Are you looking for a way to make innovative leadership a reality in your division or in your entire organization? Do you feel that you have been lagging behind as a result of using old ways of thinking about a new economy? Don’t jump on the bandwagon of every new management trend. Instead, innovate wisely with the assistance of a free professional development newsletter.

A recent newsletter from Employee Development Systems focused on the topic of innovative leadership. The professional development newsletter first set up the problem of using old ideas to solve new problems:

In less turbulent times, lessons learned in the past could be called on as wisdom for decisions made in the present. These days the past should not be counted on for the wisdom it once offered. The playing field has changed, and you will not be able to count on those lessons to lead you through. Of course, they still have value. They just can’t lead the way anymore.

According to the newsletter, innovative leadership does not mean throwing out the wisdom from the past. It just means only using such lessons as part of the equation:

Innovative leaders do still use the past to inform decisions, but they don’t count on those old lessons to show them the way.

The free professional development newsletter cautions specifically against making too many changes when aiming for innovation. Instead, it recommends a general policy of making changes gradually and sticking to them before changing course:

Remaining committed to change means making a change and committing to it.  The new direction may not be the panacea that you are looking for, but you won’t know until you have given the new plan time to take hold.

The newsletter also offers specific discussion questions to help managers and their colleagues to discuss and brainstorm new ideas and new knowledge in order to encourage growth and better facilitate change. Specific action steps for discussion include:

 1. Think of ways in which your organization has embraced change in the last 18 months to two years. Write them down here.

2. How is your organization following through on those changes? Are some of them falling by the wayside, amidst the fluctuating business climate? Write down some change initiatives that were started, yet their potential positive results were not realized, because they were forgotten, or it was easier not to put resources behind them?

3. Do you have any “untapped genius” within your organization? Consider the human resources that could be harboring a great solution. How about getting a group together to brainstorm, or asking particular employees their opinion on a pressing challenge that your organization is facing? You may be surprised at what happens! Write your ideas here.

Could a professional development newsletter help you?