–

Dr Ju­dith M S Mark

In­no­va­tion, the cre­ation of val­ue for or­gan­i­sa­tions is fast be­com­ing the new cur­ren­cy of com­pet­i­tive­ness. Across the Caribbean, con­tin­u­ous change is ev­i­dent in in­dus­tries in­clud­ing fi­nan­cial ser­vices, en­er­gy, agri­cul­ture, tourism, and tech­nol­o­gy. An in­creas­ing num­ber of or­gan­i­sa­tions are rec­og­niz­ing the role of in­no­va­tion in nav­i­gat­ing change and in dri­ving growth. How­ev­er, de­spite the en­thu­si­as­tic dis­cus­sions on the sub­ject, few have tak­en the steps to en­sure that the work­force and lead­er­ship cul­ture need­ed to sus­tain in­no­va­tion is cre­at­ed.

Lead­er­ship, not tech­nol­o­gy or ac­cess to cap­i­tal is the re­al dif­fer­en­tia­tor for busi­ness­es to­day. The lead­er­ship im­per­a­tive for Caribbean or­gan­i­sa­tions is to build in­no­va­tion-ready work­forces ca­pa­ble of dri­ving growth in an en­vi­ron­ment char­ac­terised by on­go­ing change and un­cer­tain­ty.

T&T busi­ness­es must re­de­fine lead­er­ship in a time of dis­rup­tion

Tra­di­tion­al­ly, or­gan­i­sa­tion­al lead­er­ship was de­fined by hi­er­ar­chy and con­trol over the ac­tions of oth­ers. Man­agers were re­ward­ed for com­pli­ance with norms. To­day, how­ev­er, in a world of con­stant dis­rup­tion—geopol­i­tics, dig­i­tal trans­for­ma­tion, sup­ply chain shifts, and chang­ing con­sumer ex­pec­ta­tions, the mod­el of strict com­pli­ance is not suit­able for long-term or­gan­i­sa­tion­al suc­cess. The lead­er­ship for the fu­ture pri­or­i­tizes in­no­va­tion, in­clu­siv­i­ty, and sus­tain­abil­i­ty over con­trol and com­pli­ance.

The cur­rent busi­ness land­scape re­quires lead­ers who lead by in­flu­enc­ing, mo­ti­vat­ing, and em­pow­er­ing oth­ers, and less by au­thor­i­ty.

For in­no­va­tion to ful­fil its val­ue-en­hanc­ing role, more than lip ser­vice is re­quired from lead­ers. In­no­va­tion must be viewed as a tool to be used dai­ly by all em­ploy­ees. Great lead­ers cre­ate in­no­va­tion-ready work­forces, where the em­pha­sis is on mind­set, not length of ser­vice, on crit­i­cal-think­ing, not job ti­tles, on adapt­abil­i­ty, not main­tain­ing the sta­tus quo. Suc­cess­ful or­gan­i­sa­tions in T&T; the ones equipped to nav­i­gate un­cer­tain­ty and face the fu­ture will be those led by lead­ers, com­mit­ted to dis­rupt the sta­tus quo and to tak­ing bold steps to rein­vent sys­tems.

Re­search by this au­thor in­di­cates that Re­pub­lic Bank Ltd has fos­tered an en­vi­ron­ment of col­lab­o­ra­tive lead­er­ship. The or­gan­i­sa­tion has stat­ed its com­mit­ment to an en­vi­ron­ment in which trust, mu­tu­al re­spect and shared as­pi­ra­tions dri­ve the per­for­mance of mo­ti­vat­ed em­ploy­ees. In ad­di­tion, the cre­ation of in­no­va­tion labs ex­em­pli­fies the or­ga­ni­za­tion’s fo­cus on sus­tain­abil­i­ty, a key com­po­nent of in­no­v­a­tive lead­er­ship.

Great lead­ers spark in­no­va­tion

Lead­er­ship be­hav­iour is the dri­ving force of in­no­va­tion. It is the ac­tions of lead­ers that shape or­gan­i­sa­tion­al cul­ture and de­ter­mine whether em­ploy­ees feel mo­ti­vat­ed or in­hib­it­ed to in­no­vate.

1. Vi­sion and pur­pose:

The ra­tio­nale for in­no­va­tion must be clear. There must be a shared vi­sion as to how in­no­va­tion dri­ves suc­cess and why em­ploy­ees’ con­tri­bu­tions mat­ter. When em­ploy­ees can vi­su­alise how their ideas con­tribute to a shared pur­pose, they are more like­ly to come for­ward with nov­el ideas and have the de­sire to ef­fect change.

2. Em­pow­er­ment:

Where teams are em­pow­ered to cre­ate a pipeline of ideas, val­i­date them, and make de­ci­sions, they feel in­clud­ed, re­spect­ed, and trust­ed. Con­trol must be re­placed by trust for con­tin­u­ous in­no­va­tion to oc­cur.

3. Cul­ture of ex­per­i­men­ta­tion:

With ex­per­i­men­ta­tion there will be fail­ure. This how­ev­er must be viewed as learn­ing ex­pe­ri­ences, pro­vid­ing da­ta to guide em­ploy­ees in fu­ture steps. In­no­va­tion thrives in en­vi­ron­ments where lead­ers en­cour­age em­ploy­ees to take cal­cu­lat­ed risk and where ex­per­i­ment­ing is in­te­gral to the process of learn­ing.

