Inovasi merupakan suatu kemampuan untuk menciptakan atau mengembangkan dan atau

mengimplementasikan ciptaan, proses ataupun layanan baru dengan tujuan meningkatkan

efisiensi, efektifitas ataupun keunggulan bersaing. Dasar inovasi adalah kreatifitas. Hal tersebut
sangat beralasan karena di dalam kreatifitas terkandung komponen thinking (pikiran), feeling
(perasaan), sensing (prakarsa), intuiting (intuisi), ditambah denga imaginating (imaginasi/cita-
cita), dan trust (kepercayaan).

1. Bagaimana merekrut dan menyeleksi pemimpin inovatif?

The criteria they use to select, hire and promote future innovation leaders, four words
come up again and again: Passion, mission, vision and performance. Memiliki visi dan
misi. (ini adalah syarat mutlak, karena inovasi lahir dari visi dan misi yang jelas, terukur
dan memiliki tujuan/sasaran), terbuka terhadap perubahan (perubahan adalah kebutuhan,
bukan hambatan), berani berbeda dari kebiasaan (fleksibel, berani keluar dari keadan yang
ada), mampu mencari alternatif (tidak terpaku pada satu pilihan), siap menghadapi
kegagalan, berani mencoba, selalu bersemangat, dan selalu siap berkejasama dan membuka
diri serta mau berkolaborasi.

a) Detecting Passion
When asked what they look for in a candidate, apart from basic intelligence and
technical fi t for the position, Logitech managers reply that they look for a sense of
passion, emotion and connection with the product. A business unit vice president
explains:
“I would like someone to give me a sense of love of products, not necessarily from
Logitech. Someone who is passionate about the product is also going to be
passionate about the user”.

“If they want to learn, if they are curious, if they see that they can change the world,
if they see in front of them that change is an opportunity, not a threat – a disruptive
element is something which we can leverage, something which would be a
springboard for us to do things better and differently – then we have people who
have the passion, the passion to change the world, the passion to make things better,
the passion always to strive for better results and always excel.”

That one can generally spot a candidate’s enthusiasm at the job interview. People
believe in what the organization stands for and in the products that they are selling.
But of course, that passion is expressed differently by different functions.

b) Demanding Devotion to the Company’s Mission and Vision

Passion per se, despite being a great source of managerial energy, is not suffi cient.
It has to be embedded in a sense of purpose and channeled toward common
objectives. And this is where the notion of mission fi ts in. Innovation leaders try to
 detect in job candidates an affi nity with the company’s declared mission and vision,
which often reflects a deep interest in the company’s products or services and in its
customers.
A strong understanding of and dedication to the company’s mission is a guarantee
that the new hire, particularly if he/she is a senior manager, will pull in the right
direction. But companies express their mission very differently, of course. For a
company in lifesaving or health-restoring medical devices like Medtronic, the
mission is easy to communicate. For Logitech, the mission refl ects the company’s
sense of identity and builds on its raison d’être, as Daniel Borel stresses:

“We have a very strong vision and mission of who we are and what we do. So, as
we evolve, we have to hire new people who have new skills in new areas, and those
people need to be trained in the same way. We can never repeat enough the ‘who
we are’ to make it alive.”

c) Setting High Performance Standards

Guerrino de Luca at Logitech is not shy about his expectations:

“I need people that can think intelligently and learn fast. This means people who
are not content with the obvious answer. People who are challengers! People who
– because they have not done it before – bring elements of creativity and discipline.
If I have to choose between two people for an important mission: Someone who has
done it before and someone who has not done it before but is on his way up, then I
choose the second one. We need hungry people who have something to prove who
take risks.”

Concerned about the danger of an excessively inbred culture – a risk faced by start-
ups that have built their own culture and grown rapidly – De Luca does not think
twice about looking for and bringing in very senior managers from outside the
company.

Cenderung melihat suatu persoalan sebagai tantangan untuk menunjukkan

kemampuan diri; cenderung memikirkan alternatif solusi/tindakan yang tidak dilakukan
oleh orang-orang pada umumnya atau bukan sesuatu yang sudah biasa dilakukan; tidak
takut untuk mencoba hal-hal baru; tidak takut dicemoohkan oleh orang lain karena berbeda
dari kebiasaan, tidak cepat puas terhadap hasil yang diperoleh; toleran terhadap kegagalan
dan frustasi; mampu memikirkan apa yang mungkin dapat dilakukan atau dikerjakan dari
suatu kondisi, keadaan atau benda; dan melakukan berbagai cara yang mungkin dilakukan
dengan tetap berdasar pada integritas, kejujuran, menjunjung sistem nilai, dan bertujuan
positif.
2. Bagaimana mengembangkan pemimpin inovatif?
Observasi dgn mengamati kondisi lingkungan sekitar, Brainstorming sblm membuat
perencanaan baru (berpikir out of the box), Modifikasi ide sebelumnya menjadi lbh
menarik
Peter Sims, Bill George summarizes the key principles of an authentic leadership
development philosophy:
‘Mutual Respect: The Basis for Empowerment:
a. Treating others as equals.
b. Being a good listener.
c. Learning from people.
d. Sharing life stories.
Empowering People to Lead:
a. Showing up.
b. Engaging people.
c. Helping teammates.
d. Challenging leaders.
e. Stretching people.
f. Aligning everyone around a mission.

