Creative resolution requires navigating balance between patience and urgency.
Leading innovation: Finding the right pace (week 20)
Traditional leadership:
With a conventional approach, leaders tend to make decisions either too quickly or too slowly when ruling out or adding options. They are not moving at the “right” pace.
A fresh approach:
To move at the “right” pace, new-era leaders of innovation should keep options open to allow sufficient deliberation and data-gathering during the “creative resolution” phase. Decisions must be made with patience, although care must also be taken not to move too slowly. Leaders must navigate a balance between patience and urgency.
Bring it to life:
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- Give it the “Right” Time (1). Be willing to appear indecisive while you create time for ideas to develop and for integration to occur.
- Give it the “Right” Time (2). Be comfortable with deferring decision-making. Reassure your employees in order not to rush a premature consensus.
- Favor Options. Resist pressure to make decisions quickly and move on; keep options open.
- Practice an opposable mind to allow your teams to develop multiple ideas before deciding which to pursue.
- Keep Your Balance. Avoid making hasty decisions or missing opportunities by making decisions too slowly.
- Embrace Complexity. Make it clear that your people must grapple with complexity, not avoid it with simplistic choices.
- Don’t Settle On An Idea Too Fast. Do not hesitate to send your teams back to keep looking for a better solution or to study a situation more closely.
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Next week: Creative Resolution – Right Locus.