There is much talk about innovation in leadership circles. Books are written about it. Meetings are planned around it. Conferences focus on it. As a result, innovative thinkers are in high demand.
So the question begs, are there any practices of innovative leaders which we all can learn from and apply? I think there are and some answers can be found in Waco, TX at Baylor University.
The Baylor University football team is undefeated and currently ranked 4th in the nation. Their offense is performing at historic levels and may be changing the way the game is played.
In the November 11th edition of Sports Illustrated, writer Andy Staples profiled their architect, head coach Art Briles. As I read the article, I gleaned 11 Practices Of One Of The Most Innovative Leaders you will ever find.
- Innovative Leaders Test Their Ideas – To ensure a high-powered offense of game day, Baylor runs four plays a minute during practice.
- Innovative Leaders Look For Incremental Improvement – The running backs and receivers are trained to immediately give the ball to the officials after being tackled rather than leaving it on the ground to be picked up. This gives them a few extra seconds each play.
- Innovative Leaders Improve Efficiency – Baylor’s 55 touchdowns through its first eight games took an average time of possession of 88.1 seconds.
- Innovative Leaders Know The Value Of Small Platforms – It is in the secret places that many innovative ideas are birthed. The foundation of Briles’s offense was developed 16 years ago while coaching high school football.
- Innovative Leaders Often Innovate Out Of Necessity – Briles said, “As you get deeper in the playoffs, you’re always going to come up against somebody that could be better than you, talentwise. So you need to have an advantage that gives you the opportunity to win that game.”
- Innovative Leaders Improve On The Ideas Of Others – While Briles’s high school offense reflected many of college football’s most innovative teams, he put his own unique personality and ideas into the scheme.
- Innovative Leaders Generate Countless Ideas – Briles estimates he has over 700 legal pads of ideas written out.
- Innovative Leaders Boil Their Countless Ideas Down To Two Or Three Good Ones – Despite the complexity of the offense, the quarterback is to take all the information and condense it down to its two or three most important elements.
- Innovate Leaders Build Great Teams – The reason Baylor is in conference title contention for the first time since Briles arrived in 2008 is because the defense needed time to develop. In addition to having a team of additional innovators alongside them, innovative leaders must also have a team of implementers to see their ideas become reality.
- Innovate Leaders Do Not Roll Their Ideas Out Too Soon – Regardless of their physical talent, Briles does not put players into the lineup unless they have a full understanding of the offense.
- Innovative Leaders See The Best In People – Briles focuses on positive reinforcement. Star running back Lache Seastrunk had a significant loss of confidence after transferring from Oregon. Staples points out, “Briles told Seastrunk he was ‘d*#n good’ so many times that Seastrunk climbed out of his mental hole.”
Which one of these practices can you improve on to be a more creative leader?
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