Organization Strategies & Innovative Leadership Management

For sustainable competitive advantages companies need innovation. However, for very few organizations innovation is a part of their DNA and for the most of companies it is a crisis element of “Constructive Destruction.” However, the recent economic crisis and evolution of business organization demand for innovative leaders who can do the miracle (innovation) in the organization. Like any new phenomenon, innovative leadership idea is blurry among different people and also experts are divided in their opinion. This paper tries to solve these puzzles by integrating the thought in a clear understandable picture. To solve the puzzle this paper first stated about creativity, innovations and leadership to better understand about innovative leadership process. Then it discussed in detail about the innovative leadership process followed by two examples of best practice and worst practice. Innovative leadership is the combination of four elements: emotional intelligence, management innovations, innovative organization and interaction with stakeholders. These are interrelated part that enforce each other to foster innovations. Emotional intelligence make the leader effective in performance because he can build trust and make people committed towards the goal; it becomes easy for him to do management innovations, develop innovative culture and interact with the stakeholders. Management innovations set the goal, principles and policy to guide the innovations and innovative culture foster to do the miracle by the employees. When inside is ready for the innovations the innovative leader interacts with the stakeholders for ideas and feedback. However, the innovative leader needs to apply sense when to be innovative and when not to be.


Introduction
Innovative leadership is the demand of all time for any organization.Innovation gives competitive edge over the competitors.But organization needs an innovative leader who can do the miracle.This paper tries to state what innovative leadership is and what is the process of innovative leadership.Firstly, the paper tries to give a brief impression on the creativity, innovation and leadership that will help us to understand what is innovative leadership.Secondly, the paper explains in detail about innovative leadership followed by two example of best and worst practices in innovative leadership.

Objectives
The main objective of this paper is to develop a model for innovative leadership.The auxiliary benefits would be to identify the different elements, processes that make an innovative leader.

Methodology
This paper gives a conceptual framework of innovative leadership based on secondary information.The sources include scholarly articles, books, white papers and conference papers.Internet has been used extensively to gather these resources.
the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.; originality, progressiveness, or imagination" (Dictionary.com, 2011).Creativity sometimes is a natural gift to a person and sometimes it evolves from experience or cross road of multi-discipline.Dr. Gehani defined creativity as the art and science of developing new meaningful associations and connections between different subelements (Gehani, 1998, p. 342).We need creativity for the progress of our civilization especially business.However creativity is not enough.Creative idea without business perspective and implementation guideline may bring disaster to the business (Levitt, 2002).Creativity generates ideas but these ideas need to be implemented.

Innovations
Innovation with the organizational process and tools translate ideas into new processes, products, services or business (Isaksen & Joe, 2006, pp. 54-55).The literal meaning of the innovation is "something new or different introduced" (Dictionary.com, 2011).However not all ideas see the face of the implementation.According to Peter Drucker, Innovation is the effort to create purposeful, focused changed in an enterprise's economic and social potential (Drucker, 1998).Ideas that are relevant to time, need, purpose of the organization and feasible taken to the innovation process.For example, Leonardo de Vinci had the idea of the helicopter but with the previous technology it was not implementable thus innovation did not take place.In Apple Inc. one idea may go through innovation process while thousands are killed.However there are certain areas from which creative ideas translated into innovations.
Peter Drucker identified seven sources of innovations from inside (first four) and outside (last three) of the company (Drucker, 1998, p. 4).These sources are: unexpected occurrences, incongruities, process needs, industry and market changes, demographic changes, changes in perception and new knowledge.Irrespective of the sources, Innovations may be incremental or radical in nature and may bring the change in the any of the dimension of business: people, process, plant, product and service.Creative thinking in these areas may lead to new ideas, however Innovation is not the automatic consequence of "creative thinking" (Levitt, 2002).To make successful innovations certain principles needed to be followed.
Innovator needs to be focused, diligent, persistent and committed; he must have knowledge of market, relevant discipline, and entrepreneurial management to make the innovation successful.Moreover, if innovations do not aim at leadership from the beginning, it is unlikely to be innovative enough (Drucker, 1998).

