canada. This doubled the footprint of this organization. Hence, it can be said the innovation is occurred in the operating system and in leadership skill as the leader has adopted innovative leadership in this context. Studies show that when other fashion retailers were facing challenges to survive in the market due to changing behavior of customers then Simons had excelled in all aspects of their supply chain by integrating Omni-channel demand forecasting. They also gave their focus on warehouse management, allocation, purchasing, logistics planning and inter-channel inventory and assortment balancing (Simons.ca, 2018). In this case not only the innovation takes place in the business but also in the leadership skill. The leader of this organization is able to increase its self-awareness and understand the need of the current customers. Besides that, the leader was able to manage risk during the critical situation of the business, which ensures the innovation in leadership skill in this organization.          

Case Study: La Maison Simons

The CEO of this organization has given concentration to improve the supply chain to gain competitive advantages. The CEO understood that innovation is important in the supply chain management to serve a high level of customer service. However, such success came from the unique vision and innovative leadership of La Maison Simons. The leaders are able to implement the predictive analytics technology in this organization. Based on the above scenario, it has been received that innovation is important for measuring the effectiveness of the leadership skill. However, innovation includes creativity, which is a part of leadership skill (Lindsey, 2016). In order to bring change in an organization, the leader should be creative. In the context of Simons, the leaders have used their creative thinking in improving the customer service through making a change in their supply chain operation. On the other hand, innovation creates self-awareness among the leaders (Gregory, 2016). In the context of La Maison Simons, the leaders were able to increase their self-awareness, which highlights the innovation in leadership skill and it enables the leader to understand the need of the current market.

By making innovation in the supply chain management the CEO of Simons has introduced him as an innovative leader. Based on the above scenario it has been found that the CEO of Simons has adopted innovation during the critical condition of the business. However, due to the changing behavior of the customers in e-commerce, the fashion retailers in Canada had been facing challenges and it was difficult for them to sustain their business in this critical situation (Simons.ca, 2018). However, Simons was able to cope with this critical situation by bringing innovation into their leadership skill through improving the supply chain process. By forecasting the Omni-channel the leaders are able to measure the current demand of the customers. Such forecasting ability of the leader highlights innovation in their thinking. Incorporation of technology in the business operation is a great way to bring innovation in an organization (Amini & Soltani, 2016). In the context of La Maison Simons, such innovation in the supply chain management includes technology, which ensures the technical skill of the leaders. Hence, from the above analysis, it has been received that innovation important in developing leadership skill in an organization.

Innovation in leadership refers to the adoption of different skills. Innovation is considered as the competency skill of a leader. On the other hand, innovation is developed from intra-group conflict and it increases self-awareness among the leader. Innovation leadership theory is a philosophy that combines various leadership styles to encourage the employees to generate a creative idea in an organization (Khalili, 2016). However, creativity is another part of innovation. By developing creative idea innovation can be done in leadership skill. In order to deal with the challenging environment, innovation is important for the leadership. From the above scenario, it has been received that in Simons the leader has used its creative thought to improve their supply chain operation. Innovation leads the leader to influence the employees to work collaboratively and develop new ideas to bring change in an organization.

The Importance of Creativity in Leadership

A leader needs to improve their leadership skill while bringing change in an organization. Innovation is the key element of the organization’s future success (Anderson, Poto?nik & Zhou, 2014). Various workshops are really inspiring as it provides a guideline to the leaders to explore their potential power by utilizing different skills. The leaders are able to understand how to make their operation process effective to meet the business objectives. In the recent years, the organizations are struggling to bring innovation into their business as seen in the above scenario. It has been received that Simons has introduced innovation into their operation process while other organizations are facing difficulties to deal with the changing behavior of the customers. Studies show that innovation in skill develops the creative leadership in an organization as it leads the managers to think creatively to bring change in an organization (Yoshida et al., 2014). Innovation is an effective method to boost the leadership skill. It helps the leader to imagine their business and understand their customers in new ways.

According to the eco-vision theory, an organization needs a dynamic leader to bring innovation (Chen & Hou, 2016). By following this theory the management of an organization can bring innovation in leadership skill, which results in the development of dynamic leadership. Hence, it can be said that innovation is important to develop the leadership style in an organization. This theory supports the current scenario, as in the context of Simons it has been found that the CEO of this organization has developed its creative idea to bring innovation in the supply chain management. Therefore, it can be said that innovation has occurred in the leadership skill of the CEO in this organization. To bring change in an organization the leaders need to bring innovation into their existing skills. As seen in the above scenario, the CEO of Simons has used innovative leadership skill to bring changes in their supply chain management. However, risk management is an effective skill of the leaders that is driven by the innovation in leadership skill. By managing risk the leaders will be able to gain competency in the global market. Therefore, innovative leaders become proactive and courageous during their work. In the context of Simons, bringing change supply chain management is not so easy. However, the CEO of this organization took a tough decision and considered the alternatives during this change. Hence, it can be said that such decision-making capacity of this leader ensures its innovative skill.

