Leadership that can embrace uncertainty and diversity
Organisations know that if they don't innovate and grow, they'll be left behind in a world that's changing faster than ever. This makes it crucial to understand that leading for innovation requires a unique set of skills and behaviours, distinct from other leadership styles.
What is innovation?
Let’s start by defining innovation and what makes it stand apart from simply coming up with ideas or inventions.
The dictionary defines innovation as “the action or process of innovating.”
But Dr. Linda Hill, Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, goes deeper: she describes innovation as “something that is both an invention and useful.”
For organisations, innovation means two things:
Developing ideas to solve real problems your customers face (useful)
Taking action to turn those ideas into reality (invent)
The very essence of innovation lies in its newness—there are no clear answers or roadmaps. When creating something that hasn’t existed before, leaders must venture into the unknown. Mistakes are inevitable, dead ends will be encountered, and wrong turns will be taken. Leading innovation calls for a different approach than leading for change.
Leadership for change vs leadership for innovation
Leading for change is about shaping a vision, inspiring your team to embrace it, and guiding them towards a clear end goal.
In contrast, leadership for innovation doesn’t come with a predefined end goal. In fact, the outcome is one of the many unknowns. Innovation is about creating the space for ideas to evolve and thrive, even when the destination is unclear. A leader in innovation must foster diversity, encourage healthy debates, and embrace the uncertainties that come with exploring new ideas.
Fostering healthy debate and collaboration
Exceptional leaders of innovation cultivate an environment where differences are valued and debate is encouraged—not for the sake of conflict, but to unlock fresh ideas. It’s about creating a marketplace of ideas, where diverse voices challenge each other, stress-test concepts, and push boundaries.
Bringing people together from different departments helps fuel this healthy debate. Creative teams can ask questions that technical teams might overlook, sparking new opportunities that might not have been considered otherwise.
Why we need diversity and conflict for innovation
Organisations that struggle with innovation often confuse it with technology or focus too narrowly on one approach. True innovation requires diverse perspectives—and yes, controlled conflict. Innovation thrives in an environment where people feel comfortable challenging the status quo.
Imagine leading a team that’s exploring creative solutions. The team agrees on a couple of ideas, and you make a decision based on that discussion. Later, you find out that some team members had doubts but were too afraid to voice them. The danger here is that you, as a leader, are making decisions with incomplete information. Innovation requires different approaches and viewpoints so you can uncover risks or opportunities that others may not see.
A collaborative team is one that’s diverse, understands the purpose of their collaboration, and shares a commitment to learning. The leader’s role is to create a culture where experimentation is encouraged, and mistakes are seen as part of the process.
Boundaries fuel creativity
Innovation rarely happens without constraints. These boundaries—whether they’re financial, time-based, or creative—help focus the process and drive creativity. Even in the arts, conflict and limitation are seen as vital ingredients for creativity. As Jack White from The White Stripes explains: “Telling yourself you’ve got all the time and money and colours you want, that just kills creativity. But constriction can force you to create.”
What leadership style works best for innovation?
A 2011 study by Rosing et al. on innovation leadership found that conventional leadership styles often lack the flexibility needed to nurture innovation. The study revealed that leaders must adopt dynamic, complex styles to guide innovation teams effectively.
Dr. Hill also points out that innovation leaders need to be comfortable with conflict and accept that innovative ideas don’t always have immediate answers. They must be comfortable with ambiguity, willing to navigate the unknown.
Leading through uncertainty
As organisations face increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) challenges, the need for leaders who can guide innovation will only grow. These leaders must embrace uncertainty and help their teams navigate through it. While leadership for change is essential for stabilising and guiding teams through known challenges, leadership for innovation is key to fostering growth and adaptation in an unpredictable world.