Leadership
Leadership is the process of influencing people or a society towards a goal.Study of leadership theories reveals that a lack of consensus on the idea of leadership divides experts, business organizations, and government organizations in their opinions.Bolden, Gosling, Marturano, and Dennison (2003) tried to manifest this division of opinion in their studies (see Appendix 1).
Leadership theories start with the "Great Man" theory that states leaders are born with leadership quality -they are destined to lead.Great Man theory virtually leads to traits theory of leadership, which identifies a list of qualities and skills that make a leader.Some of these traits include: technical skill, friendliness, task motivation, application to task, group task supportiveness, social skill, emotional control, administrative skill, general charisma, and intelligence.Stogdill (1974) identified such thirteen traits and nine skills.See Appendix-2 for the list.Over time, different experts concentrated on different traits and skill sets in formulating their theories.For instance, Thomas Teal (1996) states that great leaders require imagination, integrity, respect for others, and attempt to empower subordinates.On the other hand, Daniel Goleman (1998) stresses that "Emotional Intelligence" makes an effective leader.Emotional Intelligence includes: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills.
In absence of a consensus, experts later moved their concentration to behavior.Behavior school of thought concentrates on leadership style.Notable behavioral theories of leadership include: McGregor's (1960) Theory X & Theory Y Managers, Blake and Mouton's (1964) Managerial Grid, Fiedler's Contingency Model, The Hersey-Blanchard Model of Leadership, Tannenbaum & Schmidt's (1958) Leadership Continuum, Adair's (1973) Action-Centered Leadership Model.One way or another all of these theories concentrate on autocratic, democratic, participative, or consultative styles and try to match those styles to specific situations.However, follower dimensions of leadership have long been ignored.Experts believe there is interdependency between the leader and follower.In 21 st century "knowledge workers" has put a different challenge for the managers in the organizations; they need reason to work.Peter Drucker suggested these knowledge workers need more leadership than managing (Giang, 2012).Robert Greenleaf (1970) coined the term Servant Leader, which refers to a leader who possess a desire to serve, i.e., servant-first mentality.By expanding this role, he or she becomes leader.Servant-leadership encourages collaboration, trust, foresight, listening, and the ethical use of power and empowerment (Greenleaf, 2010).Katzenbach and Smith (1994) have also suggested some key behaviors of leadership and state that when individual, team, or organizational performance demands it, a leader should follow.
Later, based on the dimension of interaction and situation, experts have classified leaders.(1993) R.M. Belbim also introduced was the term "Solo Leader" as opposed to "Team Leader".He stated in today's fast moving world, increasing complexity and the discontinuous nature of modern work, "Team Leadership" is more suited.A team leadership style based upon the development of the strengths and the allowable weaknesses of all of the roles will permit a more holistic, or participative, style of leadership where teamwork, problem solving, decision making and innovation can flourish with heightened teamwork and work performance (Bolden, Gosling, Marturano, & Dennison, 2003).Burns (1978) coined the term "Transformational Leadership" and defined it as "a relationship of mutual stimulation and elevation that converts followers into leaders and may convert leaders into moral agents."Transformational leaders are proactive in many different and unique ways.These leaders attempt to optimize development, not just performance.They want to elevate the maturity level of the needs of their associates (from security needs to needs for achievement and self-development).They convince their associates to strive for a higher level of achievement as well as higher levels of moral and ethical standards (Bolden, Gosling, Marturano, & Dennison, 2003).
Diverse opinions on the issue lead the private and public organization to develop their own view of leadership they believe to be successful in the market (Appendix-3 and appendix-4 gave a list of leadership framework of different private and public organization respectively.).Today in order to lead the market the top executives especially CEO per se needs to lead through innovative leadership.This is what we observe in the innovative companies such as Apple Inc; Google, Facebook, GE etc. 21 st century calls for a new leadership model "Innovative Leadership" to put the companies ahead of competition through offering innovative business models, products and services.

Innovative Leadership
Innovative leadership is a process of fostering innovation through developing innovation friendly culture and setting strategic direction that guide and build trust among the employees to innovate.Different experts have given their own view of innovative leadership.These viewpoints mainly concentrated to one or two aspects of the total leadership process; such as Agin & Gibson (2010) stresses on developing innovation culture and strategic direction through leader's role; Morris (2007) emphasizes on developing innovating culture; Vitello-Cicciu (2003) emphasizes on emotional intelligence; Jeong and Keatinge (2004) stressed on holistic view; Hamel (2006) talked about innovative management and Maxwell (2005), Prestwood and Schumann(2002) and Hodge and Linney (1999) provided some behavioral guidelines on innovative leadership.Putting these all puzzles together gives a view of four interactive elements of innovative leadership process.

Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence is the ability or skill to identify, assess and control emotion of oneself, of others and of groups.Daniel Goleman first applied the term emotional intelligence in business in 1998 as a sin qua non for leadership and Vitello-Cicciu (2003) identified it as a main quality of an innovative leader.Innovative organizations are often live in chaos from inside and outside, which spur innovations.Employees in this situation needs trust relationship, communication and support from the leader to excel.Emotional intelligence could satisfy more than these requirements of the innovative organization.Study shows that 90% difference in EI when compared with average performers with the star performers of the 188 world class organization; moreover senior managers with critical mass of EI could outperform his divisional earning goal by 20% (Goleman, 2004, p. 84).The elements of emotional intelligence are briefly discussed below:  Self-awareness means having a deep understanding of one's own emotions, strengths, weaknesses, needs, and drives.People with self-awareness are neither overly critical nor unrealistically hopeful; they are honest about with themselves and with others.They recognize how their feelings affect them, other people, and their job performance.Organization can get clear feedback about the management orthodox from them. Self-Regulations is the management of our emotions that caused by biological impulse.It helps in two ways.Firstly, people with self-regulation can build an environment of trust and fairness, which is much required by innovative organization; secondly, they are adaptive to changes, which is also required for developing innovative culture and management innovations.

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Motivation is the passion to work that go beyond monetary or extrinsic rewards.Innovators in the organizations are worthy of praise and inspiration for their work.They work for achievement.Innovative leader needs to motivate them for their work, show optimism when they face failure and pursue organizational commitment.

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Empathy refers to understanding the emotional make-up of other people.Innovative leader should have the skill to treat according to the emotion of others.It will help the leader to build and retain the talents in the organization, sensitive to the cross-cultural issues and listen to the customer and suppliers.

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Social Skills refers to the proficiency in building relationship and network that is based on setting common goal and building rapport.Social skills put the emotional intelligence to work.
Innovative leader need technical skills and IQ as a base of their leadership skills but they need emotional intelligence on top of that to make the organization more innovative, build innovative culture and management.