Risk Management and Innovative Leadership

Transformational and servant leadership are two important leadership theories. However, transformational leadership refers to a paradigm that transfers the notion of leadership. Transformational leadership is responsible for intrinsic motivation (Para-González et al., 2018). This leadership style is crucial to align the objectives with the work. It stimulates the effort of the team members toward the innovation and creativity. By using this leadership theory the leaders are able to influence the team members to share their vision and goals in an organization. On the other hand, servant leadership theory enables the leader to support the people to achieve their goals. This type of leader tries to find out what employees need to be successful in an organization.

Combination of servant leadership and transformational leadership theories will be effective for the leader to bring innovation in the leadership skill (Madavana, 2018). However, transformational servant leadership enables the individual to motivate the people and to bring innovation in an organization by identifying the needs of the people. In order to improve the leadership skill and make an innovative leader it is important to adopt both servant and leadership character. Transformational servant leadership enables the individual to adopt strong communication and listening skill, which highlights innovation in leadership skill. However, servant transformational leadership shows empathy in the understanding of feelings and perspectives. Combination of these two leadership characters enables the leader of an organization to understand who they are as the persons (DeConinck & DeConinck, 2017). An effective mentor needs to have these characteristics and it is similar to the servant and transformational leadership characteristics. In order to bring a change in an organization, the leader needs to motivate the people as often employee show resistance toward the change.

An effective leader needs to motivate the employees to show them the importance of change in an organization. In the context of La Maison Simons, the adoption of transformational and servant leadership characteristics would be effective for them to bring change in the supply chain management system. Such innovation in the leadership skill could be effective for the CEO to give shape the change in this organization. However, values and ethics of transformational leadership highlight the betterment of leadership skill and betterment of employees in an organization (Newman et al., 2017). Ethical leadership ties into the transformational and servant leadership. As for example, servant leaders focus on the development of well being. Therefore, servant leader can share power and find out other’s needs. On the other hand, to be a transformational leader it is important to become an effective communicator. The combined characteristics of the servant and transformational leadership are associated with the ethical leadership (Jensen, Moynihan & Salomonsen, 2018). The perspectives of an ethical leadership tie into the transformational servant leadership.

Combining Servant and Transformational Leadership Theory in Innovation

Intellectual stimulation takes place when a leader insists the employees to be creative and innovative (Wong et al., 2018). Transformational and servant leadership skill allows the leader to provide a vision to their followers. Therefore, by adopting this type of combined leadership characters the leaders are able to have an ethical standard and high moral, which results in showing deep respects to the followers. Combination of these two leadership skills is helpful to keep transparency in the change management as well as in the business operation. However, the principles of ethical leadership remind the transformational servant leadership. By following transformational servant leadership skills a leader is able to identify and meet the needs of the followers (Karatepe, Ozturk & Kim, 2018). This shows the value of these two leadership skills. The principles of servant leadership include justice, community, respect, and honesty, which are fulfilled by servant transformational leadership. Hence, adoption of this combined leadership styles brings innovation in leadership skills. By following this combined leadership styles the leaders are able to show respect and maintain transparency in an organization.

Different organizations follow different practices to bring innovation into their leadership style. For example, Apple follows innovative leadership style to improve the skills and capacity of the leader. After the death of Steve Jobs, Tim Cook became the new CEO of Apple. Since that innovation occurs in the leadership style of Apple. It has been found that Steve Jobs was rough with his employees while Cook is polite to his employees. However, innovation is the central area of Apple. In order to bring innovation into the product, the leaders focus on introducing best practices in the leadership style. Steve jobs followed autocratic leadership style while Cook follows democratic leadership style (Kao, 2018). He is considered as the charismatic leader. The current CEO of Apple gives his focus on developing the existing product and building employee relationship. At the time of Steve Jobs, he only gave his focus on business development rather than building employee relationship. The new CEO shows respect and keep transparency while communicating with the employees. Instead of simply following the legacy of Job’s autocratic leadership style, Cook has used his strength and given special emphasis on advancing communication with the talent of Apple. Hence, transformation of autocratic leadership into the democratic leadership style is an innovation in Apple’s leadership, which reduces the employee conflicts and strengthens the leadership competencies.

