What is innovative leadership? Why do we need innovative leaders? What makes your leadership style (or skills) innovative? Are you a creative, left-brained military member surrounded by right-brained, rule-oriented, critical thinkers? Leadership is needed in a variety of aspects. Traditional left-brained (think liberal arts types) and traditional right-brained people (think science and math) are both needed in the leadership arena, but for all you liberal arts, creative thinkers, your time to excel in our Air Force is now.
How many times have you heard “think outside the box” but have felt there was limited encouragement from your supervisors? Our current Air Force leadership and more specifically your wing leadership are focused on listening to all Airmen. Our top AF leaders have made transformation in your Air Force a top priority by encouraging outside-the-box thinking and providing venues to put your suggestions for process improvements, task elimination, new ideas — you name it — into action. At no other time in my 20 years of active service do I remember the ability to really think about something and then being able to follow through with a proposal to respectfully eliminate “stuff” that is non-value added.
Let me repeat this message in a different way: In my more than 20 years in the Air Force, there has never been a time when new ideas and techniques were more welcomed. From the chief of staff of the Air Force all the way to first-line supervisors, leaders are primed to come up with and/or solicit new ideas, new processes and new ways of doing things, which could lead to cost savings for your Air Force with the emphasis on cost savings. No longer can we, the Air Force, continue to do things “the way they’ve always been done.” Leaders at all levels should demand and support creative ideas and productive changes due to challenges with our Air Force budget and personnel reductions we will face over the next five years.
All leaders at all levels must create and foster a culture of innovative thinking starting at their lowest levels. There has to be “buy-in” from all levels. Supervisors must be willing to listen to the great suggestions and ideas of our newest, youngest Airmen and be willing to develop their ideas into a full blown process change or money-savings effort.
Supervisors must seek venues to shed light on new ideas at the next level of supervision, so these great ideas come to life and ultimately get enough attention at the right level for action to be taken. Key to this is listening to and acting upon the input. If, as leaders, we continue to solicit input, but never act upon it, our young, newest Airmen will cease to respect our decision-making (aka leadership) abilities.
As a leader at my level and all supervisory levels, you must push your folks to think about the stuff they do. Really think about it. Change can be difficult, but is it necessary? As we all “think,” we must ask ourselves, “Can it be done better?” Can we quit doing it? Can it be accomplished in a new/different way? Within your area of control, do you insist upon an atmosphere that fosters creativity and encourages innovative thoughts? That rewards new ideas? Even within the most mundane and regulatory-controlled careers/job series (where there is little to no margin for error — think missile control officer or a nuclear plant controller), there are ways to make your innovation known and adopted. Said a different way, don’t be afraid, because innovative leadership is now in season. Take the time to think about what kind of innovation you can contribute or facilitate for your Air Force. Now is the time to think outside the box and outside the circle.
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What is innovative leadership? Why do we need innovative leaders? What makes your leadership style (or skills) innovative? Are you a creative, left-brained military member surrounded by right-brained, rule-oriented, critical thinkers? Leadership is needed in a variety of aspects. Traditional left-brained (think liberal arts types) and traditional right-brained people (think science and math) are both needed in the leadership arena, but for all you liberal arts, creative thinkers, your time to excel in our Air Force is now.
How many times have you heard “think outside the box” but have felt there was limited encouragement from your supervisors? Our current Air Force leadership and more specifically your wing leadership are focused on listening to all Airmen. Our top AF leaders have made transformation in your Air Force a top priority by encouraging outside-the-box thinking and providing venues to put your suggestions for process improvements, task elimination, new ideas — you name it — into action. At no other time in my 20 years of active service do I remember the ability to really think about something and then being able to follow through with a proposal to respectfully eliminate “stuff” that is non-value added.
Let me repeat this message in a different way: In my more than 20 years in the Air Force, there has never been a time when new ideas and techniques were more welcomed. From the chief of staff of the Air Force all the way to first-line supervisors, leaders are primed to come up with and/or solicit new ideas, new processes and new ways of doing things, which could lead to cost savings for your Air Force with the emphasis on cost savings. No longer can we, the Air Force, continue to do things “the way they’ve always been done.” Leaders at all levels should demand and support creative ideas and productive changes due to challenges with our Air Force budget and personnel reductions we will face over the next five years.
All leaders at all levels must create and foster a culture of innovative thinking starting at their lowest levels. There has to be “buy-in” from all levels. Supervisors must be willing to listen to the great suggestions and ideas of our newest, youngest Airmen and be willing to develop their ideas into a full blown process change or money-savings effort.
Supervisors must seek venues to shed light on new ideas at the next level of supervision, so these great ideas come to life and ultimately get enough attention at the right level for action to be taken. Key to this is listening to and acting upon the input. If, as leaders, we continue to solicit input, but never act upon it, our young, newest Airmen will cease to respect our decision-making (aka leadership) abilities.
As a leader at my level and all supervisory levels, you must push your folks to think about the stuff they do. Really think about it. Change can be difficult, but is it necessary? As we all “think,” we must ask ourselves, “Can it be done better?” Can we quit doing it? Can it be accomplished in a new/different way? Within your area of control, do you insist upon an atmosphere that fosters creativity and encourages innovative thoughts? That rewards new ideas? Even within the most mundane and regulatory-controlled careers/job series (where there is little to no margin for error — think missile control officer or a nuclear plant controller), there are ways to make your innovation known and adopted. Said a different way, don’t be afraid, because innovative leadership is now in season. Take the time to think about what kind of innovation you can contribute or facilitate for your Air Force. Now is the time to think outside the box and outside the circle.