Management Innovation
While culture sets the soft tone in the organization, management set the formal tone and guidelines in the organization.Innovative organization not only sets the innovation culture in the organization their management set forth the vision, strategies and policy that guides and inspires the innovation in the organization.Companies that installed management innovations are DuPont, Linux, P&G, and Visa etc. Hamel (2006) defined management innovation as "a marked departure from traditional management principles, processes, and practices or a departure from customary organizational forms that significantly alters the way the work of management is performed."He suggested the following four elements to install management innovations in the organization.

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Commitment to a big management problem.Bigger problem offer more opportunity for the innovation.The problems should be both consequential and soul stirring.To identify such problem the following question should be asked: o What is the tuff trade-off the company never gets right?For P&G it was getting open innovation approach.
o What are the weaknesses of the organization?For example, big organization's weakness is bureaucracy.
o What are the emerging challenges?Ultra-low producer, new technology etc.
It these questions could be answered correctly, the business organization has the problem in front of them for which the innovation is required.

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Novel principles that illuminate new approaches.New, fresh problem demands new, novel principles.Old management principles are not invalid but as time passes business organizations are going through evolution process that forces the organizations to adapt new principles and shed old one.In this hyper competitive world to gain sustainable competitive advantage through innovation organization should constantly search for new principles that accelerate their pace.Some new principles are variety, competition, allocation flexibility, devolution, and activism, unbureaucratic and peer based control.

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Deconstruction of management orthodoxies.To fully unleash the power of new principles the organization may need to change its fundamental belief.To identify the fundamental belief, employees can be asked as a group of some strategic issue.Once the fundamental belief is identified then two questions needed to be answered; whether the belief is toxic to the new goal and is there any alternative to the belief existed?Asking such questions attack the fundamental beliefs of the organization and open the leeway to management innovations.

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Analogies from a typical organization that redefine what is possible.Organization operates in self-managed ecosystems.There are other organizations that are neighbor but managed deliberately unconventionally.It is always good to dig down their practices and find out why they are managed in such a way, can it be implemented in our organization.For example, Sure Tech installed management practices of the Wal-Mart and become cost-effective organization.
Once these elements are fixed the new management needs to work on building innovative culture that will implant innovation in the organization DNA.

Developing Innovation Culture
Success and survival is the difference between the innovative and non-innovative companies.For some companies such as Toyota, 3M, P&G innovation is a part of the culture, while for others it is a one time or crisis time activities.However, developing innovation culture requires deliberate efforts on the part of the innovative leader.The following steps are suggested by Agin & Gibson (2010) and Morris (2007):

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Champion innovators' guidance or Supervisor's role.Each company has strategic focus.Not all innovations can be supported towards commercialization.The employees need to be guided towards the innovations that are aligned with the strategic focus.Moreover employees need role models to get advice and inspiration for their innovation activities.Innovative leader should set supervisor and role model for the employees from where they can get the proper guidance for their innovation effort.It will keep the company in focused innovation.For example, Good Year Tire Company has such role models and supervisor to guide them in their innovation efforts.

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Inspire young employees to unleash innovations.Asking the young employees to participate is in decision making process will inspire them to think creatively and contribute what they learn fresh from their background.Google inspires its freshmen to come up with new ideas and implement it.

 Open communication to inspire creativity.
There should be open communication channel to communicate new ideas, take advices and pull support of others.This inspires employees to think and act creatively.Toyota maintains open communication for all of the employees; thus it gets hundreds of new suggestions for improvements from the shop floor.

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Empower employees with new Ideas.Innovative organization should empower the employees to make their own decision, when they earn the quality of making good judgment.It will make them to think out of the box and acquire entrepreneurial skills.Oil companies such as Shell empower its employees by making them head of the project it they come up with new projects or new ideas.

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Training, development& Cross-functional team.It is necessary that employees are trained in different areas or at minimum in their professional area.This will always update them with the current knowledge.Moreover if they work in the cross functional team setting it is more likely to be become transcend personnel who is more likely to be innovative. Fault tolerant environment.As employees will be experimenting with new things there will certainly be mistakes, breakdown and chaos.The management needs to be fault tolerant and give the employees the confidence that they are safe to continue their work.However there should be certain limits.This will boost their trust and confidence to innovate.
Building innovative culture is a mammoth job, especially in case of established big companies.Distinction between conventional culture and new culture has been given in appendix 5. New companies can start from scratch or small company can change it quickly due to the sheer size.However, once the culture is rooted in the company DNA, it will continue to spur innovations and become a source of sustainable competitive advantage, which the competitor cannot imitate or trump quickly.Next move is to search for innovation through interacting with the stakeholders of the organization.

Interaction with Stakeholders
For innovations to take place leaders, employees and the organization per se need to interact with the different stake holders.There are numerous stakeholders in the business ecosystem such as customers, suppliers, advisers, academia, news and media, legal authority and government etc.Listening and interacting with them could generate innovation ideas.A McKinsey study notes that 75% of the organizations under study report getting new ideas as a result of interaction with outsiders such as suppliers, peers, and partners (Morris, 2007).Moreover leaders have to listen more and more to the customer because they are the one whom we need to satisfy more than our competitors.

How These Elements Interacts
Innovative leadership is the process to build an innovative organization where people committed to contribute innovatively.Innovative leadership is the combination of four elements emotional intelligence, innovative organization, management innovations and interaction with the outsiders.Emotional intelligence helps the leader to be innovative in managing people and building innovative organization and management and interacting with stakeholders.To create management innovations, the innovative leader needs to identify a big novel problem to be solved.When the problem is identified the leader needs to set new principles and management orthodox that will accelerate the pace of innovations.The innovative leader may also look outside for management innovations that can be install in his organization.Once the management innovation is set, the innovative leader should work to build innovative organization.The leader needs to assign innovative champion to guide them, inspire the employees, and build trust by making a fault tolerant environment.Once the inside of the organization is set for innovation the innovative leader looks out for the idea from different stakeholders, such as customer, suppliers and academia etc.