ZARA is another popular organization that brings innovation in their leadership style. In the recent years, ZARA follows individual oriented leadership. This ensures innovation in leadership skill. Such leadership style includes creativity besides identifying the individual’s need. The current CEO of ZARA tries to identify employees need. This practice helps the leader to meet the needs of the employees, which influences the employees to be more creative in their work (Anwar, 2017). Rona Inc is a Canadian retailer, which is popular for its leadership style. Evidence shows that the current CEO of Rona is respected by the employees due to its unique leadership style. He has down to earth and humble leadership style. His main focus is to make a close and personal interaction of the employees. Such innovative leadership style allows the CEO to reduce employee resistance in the organization during the change management. The employee often shows resistance in an organization during the change. Rona also faced this issue. Hence, their new unique leadership style and practices help them to bring innovation in the leadership skill and establish a good employee relation (Graham, Ziegert & Capitano, 2015).

From the above evidence-based practices it has been addressed that Apple and Rona’s leadership style and practices are significant. Both large and small business organizations can follow these practices. However, Apple’s leadership practice is best among the three leadership practices but Rona’s leadership is also a good example. In order to develop the leadership skill, it is crucial for an organization to build a good relationship with the employees (Donate & de Pablo, 2015). In the context of Apple, the current CEO gives focus to establish a good relationship with the employees as it will help him to reduce conflicts between the management and employees, which is necessary to maximize the business growth. Hence, by following democratic leadership style Simon’s could be able to make a good relationship with its employees, which might be helpful for them to improve their current leadership and bring change in their organization.

Based on the above analysis it has been found that the current leadership style of Apple is good. However, Rona Inc also includes a good leadership practice. I have worked in Rona for 2 years as a team leader. During my work, I have learned many things regarding the leadership style of this organization, which has helped me to increase my knowledge. As a team leader, I have given my effort to support my team members and to share knowledge among them. Besides sharing the knowledge I have tried to gather knowledge from the team members. However, for a leader, it is important to empower the followers as it helps the leader to understand the viewpoints of the employees. As a team leader, I have addressed that to encourage the team members it is important to give them an opportunity to express their opinions regarding any new changes in an organization.

A leader needs to identify the needs of the follower. I have found that to improve the leadership skill it is important to detect the demand of the employees. If a leader is able to find out the staffs need then they will be able to reduce employee conflict and employee resistance during the implementation of any change in the organization. I have good listening power, which helped me during my work. By using this leadership skill I was able to understand the issues of the team members. This improved my capacity to work collaboratively with the employees. During my work, I have gathered huge knowledge regarding the characteristics of an effective leader. To manage a team a team leader needs to carry out an effective communication with the team members. However, my communication power is not too good, which a leader needs. Therefore, I did not have sufficient knowledge about how to build an interpersonal relationship with the team members. On the other hand, I felt confused while challenges used to come. I have addressed that to become an effective leader effective communication, establishment of interpersonal relationship and tackling challenging situation are necessary. 

Rona’s organizational objectives include maximizing the business revenue through creative leadership skill and establishing a good relationship with the employees. In order to do this innovation in the leadership, skill is crucial. As a team leader, I need to adopt effective communication skill to insist the team members in their work, which will meet the business objectives. Based on the charismatic leadership theory an effective leader needs to show empathy, humanity, effective communication and confidence (Graham, Ziegert & Capitano, 2015). By following this concept I was able to identify my strength and weakness as a team leader, which leads me to develop an action plan to improve my leadership skill.

Action Plan	Activity	Timeframe	Outcome
To improve communication skill	Take training to adopt different communication techniques	3 months	Improvement in the communication process
To complete a challenging task	Take tough tasks and finish them within the deadline	6 months	Gaining ability to deal with the challenging environment
To build interpersonal relationship	Conduct regular interaction with the team members and show empathy and respect	4 months	Establishment of strong interpersonal relationship with the followers

Table 1: Action plan to develop the leadership skill

(Source: Author)

According to the above analysis, it has been addressed that as a team leader I have good listening skill however, I need to improve my communication power. Therefore, I need to deal with the challenging task and build a good interpersonal relationship with the employees. These tools will help me to bring innovation in my existing leadership skill. The above action plan will help me to grow personally and professionally and make myself a good leader. Such innovation in my leadership skill will be an effective approach to develop my professional skill.

Conclusion

The above price of work reveals innovation in leadership skill. In the context of La Maison Simons, it has been found that by implementing change in the supply chain management system the CEO of this organization has brought innovation in its leadership skill. It has been received that this current change in Simons enables the CEO to express creative skill and innovative leadership style. Therefore, adoption of transformational servant leadership characteristics will help a leader to show empathy and respect to the followers. Moreover, from the analysis of leadership practices in different organizations, it has been addressed that Apple has good leadership practice to employ change and bring innovation in their business.

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