Creating Leadership Breakthroughs » The Five Steps » Step #5: Create Breakthroughs on Your Team

Step #5: Create Breakthroughs on Your Team

Leaders who want more creativity in their organizations must pay special attention to particular challenges facing teams. Contrary to popular press articles, managing for more creativity in teams is not all about letting go. Teams that produce extraordinary results have processes and an environment designed to recognize individual differences in team members and apply them to creatively resolving challenges, making great decisions, and successfully implementing solutions. As Peter Drucker has said, "Most of what happens in successful innovations is not the happy occurrence of a blind flash of insight but rather, the careful implementation of an unspectacular but systematic management discipline."

The critical success factors that promote more creativity in teams include:

1. Appreciation of the different talents on the team;
2. A culture of possibilities, with strong communication and questioning skills;
3. A learning environment, where mistakes and experimentation are welcome;
4. Creative problem solving processes, tools and techniques; and
5. Planning and management tools that clarify goals, objectives, roles, responsibilities, and operating guidelines and ensure implementation.

The factors that promote creativity and innovation on a team will also drive outstanding profitability, customer service, employee retention and organizational growth. By making sure that the right structure and processes are in place to channel and focus the team's efforts and to appreciate each other's talents, you can ensure your team will maximize its creative contributions and use its strengths as building blocks for extraordinary performance.