An Innovative Approach to Leadership
This means to bring new thinking and different actions to how you lead, manage, and go about your work.How can you think differently about your role and the challenges you and your organization face?What can you do to break open entrenched, intractable problems?How can you be agile and quick in the absence of information or predictability?

Leadership for Innovation
Leaders must learn how to create an organizational climate where others apply innovative thinking to solve problems and develop new products and services.It is about growing a culture of innovation, not just hiring a few creative outliers.How can you help others to think differently and work in new ways to face challenges?What can be done to innovate when all resources are stressed and constrained?How can you stay alive and stay ahead of the competition?

Six Innovative Thinking Skills
Designers ask questions such as: How do we make something beautiful and usable?How does it mechanically go together?How do we reflect the brand?Leaders ask questions such as, what are we trying to achieve and why?How do we accomplish our goals?What people and resources do we need to make it happen?By weaving together the leadership process with the design process, CCL and Continuum have identified six innovative thinking skills.Using these skills, organizations are able to create something that is useful and desirable-whether it's a breakthrough technology, a valuable service, or a fresh solution to an old problem.Each of these skills shifts your understanding of a situation and opens the door for new approaches and solutions.

Paying Attention
First impressions and assumptions are not the whole picture, so they don't lead to an accurate assessment or best solution.Paying attention is the ability to notice what has gone unnoticed.It is about looking more deeply at a situation, being a clear-eyed observer, perceiving details, and seeing new patterns.Paying attention begins with slowing down, temporarily, in order to be more deliberate in grasping the situation.Consider different points of view and multiple inputs.Literally look and listen from a new perspective.

Personalizing
At work, we tend to undervalue individual, personal experience.The practice of personalizing elevates it, seeking insight from the human experience.For innovative thinking, personalizing is a twofold process: tapping into our own broad scope of knowledge and experience, and understanding our customer in a deep, personal way.The ability to tap into (seemingly unrelated) personal experiences and passions introduces fresh perspectives on challenges.Personalizing draws on your interests, hobbies, or avocation and applies them to work.Consider how ideas, patterns, or strands of insight from the whole of your life might contribute to your work.For example, a manager may find that her experience as a musician helps her to orchestrate and communicate the varying pace and intensity of her team's long-term product development.The customer side of personalizing is the ability to understand your customer in a full and real way: Who are you reaching?What matters to them?What don't you know?Personalizing requires you to interact with customers in their environment.It pushes you to understand who they are and how they live.Deep customer knowledge leads to the new ideas, patterns, and insights that fuel innovation.

Imaging
Imaging is a tool to help you process information.Words by themselves are usually not enough for making sense of complexity or vast amounts of information.Imagery is a very good way to take it in and make sense of it.Pictures, stories, impressions, and metaphors are powerful tools for describing situations, constructing ideas, and communicating effectively.Using your imagination to answer the question "what if?" can lead to extraordinary images and possibilities.

Serious Play
Business thinking and routine work can become a rigid process.Innovation requires bending some rules, branching out, having some fun.When you generate knowledge and insight through nontraditional ways-free exploration, improvisation, experimentation, levity and rapid prototyping, limit testing-work feels like play but the results are serious business.

Collaborative Inquiry
Innovations are rarely made by a "lone genius."Insights come through thoughtful, nonjudgmental sharing of ideas.Collaborative inquiry is a process of sustained, effective dialogue with those who have a stake in the situation.Drawing on a variety of stakeholders and points of view can contribute to the complexity, but it is also the source of much opportunity.The focus involves asking searching questions and exercising critical thinking without always expecting immediate answers.

Crafting
F. Scott Fitzgerald once said, "The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in the mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function."Innovation requires us to shed either/or thinking and see the whole as inclusive of opposition and open to a third (or fourth or fifth) solution.The practice of crafting allows us to live with and resolve paradox and contradiction.Unlike the traditional analysis of business thinking-which requires us to break down problems into separate pieces, known facts, and current assumptions-crafting is about synthesis, integration, and possibility.Through what is called abductive reasoning, we can make intuitive connections among seemingly unrelated information and begin to shape order out of chaos.

More Focus on Vertical Development
There are two different types of development-horizontal and vertical.A great deal of time has been spent on "horizontal" development (competencies), but very little time on "vertical" development (developmental stages).
The methods for horizontal and vertical development are very different.Horizontal development can be "transmitted" (from an expert), but vertical development must be earned (for oneself).

Transfer of Greater Developmental Ownership to the Individual
People develop fastest when they feel responsible for their own progress.The current model encourages people to believe that someone else is responsible for their development-human resources, their manager, or trainers.We will need to help people out of the passenger seat and into the driver's seat of their own development.Four Transitions for Leadership Development.

Greater Focus on Collective Rather Than Individual Leadership
Leadership development has come to a point of being too individually focused and elitist.There is a transition occurring from the old paradigm in which leadership resided in a person or role, to a new one in which leadership is a collective process that is spread throughout networks of people.The question will change from, "Who are the leaders?" to "What conditions do we need for leadership to flourish in the network?"How do we spread leadership capacity throughout the organization and democratize leadership?

