The CNO and Leading Innovation

Abstract

Although innovation is critical to success in today's tumultuous environment, health care is slow to embrace it, and there is significant variability in strategic adoption of innovation across organizations. Nurse leaders do not need to be innovators themselves but must engage in, and have the ability to create, an organizational culture of innovation. Twenty-six leadership behaviors specific to innovation leadership were identified through a Delphi study to develop competencies as well as the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that support nurse leaders in acquiring or expanding the capability of nurse leaders to create a culture of innovation. It was demonstrated that nursing innovation experts were able to differentiate between general leadership behaviors and innovation leader behaviors. In addition, the need to acquire basic leadership competencies before mastering innovation leader competencies was identified. Five strategies to initiate or expand a culture of innovation in organizations were identified, including (1) assessment of organizational capacity for innovation; (2) acknowledgement of the responsibility of all leaders to create an innovation-rich environment; (3) provision of education, skill building, and coaching; (4) encouragement of an ongoing practice of innovation, even in the face of failure; and (5) development of a sustainable culture of innovation.

Factors contributing to innovation readiness in health care organizations: a scoping review

“…The authors of the other 38 studies use a variety of words addressing innovation readiness. The most frequently mentioned are: capacity for innovation [38,39,56,78], innovation capacity [57], capacity to innovate [58,62,63], ability to innovate [40,47,79], organizational innovativeness [58], organization's innovation ability [48], innovation performance [52,67], innovativeness of organizations [65], organizational innovation [80] and organization's innovative potential [59].…”

“…Innovative competencies concern the skills and motivation of employees to contribute to the innovation readiness of the organization and has been researched in two studies [47,78]. An increase in individual competences necessary for the use of information technology, typically a non-core competence of health care workers, resulted in a higher organizational ability to innovate [47].…”

“…An increase in individual competences necessary for the use of information technology, typically a non-core competence of health care workers, resulted in a higher organizational ability to innovate [47]. Weatherford et al [78] studied knowledge, skills and attitudes specific for leaders of innovation in health care to set up an education plan for innovation leaders. Five competency domains for leaders of innovation were identified: disruptive change (positive open attitude toward change), experimentation and design thinking, innovation and creativity, translating innovation into operations and risk taking.…”