Most of these general leadership development practices are relevant for the development
of innovation leaders, of course. Concretely, though, senior innovation leaders seem to
rely on three complementary approaches:
a. promoting an open yet challenging environment;
b. giving innovation responsibilities to people early on;
c. coaching aspiring innovation leaders.

Promoting an Open yet Challenging Environment

It is probably safe to predict that innovation leaders will naturally develop and grow
faster in an environment populated with other innovation leaders – like attracts like. This
means that, in common with plain innovators, they need an environment characterized by
a strong innovation culture to blossom.

Giving Innovation Responsibilities to People Early On

When asked about the best way to develop the next generation of innovation
leaders, senior executives in innovative companies often stress the importance of testing
the leadership skills of their young managers by giving them a concrete experience early
on in their career.

Coaching Aspiring Innovation Leaders

 In technical environments, coaching is accepted as a way of developing a cadre of
future R&D leaders his allows newcomers to understand what the issues, technologies and
work processes are across the organization. It also encourages a culture of cross-
collaboration between various product groups, promotes a family atmosphere and reduces
tensions between product groups.

“One of the key influencers is personal coaching. The engineering family coaches you.
What we have is a strong learning process – it’s not a process, it’s more about information
sharing. Part of the culture is transmitted in this one-to-one, or in small team sessions. It
is a very informal learning, through coaching and observing.”

3. Bagaimana mempertahankan pemimpin inovatif?

1) Pertama, pemimpin inovatif adalah pemimpin yang memiliki keingintahuan
tak terbatas, sehingga tak pernah berhenti bertanya. Mereka juga berupaya untuk
menanamkan hal yang sama kepada segenap stafnya (Sloane,P.,2007:178). Para
pemimpin harus mendorong setiap stafnya bertanya, termasuk menanggapi
pertanyaan-pertanyaan yang muncul (Sloane,P.,2007:180).
2) Kedua, memberikan pujian kepada bawahan/karyawan yang telah mencoba hal-hal
baru meskipun belum berhasil. Pujian yang diberikan pada saat belum berhasil
lebih bermakna bagi individu daripada pujian pada saat kesuksesan. Hal tsb dpt
mendorong krywn trs berinovasi. (Sloane,P.,2007:182).
3) Ketiga, memfokuskan perhatian pada hal-hal yang sudah berjalan baik. Hal
tersebut dilakukan agar dapat melihat dan mengembangkan keunggulan yang
dimiliki serta lebih cermat dalam melihat berbagai peluang (Sloane,P.,2007:182).
4) Keempat, menciptakan suasana yang menyenangkan untuk bekerja. Suasana
yang menyenangkan merupakan hal penting untuk menumbuhkan kreativitas
karena kreativitas berhubungan erat dengan hal-hal yang menyenangkan seperti
humor, permainan dan kegiatan yang merangsang ide-ide secara spontan dan
mencairkan suasana (Sloane,P.,2007:185).
5) Keenam, menanamkan pikiran dan sikap untuk lebih berhati-hati pada
kesuksesan. Hal tersebut perlu dilakukan pemimpin karena keberhasilan cenderung
membuat seseorang maupun organisasi menjadi terlena dan berpuas diri, bahkan
menghambat munculnya ide-ide baru (Sloane,P.,2007:191).
6) Ketujuh, merangsang sudut pandang yang beragam dari masalah dengan membuat
teka-teki. Setiap masalah bisnis adalah teka-teki sehingga salah satu cara yang
dapat digunakan untuk merangsang ide-ide kreatif adalah membuat teka-teki
pemikiran lateral/teka-teki situasi. Cara tersebut adalah metode untuk
mengembangkan kemampuan bertanya, mendengarkan, kerjasama tim dan
imajinasi dalam organisasi (Sloane,P.,2007:193).

A Spirit of Challenge and Fun

Innovation leaders tend to love the work they do and the challenges they have to
overcome to help their teams succeed. There are probably many reasons for this
emphasis on work satisfaction. First, innovation leaders tend to display a higher level
of passion than other types of leaders for whatever they do, and they typically choose
to work on innovation-related issues and projects – there is always an element of
excitement and fun in innovation, whatever the industry. Second, innovation leads to
tangible results – like promising new technologies and new product or service launches
– and innovation leaders like the pride that goes with introducing something new that
customers will ‘like to buy and love to use,’ as Logitech’s Daniel Borel puts it. Third,
innovation leaders love success.

Success – Loving to Win

Innovation leaders are attracted by opportunities and successful companies offer more
opportunities than struggling ones.