Much Greater Focus on Innovation in Leadership Development Methods
There are no simple, existing models or programs that will be sufficient to develop the levels of collective leadership required to meet an increasingly complex future.Instead, an era of rapid innovation will be needed in which organizations experiment with new approaches that combine diverse ideas in new ways and share these with others.Technology and the web will both provide the infrastructure and drive the change.Organizations that embrace the changes will do better than those who resist it.

Current Focus Future Focus
The "what" of leadership The "what" and "how" of development In organizations we must work with and for others.To be able to mutually achieve our goals we must be able to relate to others effectively.These Effective Leadership Skills Training tips will help you do just that.
 Catch people doing things right and then let them know that they are doing things right.
 Use feedback to stay informed about what other people are doing in your area of responsibility and authority.
 Have regular, focused meetings regarding the projects that you are responsible for.
 Provide adequate instructions.Time is lost if things are not done correctly.
 Train others to do jobs.You cannot do them all, nor can others do them if they have not been trained.
 Expect others to succeed.It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when you believe others are loyal, dedicated and doing a good job.
 Help others see how they will benefit from doing a job.This is when they truly become motivated.
 Do not avoid talking to a poor performer.It hurts them, the organization and yourself if the situation is not dealt with.
 Do not over control others.It is frustrating for them and time consuming for you.
 Focus on results, not on activities or personalities.
 Reward people for the results that they produce. Make quality an obsession, especially on smaller items.

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 Send thank you notes and memos.
 Provide workers with open, direct, and immediate feedback on their actual performance as compared to expected performance and they tend to correct their own deficiencies.
 Practice naive listening.Don't talk, just let people explain why they are doing the types of things that they are doing.You will learn many things.Manage by exception.When things are going well, leave them alone.When a problem occurs, then help.
 Never seek to place blame.Always focus on the problem.
 Never ignore a concern of one of your people.While it may seem trivial to you, to the other person it is a problem that will continue to destroy their train of thought.
 Make it a personal rule and a challenge to respond to someone within 24 hours of hearing their request.
 Keep memos on bulletin boards to a minimum.People will spend less time standing there reading.
 Give employees an opportunity to speak their opinions and suggestions without fear of ridicule or reprisal.
 When you are going to make a change that affects others, get them involved before making the actual change.This increases commitment to make the change work after it is implemented.
 Put key ideas on small posters to hang around the office.
 When the environment and your sincerity permit, give the person a hug or a touch.

How to Make a Good First Impression
We sometimes get only one chance to make an impression on someone either in our personal or business life.Therefore it is important to remember some basic things to do that will assure us of making the best impression possible.The following are ten of the most common things people can do to make the best first impression possible.

Appear Neat and Dress Appropriately
Being neat in our appearance is something we can do regardless of whether we are trying to make a good impression on someone or not.In a *first meeting* situation for business, to show up in jeans, tennis shoes and with uncombed hair would be a big mistake.If the situation is social, dressing casual is fine depending on where you are meeting, but being well groomed is always going to make a good impression.

Maintain Good Eye Contact
From the first time you meet the person until you part, maintain good direct eye contact with them.This usually indicates to people that you are listening to them, interested in them, and friendly.You need not stare or glare at them.Simply focus on them and their immediate direction the majority of the time.When talking, look at them also, since your new acquaintance wants to be sure you are talking to him/her and not the floor.It also will give you an idea of how the person is receiving what you are saying to them if you are looking at them.

Shake Their Hand at the Beginning and When Parting
Whether it is a business meeting or a social occasion, most people appreciate or expect a friendly handshake.The best kind are firm (no need to prove your strength) and 3-5 seconds long.Pumping up and down or jerking their arm about is not needed nor usually welcomed.A *limp rag* handshake is not recommended unless you have good reason to believe shaking the person's hand any harder would injure them.Look at them in the eye when shaking their hand.Regardless of how you felt the evening went it is simply common courtesy to shake hands when the evening is over, offer a smile and some sort of friendly comment or compliment.If it was a social evening and you had a great time, offer a sincere compliment and let them know you'd like to meet again.If it was a business meeting, offer a smile and a sincere comment around how it was nice to meet them, get to know them, learn about their business etc.You may never have to see the person again, but they may know people who they will tell about their meeting with you who you *will* work with or need to meet down the road.It always pays to be kind and polite even if you were not treated that way or did not enjoy the time you spent with someone.

How to Motivate Employees in the Workplace
Supervising people involves more than telling them what to do.Effective supervision involves motivation from within the individual, not by externals.
 Treat them as individuals, not merely as necessary cogs in a wheel.Remember their personal problems, find appropriate times to ask how they or their families are, how the big event went, whether the plumbing problem got fixed.
 Acknowledge their contributions.Let them be confident that when you pass their suggestions and contributions up the chain of command you will acknowledge the members of your team as the source.
 Back them up.When things go wrong, the buck stops at your desk.Do not deal with problems by telling your superiors how awful your supervisees are.Tell how you will go about preventing a re-occurrence.
 Take time for them.When a supervisee comes to you, stop what you are doing, make eye contact.If you can't be interrupted, immediately set up a later time when you will be able to pay full attention to them.
Otherwise people may feel that they are bothersome to you, and you may someday find yourself wondering why no one tells you what is happening in your own department.
 Let them know that you see their potential and encourage their growth.Encourage learning.Help them to take on extra responsibility, but be available to offer support when they are in unfamiliar territory.
 Explain why.Provide the information that will give both purpose to their activities and understanding of your requirements.Providing information only on a need-to-know basis may work for the CIA, but it does not build teams.
 Don't micro-manage.Let them know the plans and the goals, that you trust them to do their best, and then let them have the freedom to make at least some of the decisions as to how to do what is needed.Morale and creativity nosedive when the flow of work is interrupted by a supervisor checking on progress every two minutes.
 Let them work to their strengths.We all like to feel good about our work.If we can do something that we do well, we will feel proud.If you believe supervisees need to strengthen areas of weakness, have them work on these, too, but not exclusively.
 Praise in public, correct in private.NOTHING undermines morale as effectively as public humiliation.
 Set reasonable boundaries, and empower your supervisees to set theirs.Once set, respect them.This is not a challenge to your power, it is their right as human beings.

