Creative and innovative leadership is the process of leading and managing new ideas.  This requires creating action items that are dated and assigned to someone for the ideas to become reality. The following are common traits of the most creative and innovative leaders in the Staffing and Recruiting Profession.

Competency

Your core competencies are the things your company does best internally, as well as better than the competition. However, doing something well does not mean that it is important because your competencies may not always align with your market's wants and needs. 

Culture

When it comes to leading innovation, your culture will either magnify your success or severely detract from it. The right culture attracts and maintains innovators, where the wrong culture turns them away.  Leading innovation is not easy, and you are bound to come across roadblocks both internally and externally on your journey.

One true test of an innovative culture is the number of internal and external referrals you obtain.  If you have the right culture over 40% of your internal and external hires should be referrals! 

Change Agent

How you react to change has a great impact on how your team will react to change.  They judge you by your actions, not your words.  You must be the greatest advocate of changes that are made and focus on how to change will benefit the people you lead.

When I’m coaching leaders on how to become an effective change agent, I suggest they build on factors which will also boost the influence they have on others.  The ability to adapt to change will help your company grow both now and in the future.

Courageous

As a change agent, you’re discussing a change which might not be popular – it takes courage to break out of the norm.  However, your team must realize how change benefits them as well as your company.

Empathetic

Put yourself in the shoes of others to understand their experience.  Empathy stops you from judging people for resisting change, so you can recognize their response to change is valid.

Patient

Your role as a change agent or leader is to create the conditions for change to happen, but each of your employees must navigate the change at their own pace and you need to give them time to catch up rather than lose them.

Resilient

You may encounter setbacks or resistance, but you must never take resistance personally.  Resilience enables the persistence required to drive change.

Deliberate

Deliberately choose the words and actions that break the patterns so change can happen.  Being deliberate starts with self-awareness.

Flexible

Change is never predictable.  Your employees may suggest a new idea or an approach that is different from your own.  You can encounter unforeseen obstacles.  Listen, learn, and adapt while continuing to move in the right direction.

Conduct Stay interviews to determine how you can support your team to greater heights of success and income. Be flexible to implement new ideas that might not be in your comfort zone.

No one has enough energy to embody all these traits and realize there might be times when you become frustrated, make assumptions, take things personally, grow impatient, become distracted, and bend to the pressure to just get things done.  

When that happens, take a step back and evaluate whether implementing one of these traits will help you move things forward. Embrace the trait that may represent one of your weaknesses which could negatively impact the success your company will achieve.