4. Ca­pa­bil­i­ty build­ing:

A cul­ture of in­no­va­tion re­quires em­ploy­ees to have cre­ativ­i­ty and de­sign-think­ing skills. Lead­ers are re­spon­si­ble for the up­skilling of their teams to equip them, such that in­no­v­a­tive ideas can come from any­one, from any lev­el with­in the or­gan­i­sa­tion.

At Massy Group, in­ter­nal in­no­va­tion in­cludes en­gag­ing staff to fo­cus on sus­tain­abil­i­ty and dig­i­tal so­lu­tions. This demon­strates a com­mit­ment by the lead­er­ship to trans­late vi­sion in­to tan­gi­ble in­no­va­tion out­comes. Adapt­abil­i­ty, sus­tain­abil­i­ty, and re­silience have been iden­ti­fied as im­por­tant in prepar­ing a fu­ture-ready group.

Over­com­ing bar­ri­ers

While there have been im­prove­ments in cre­at­ing a na­tion­al in­no­va­tion cul­ture as re­flect­ed by some state-sup­port­ed ini­tia­tives, there ex­its struc­tur­al and cul­tur­al ob­sta­cles to in­no­va­tion; lim­it­ed R&D ca­pac­i­ty, a cul­ture of risk-aver­sion, short-term ori­en­ta­tion in defin­ing suc­cess and to how em­ploy­ees are recog­nised and re­ward­ed for in­no­va­tions.

Lead­ers must re­frame fail­ure as learn­ing, and al­so recog­nise failed ini­tia­tives un­der­tak­en in the quest for in­no­v­a­tive so­lu­tions. This ap­proach en­cour­ages em­ploy­ees to in­no­vate freely.

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion is key fos­ter­ing in­no­va­tion. The or­gan­i­sa­tion­al struc­ture, chan­nels of com­mu­ni­ca­tion and cross-func­tion­al team­work must be de­signed for suc­cess. By en­cour­ag­ing open di­a­logue, tra­di­tion­al si­los be­tween clas­si­fi­ca­tion of work­ers, de­part­ments, or pro­fes­sion­al back­grounds are bro­ken down.

While there are bar­ri­ers to in­no­va­tion, for­ward-think­ing lead­ers are able to spark in­no­va­tion even in re­source-con­strained con­di­tions by im­ple­ment­ing low-cost mea­sures such as the pro­mo­tion of cross-func­tion­al col­lab­o­ra­tion and ideation ses­sions. By cre­at­ing teams that in­clude di­verse back­grounds and fresh per­spec­tives, the work­force can be in­no­va­tion-ready.

Prac­ti­cal steps for a cul­ture of in­no­va­tion

Build­ing an in­no­va­tion-ready work­force starts with a leader who sees the ben­e­fit of a cul­ture of in­no­va­tion and takes the re­quired lead­er­ship ac­tions.

Mod­el cu­rios­i­ty: Ask “what if?”

Pro­mote ex­per­i­men­ta­tion: Give teams the free­dom to eval­u­ate ideas.

Rec­og­nize in­no­va­tors: Pro­mote cre­ativ­i­ty and ini­tia­tive by cel­e­brat­ing in­no­va­tors

In­vest in learn­ing: Part­ner with in­sti­tu­tions of learn­ing to pro­vide staff with the nec­es­sary skills.

Pro­vide in­cen­tives: Re­ward risk-tak­ing.

Mea­sure and As­sess Im­pact – Mon­i­tor and eval­u­ate the im­pact of in­no­va­tions us­ing es­tab­lished tools and stan­dards. Met­rics en­able lead­ers to tai­lor strate­gies and to cel­e­brate small wins.

Guardian Group is em­bed­ding dig­i­tal and in­no­va­tion teams to fu­ture-proof their op­er­a­tions, an in­di­ca­tion that in­no­va­tion is a way of lead­ing that en­gages all in the in­no­va­tion process.

The fu­ture of lead­er­ship

T&T is at a cross­road. There are sig­nif­i­cant chal­lenges brought about by the tur­moil in the ex­ter­nal en­vi­ron­ment, cou­pled with weak­ness­es from gaps in the in­ter­nal en­vi­ron­ment. Di­ver­si­fi­ca­tion, the cre­ation of a digi­tised econ­o­my, a com­mit­ted and pro­duc­tive work­force as well as the sus­tain­abil­i­ty of our or­ga­ni­za­tions, all re­quire in­no­va­tion-ready or­ga­ni­za­tions. Trans­for­ma­tion be­gins not with tech­nol­o­gy but with a trust­ed and in­spi­ra­tional leader com­mit­ted to a cul­ture of pos­i­tive change.

T&T’s cur­rent and up­com­ing lead­ers must see them­selves as ar­chi­tects of in­no­va­tion ecosys­tems. By de­vel­op­ing and strength­en­ing the lead­er­ship skills to cre­ate in­no­va­tion-ready or­gan­i­sa­tions, lead­ers are bet­ter placed to in­te­grate in­no­va­tion in­to an or­ga­ni­za­tion’s DNA. The lead­er­ship mod­els that brought suc­cess in the past will not se­cure suc­cess in the fu­ture. An in­no­va­tion-ready work­force is key to suc­cess, now and in the fu­ture.

Dr Ju­dith Mark is a busi­ness strat­e­gy con­sul­tant, ed­u­ca­tor and aca­d­e­m­ic coach