Start with the End in Mind
We know that navigating successfully in a world that is changing as fast as ours can be tricky at times.In fact, if we allow it to overwhelm us, change can feel extremely stressful and downright frustrating.If we're smart, however, we've learned that although we can't alter the fact of constant change, we can learn to manage our response to it.Here's a sample of how I coach my clients on managing change in their lives:

Accept Change as a Fact of Life
As human beings we are constantly in process.We never get there, our in-box is never empty, and we can't catch up with technology.Our world is changing at a pace never experienced before, indeed, change is our only constant .acceptit!

Commit Yourself to Lifelong Learning
If change is constant, then learning must also be continual.As long as we are learning we're on the road to an exciting, fulfilling, meaningful life.Learning helps us feel as though we're moving with the ever-changing world.This helps to relieve our anxiety of feeling left behind.We feel better because when we're learning we are moving with the world.

Get Healthy then Stay Healthy
Change, even positive change, is stressful.To keep stress from getting us, we must stay physically healthy with proper nutrition, enough rest and regular exercise.

Look at Change as an Opportunity
Changing our attitude about change is one of our best management tools.Look for opportunities in every change in your life.Rather than digging in your heels and resisting change, allow yourself to flow with it and see where it takes you.

Develop and Maintain a Strong Network and Support Team
Many changes in our lives require us to lean on others for emotional support and/or advice.Have your team in place ready to see you through the inevitable significant changes in your life.

Develop your Spirituality
God is the only aspect of our lives that is constant.She is the same today, tomorrow, and into infinity.This is a comforting and stabilizing thought in today's world.To have a friend, a confidante, a love who will never outgrow us, leave us, or change her behavior toward us is surely one of the greatest gifts of life.

Engage in Rituals
Performing a task or celebration in the same way week after week or year after year gives us a sense of stability, a feeling of being grounded, a sense of security.Even the ritual of pouring a cup of coffee before settling down to work, eating dinner as a family, having lunch at a special restaurant on Fridays, or writing daily in a journal can be significant in dealing with change.Performing rituals and celebrating holidays in a certain way, gives us the satisfaction that not everything is changing.

Eliminate the Tolerations in Your Life
Get rid of the little irritations (and sometimes big ones) that drain your energy, energy you need to manage change.Toleration can be something as simple as a missing button or as significant as a toxic person.

Keep a Daily Journal
When change is viewed over a period of time there is more sense to it.Seeing this historical perspective of past change in our life can give us more objectivity to meet the current changes that are facing us.

Engage in Meditation
Being centered within yourself grounds you for the changes you're required to face every day.Take a moment to quiet your mind, your body, your soul.You'll reap the rewards of this gift you give yourself.

How to Deal With Difficult Employees
If you've been a manager for long, you know that things can go wrong even in the best of organizations.Problem behavior on the part of employees can erupt for a variety of reasons.Here are ten tips for dealing with it.

Recognize that Problem Behavior Usually Has a History
It usually develops over time and seldom from a single incident.As a manager, it is your responsibility to be alert to the early warning signs and deal with the underlying causes before the situation reaches a crisis.
7.5.2Ask Yourself: "Am I Partly or Wholly Responsible?" You would be surprised how frequently it is the manager who has created, or at least contributed to problems of employee behavior.Having an abrasive style, being unwilling to listen, and being inattentive to the nuances of employee behavior are all factors that contribute to the manager's need to thoroughly examine what is going on.

Don't Focus Only on the overt Behavior
When confronted by an angry employee, it's easy to attack the person and target the behavior rather than examine the factors that underlie the behavior.Often, this takes patience, careful probing, and a willingness to forgo judgment until you really understand the situation.
7.5.4Be Attentive to the "Awkward Silence" and to What May Be Missing When an employee is obviously reluctant to communicate, it's almost a sure sign that more lurks beneath the surface.Often, employees will withhold because they feel unsafe.They may test the waters by airing a less severe or kindred issue in order to see what kind of a response they get.In order to get the full story and encourage forthrightness, it's imperative that the manager read between the lines and offer the concern and support necessary to get the employee to open up.

Clarify Before Your Confront
Chances are, when an issue first surfaces, you will be given only a fragmentary and partial picture of the problem.You may have to dig deep to surface important facts, and talk to others who may be involved.One safe assumption is that each person will tend to present the case from his or her viewpoint, which may or may not be the way it really is.Discretion and careful fact-finding are often required to get a true picture.Nothing is really "fixed" unless it stays fixed.All parties to a dispute must agree that the steps taken (or proposed) will substantially alleviate the problem.Further, they must agree on what they will do IF the results attained are not as anticipated.This can be achieved by doing a simple role play, i.e., having each side (including your own) articulate the steps to be taken and the outcomes anticipated.That way, even if subsequent events are significantly different than expected, the lines of communication for adjusting the situation are opened.

