Team Mookie

4

Week 3 Assignment

Afton Davis

Strayer University

BUS 302

Wanda Tillman

Creating a Culture of Innovation and Creativity

The chosen option for this is option one, which encompasses creating a new and innovative company in the travel industry. Based on the industry, the company will be focusing on constantly increasing sales, especially now that the industry begins to pick up after the emergence of a covid-19 pandemic. Some of the products and services the travel company will offer include outdoor recreation activities, cruise lines, travel insurance, package tours, car rental, hotels and accommodation facilities.

As the company's HR manager, I will emphasize that the organization leader encourages creativity and innovation by designing an environment conducive to flourishing creativity. One of the ideal leadership qualities I will emphasize to the retail company leader is risk tolerance. Especially in the travel industry, risks are inevitable when innovation and creativity are the primary concerns. Therefore, the leaders should step out of their comfort zone and give an adequate time of risk evaluation before making any rational decisions (Briones, 2017). Emotional stability is yet another leadership quality I would instil in the travel company leadership. The industry of travelling is among the fields that serve a diverse population with different perspectives of things. For instance, one is more likely to encounter provocative and irritating customers while on duty. The leaders should remain vigilant by controlling their emotions to stay relevant to the customer's needs. Moreover, since innovation and creativity involve many risks, the leaders should have the courage to face and evaluate the potential risk factors surrounding the organization. It is also essential for the retail leader to have an open-minded attitude towards travel innovation and creativity. Innovation and creativity require diversifying ideas. The leader should accommodate all sorts of opinions and thoughts regarding how the company will be flexible to adapt to any kind of environment offered by the technology.

Innovation and creativity are the primary lifeblood of a successful travel company. One of the steps that a leader can take to contribute to the culture of innovation and creativity is empowering the organization's workforce to make decisions. This will allow the employees to feel valued by the company, thereby getting motivated to contribute diverse, innovative ideas and thoughts on how the entity should be driven. The leader can also contribute by promoting work-life balance, which is significant in the modern office environment in the travel industry (Dalum n.d.). In essence, the leader should consistently encourage his followers to manage their time well for efficient service production. Visitors from different places of the globe tend to have different reactions when interacting. The organization workforce needs a sober mindset to be able to accommodate all types of customers and deal with them accordingly. The travel company leadership should also refresh their employee's skillsets occasionally. This is by introducing part-time training sessions where employees will learn innovation skills to sharpen their creative capabilities. Another step to consider is encouraging group collaboration among the workforce members. In essence, group brainstorming sessions are considered an excellent approach to promoting innovation at the travel workplace. This is even better when the company incorporates a diverse workforce to contribute innovative ideas by sharing them with their peers.

One of the crucial qualities for leadership includes the ability to inspire and convince followers. Organizational leadership is typically about leading a group of people to achieve the entity's specific goals and objectives (Gibson, 2015). Therefore, the followers must trust their leader to get inspired and convinced to follow a particular direction without questioning willingly. Another essential quality is to be an active listener. Listening skills are essential since the leader will effectively collect the workforce's needs to respond to them. In other words, listening will enable the leader to gather enough information regarding the travel industry, thereby formulating effective decisions to boost the company's innovative services to customers.

One of the barriers to fostering a culture of creativity and innovation is a lack of effective leadership. Incompetence leaders are more likely to fail a culture of innovation since they will lack the commitment to driving the organization towards the right direction (Demircioglu, 2018). Also, bureaucratic policies and red tape are more like to offer barrier challenges to fostering innovation and creativity in the company. If the organization's policies and regulations are based on bureaucracy, this may hinder or stifle its workforce to contribute their opinions and thoughts to the entity's issues. The company will therefore lack diverse options of dealing with the problems it may be facing.

The company can coach and support its employees by practicing and demonstrating good leadership skills to the organization workforce. The leader should lead by example in that he should ensure to offer practical directives that will promote trust and inspiration to the employees. He should exercise all the effective traits of leadership by making rational decisions whenever the organization encounters challenges. Also, it should create a friendly environment whereby employees will feel appreciated and accommodated by the organization's management. This is by engaging the employees in the decision-making process that involves the issues surrounding their workplaces.

References

Briones, N. M. (2017). Innovation Leadership.

Dalum M. (n.d.) Steps to Promote a Culture of Innovation at your Workplace. Retrieved from;

https://acadal.com/4-steps-to-promote-a-culture-of-innovation/

Demircioglu, M. A. (2018). The effects of empowerment practices on perceived barriers to innovation: Evidence from public organizations. International Journal of Public Administration, 41(15), 1302-1313.

Gibson D. L. (2015). Hurdling Creativity Barriers: A top-down approach for encouraging innovation in the workplace. Retrieved from:

https://www.regent.edu/acad/global/publications/lao/issue_5/barriers_to_creativity_gibson.htm