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Creativity Tip 19 - Characteristics of Creative Leaders

Can creativity be engendered in everyone or are there just a few people who naturally have the creative spark inside them? The answer is that while some people are naturally better leaders or more creative, everyone has creative abilities within them. Everyone can learn techniques that will lead them to generate more and better ideas. Every manager who aspires to a senior position can learn and apply the traits and principles of the 'Lateral Leader'. So says Paul Sloan in his book The Leaders Guide to Lateral Thinking Skills.

This is his list of Characteristics of Conventional and Lateral Leaders:

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He goes on to say that the conventional leader is easily recognised as a goal-oriented, deci­sive person who is well suited to a structured environment such as a mature corporation, government department or the military. Lateral leaders, on the other hand, adopt a different approach to reaching goals - they are much more focused on the creativity and innovation of the team. The lateral leader is often found in small, fast-moving high-tech companies that have collegial and intellectual environments. The conventional leader is focused on action, results, efficiency and process improvement. The lateral leader is focused on inspiring the team to find new and better ways of doing things.

Successful leaders combine the qualities of the conventional leader and the lateral leader. They know when to focus on efficiency and results and when to focus on vision, coaching and inspiration. But most managers are in the left-hand, conventional column. They are ingrained with analysis, results, efficiency, command and control. As they rise through the organisation they need to take on more of the right-hand, lateral column. They need to loosen some of their grip on analysis and detail. They must delegate more and focus on empow­ering the team to find innovative ways of making the vision a reality. There is a real risk that potential leaders who start out with great creative energy and rise through an organisation become more institu­tionalised and lose their innovative zest. Businesses and institutions that promote people who conform to their corporate standards will most likely end up with efficient and hard-working leaders who operate inside a corporate comfort zone. Unfortunately that is nowhere near enough. Today's president, CEO or Managing Director needs also to be a disruptive influence with the imagination, vision and courage to lead the organisation into new and dangerous territory. The leader must be an entrepreneurial driver who can inspire the team to boldly venture into uncharted lands. This requires conventional and Lateral Leadership skills.