Effective Business Negotiation Techniques
Learning how to negotiate removes pressure, stress and friction from your life.You see, negotiating is like chess -if you don't know how to play you will be intimidated by the activity, especially if your opponent knows the game.Negotiating is a predicable event that has rules, planned moves, and counter moves.But, unlike chess, negotiating is an activity you can't avoid, so learn the rules.This article discusses the five underlying facts about negotiating, win-win negotiating, and the definition of a good negotiator.Some may want to negotiate and build a long term business relationship.Others may want the deal, and a handshake and it's over.Price is generally an important factor but never assume that money is the only issue.
Other issues can change the price they are willing to accept or the price you are willing to accept, like financing, quality, and speed.
The Negotiator Let's now direct our attention to the negotiator-You.To be a good negotiator requires five things: 1. Understand that negotiating is always a two-way affair-If you ignore that fact, you will ignore the needs of the other party and put a stake in the heart of the negotiation.
2. Desire to acquire the skills of negotiating-Negotiating is a learned activity.Constantly evaluate your performance and determine how you can improve.
3. Understand how the human factor and gambits affect negotiating -Knowing one gambit and using it always is not enough.It may not work on some people.They may have an affective counter to the gambit.Then you are lost or may not recognize tactics being used on you.As you understand the rules and the process of negotiations, the stress, pressure and friction that currently get in your way will disappear.You will actually learn to enjoy the process.

How to Set and Achieve Goals
Life is a journey.Not just any journey, but the most fantastic journey in the universe.Life is a journey from where you are to where you want to be.You can choose your own destination.Not only that, you can choose how you are going to get there.Goal setting will help you end up where you want to be.
 When it comes to setting goals, start off with what's important to you in life.Take out a sheet of paper.Sit quietly, and on that sheet of paper, brainstorm what you want to accomplish between now and the end of your life.
 Second step-use another sheet of paper, and this time consider yourself and your personal goals for the next 12 month period.Some key areas in which you might set personal goals include: family, personal growth, financial, health, social, career, hobbies, spiritual, and recreation.Write down the things that you plan to accomplish or achieve or attain during this one-year period?
 Now, as a third step, go back and compare the two goal lists you have made.Make sure that the items on your short-term list will, as you attain them, be helping you attain your long-term or lifetime goals.It is important that what you are doing short term is taking you in the right direction toward your lifetime goals.Please rewrite your short term goals now if you need to.
 As a next step, looking at the goals that are on your list at this time, if there are any that you are not willing to pay the price for, go ahead and cross them out, leaving only those items you are willing to cause to happen in your life.This does not necessarily mean you have the money or the other resources for attaining the goal right now.However, when you do have it, would you spend it on or trade it for the goals you have on your list?
 Now, on still another sheet of paper, create the job goals that are important to you during this upcoming 12-month period.Identify what outcomes you wish to attain or achieve during this one-year period in your specific area of responsibility and authority.
 Some key areas in which you might consider writing job goals, if you did not already, include: quality, quantity, cost control, cost improvement, equipment, procedures, training, sales, financial, and personnel.
 As a next step, look for the blending between your job or work goals and your personal goals.Anywhere you notice that you are attaining a goal on the job while at the same time you are attaining a personal goal, note this relationship: it is in these areas you will be most highly motivated.
 For each of the three lists that you have just created, take an additional sheet of paper and list the activities that you must do to attain the most important goal that you have on each of your lists.
 Now on another piece of paper titled "Things To-Do List" identify from the activities you just listed, the ones that you must do tomorrow to move you toward your most important goal.
 Rewrite your goals in these categories at least every three months.
 The only thing in life that is constant is the fact that everything is changing.It makes sense that our goals will change as we change.

Conclusion
For some companies innovation is the way of life and for some companies it's a crisis element.Innovative leadership as a whole is a source of sustainable competitive advantage which takes a long time for competitors to transcend.However, the innovative leader should have the common sense when to be innovative and when to not.

Best-Practice
A good example of innovative leadership is Nobel laureate Dr. Yunus and his organization Grameen Bank.He was a big problem and set his way of management and organization innovatively that conventional banks cannot do.He started to lower the poverty level of the Bangladesh by landing micro credit ($10-20) to the women.His organization formed a 5-10 member cooperative society through which he disburses credits to the poor women.
A field officer works for 20-25 cooperatives.His organization has built trust among the members to start their own business.The success was immense it resulted in 98% of the recovery and reduced poverty with higher standard of life of the members.

Worst Practice
Health care management throughout the world is a concern for the government, citizens and the providers.In efficient management is constantly rising cost of health care that is either putting burden on government budget or patients.The problem is more intense in USA where multiple stakeholders are related in the systems.Both treatment and cost depends on the insurance coverage.Despite being the world largest economy with higher per capita income and best medical treatment available, US health care system is one of the worst.USA needs a powerful innovative leader here to do both incremental and radical innovations.
Manage by walking around.See what people are doing and listen to what they have to say.
.2.7 Ask Them about *Their* Business and Personal Life Show that you have an active interest in the other person's professional and personal life.When an appropriate time comes, ask them to tell you about their family and their business if they have not already done so.People love to talk about themselves.They usually feel flattered and respected when others, especially people who have never met them, show real interest in their business and their personal life.It also shows that you are not self-centered when you do not spend a lot of time talking about yourself and *your* life.7.2.8Don't *Name Drop* or Brag Very few people you will meet for the first time will be favorably impressed if you start telling them you know Donald Trump, Don Johnson, or the CEO of Widgets, Inc.They want to get to know you and have you get to know them.Experienced and secure business people are not impressed by who you know as much as what you .2.9 Don't Eat or *Drink* Too MuchIf your first meeting is at a function or place where food and alcohol are served, it is wise to eat and drink in moderation.This is especial true of drinking alcohol!You want to be able to listen well and remember what is said, and speak well for yourself.There is probably nothing that leaves a worse first impression on a business or social date than for their new *acquaintance* to get intoxicated and to say or do things that are embarrassing, rude, crude, or all three.Use good self-control and eat as your new friend does, and drink only in social moderation or not at all.What is done one night under the influence of alcoholic merriment might be regretted for hundreds of nights in clear headed sobriety!7.2.10Part with a Smile, a Handshake and a Sincere Comment or Compliment A smile goes a long way in making a first impression.When you shake hands with the person, smile as you introduce yourself or say hello.Even if the other person does not smile, you can, and it will be remembered by the other person.As you talk or listen to the person speak, smile off and on to show your interest, amusement, or just to show you are being friendly.7.2.5 Listen More than You TalkUnless you are asked for your life story (in which case give a very abbreviated version) let the other person do most of the talking as you listen.Listening to your new acquaintance will give you information to refer to later, and it will give your new friend the impression you are genuinely interested in them, their business, etc.If you are asked questions, feel free to talk.If you are really bored, avoid 3-5 word sentence replies to your companion's questions.Pretend at least to be interested.You won't/don't necessarily ever have to talk with this person again.7.2.6 Relax and Be YourselfWho else would you be?Well, sometimes people try to act differently than they normally would to impress or show off to a new acquaintance.Putting on facades and *airs* is not recommended, as a discerning person will sense it and it will have a negative effect on how they view you.Just be yourself and relax and *go with the flow* of conversation.7know.If someone asks you if you know *so and so*, then it's appropriate to tell them the truth.Unless they do, it sounds like you are very insecure and trying to really *impress them*.Bragging about your financial, business or social coups or feats is likewise in bad taste and not recommended.Just keep it simple and factual and be yourself.7 7.5.6BeWilling to Explore the Possibility That You Have Contributed to the Problem This isn't easy, even if you have reason to believe it's so, because you may not be fully aware of what you have done to fuel the fire.Three helpful questions to ask yourself: "Is this problem unique, or does it have a familiar ring as having happened before?","Areothers in my organization exhibiting similar behaviors?",andfinally,"AmIpartially the cause of the behavior I am criticizing in others?"7.5.7 Plan Your StrategyStart by defining, for yourself, what changes you would like to see take place, Then, follow this sequence: (1) Tell the person that there is a problem.State the problem as you understand it and explain why it is important that it be resolved; (2) Gain agreement that you've defined the problem correctly, and that the employee understands that it must be solved; (3) Ask for solutions, using open-ended questions such as: "What are you willing to do to correct this problem?"Insomecases, you may have to make it clear what you expect; (4) Get a commitment that the employee will take the required actions; (5) Set deadlines for completing the actions.In the case of a repeated problem, you may want to advise the employee of the consequences of failing to take corrective action; (6) Follow up on the deadlines you've set.7.5.8 Treat the EMPLOYEE as an Adult and Expect Adult BehaviorTo some extent, expectation defines the result.If you indicate, by your actions or by the content or tone of your voice, that you expect less than full adult behavior, that's what you're likely to get.
7.6.1 Five Underlying Facts about Negotiating 7.6.1.1YouAreNegotiatingAlltheTime.Whether you are buying supplies, selling products or services, discussing pay with employees, buying a car, disagreeing with your spouse, or dealing with your children, you are always negotiating.It's just that some of what you negotiate, are considered by you as normal activity.There Are Predictable Responses to Strategic Maneuvers Or Gambits It is critical to understand this because if strategies are predictable then they can be managed.If a gambit such as "nibbling" for extras at the end of a negotiation is employed on you then you can request "trade-offs" to either stop it or get extras for yourself.7.6.1.4ThereAreThreeCriticalFactorsto Every NegotiationThe understanding of power-who has the power in the negotiation?Understanding this will help you in your strategies.Does the person you are dealing with have the power to make the decision?Are you in a weak negotiating position?If so, can you bring in factors or strategies that mitigate that?The information factor-What the opponent wants, what they require, and understanding the elements about the object negotiated for are all informational items that are critical for a smooth negotiation or to use to your advantage.The time element-Time is an important element to negotiation.If someone wants your product but is desperate because they need it quickly, it's a big factor in the strength of your position.You know they have little time to compare other products.You can guarantee speed for more money.7.6.1.5PeopleAre Different and Have Different Personality Styles That Must Be Accounted for in NegotiationsStrategies are affected by the people within the negotiation.If you play to the needs and desires of the person, you will be more successful in the negotiation.Never Narrow Negotiations Down to One Issue Doing so leaves the participants in the position of having a winner or a loser.When single-issue negotiations become a factor, broaden the scope of the negotiations.If immediate delivery is important to a customer and you can't meet the schedule, maybe a partial shipment will resolve their problem while you produce the rest.7.6.2.2Never Assume You Know What the Other Party Wants What you think you are negotiating for may be totally different from what they are.You may be selling them on quality, when what they need is medium quality, low price and large volume.Always keep an eye on their wants and needs.7.6.2.3 Understand That People Are Different and Have Different Perspectives on Negotiations Pay attention to what you are doing during negotiations.Plan them and re-evaluate your performance.Prepare for negotiations by practicing with someone. 5. Desire to create Win-Win situations-You don't want to negotiate with someone who only wants to destroy you.If you both win, a future deal is possible.