Resuming our best of Killer Innovation series, we take a deeper look at the contrasting characteristics of coaching and mentoring.

The topic this week is one that I have touched on over the years in various ways. People reach out to me all the time, asking about this.  Coaching, as well as mentoring, often get placed in the same category. In reality, they are different. We will discuss the differences between innovation coaching and mentoring and run through some application scenarios.

Innovation Coaching

Many people often find themselves confused when it comes to coaching and mentoring. They don’t understand that innovation coaching and innovation mentoring are different. Coaching is the most common activity when it comes to innovation.

In general, coaching and mentoring are two of the top five most popular jobs out there. Innovation coaching is kind of like a sports coach. In baseball, a pitching coach trains pitchers to improve their craft. Pitching coaching is just like innovation coaching, as it seeks to help one improve in a specific area based on an assessment. It tends to be limited in duration. Also, it only works best with measurable and tangible improvement opportunities.

A good innovation coach will offer clear direction for improvement based on assessing one’s needs. Coaching can be on the individual level, team level, or for an entire organization. An innovation coach should be able to evaluate and tell you what area you need to improve. They should plan to improve and be more successful in a specific area.

Innovation Mentoring

Mentoring is a less specific and tangible area that looks at the big picture, such as your career. An innovation mentor is a trusted advisor that crosses personal and professional lines and might be with you for many years. They help craft broader goals and the skills and experiences to achieve them. When looking for an innovation mentor, choose someone you can learn from.

 You want one that has achieved innovation success in their career.

Usually focused on the individual, I have also done long-term mentoring for innovation teams. Mentoring sessions are less formal than coaching sessions and are on an as-needed basis. Fees for mentoring most likely come from the individual. A successful mentoring role should last many years and stay constant, no matter if your organization changes.

No fees may be required in rare cases if you become close to the mentor. Don’t expect mentoring to be free just because some mentors might typically do it out of the kindness of the heart. Remember, mentoring relationships require time and transparency to be successful. A mentor can’t do their job if you are not honest with them, and vice versa.

Coaching vs. Mentoring

One of the best ways to show the differences between an innovation coach and a mentor is to run through some scenarios.

First scenario: Your team is struggling to create a pitch for an idea to secure funding from your organization. You must determine the best way to structure your pitch to secure funding. Is innovation coaching or mentoring the best way to aid you?  You could hire an innovation coach in this situation because it is a specific issue you are trying to resolve. You want to find a coach with an excellent track record of helping teams craft pitches. Pay the coach for their work rather than saying you’ll pay them upon success.

Second scenario: Your CEO has asked you to develop innovation leaders within your existing staff. Would this be innovation coaching or mentoring? With a longer-term goal that is not tangible, so in this case, it would be innovation mentoring in a team setting.

Third scenario: Your team is running up against internal and external innovation antibodies (naysayers), and you need help crafting a strategy to win the organization’s support. You need help with a specific issue within your organization, so this is an innovation coaching opportunity. You need a strategy coach to help deal with the antibodies and win your organization’s support.

Fourth scenario: You have decided to improve your innovation abilities and skills to be more successful. This scenario is a textbook case of innovation mentoring. Here you need help establishing your long-range career to succeed in innovation.

Summary

Today, we talked about the differences between innovation coaching and innovation mentoring. As we discussed, there is a difference between coaching and mentoring. Coaching is about solving communication skills, deliverables, executive presence, etc. Mentoring comes with long-term career advice.

My first mentor was my boss at Deltek, Bob Davis. Bob hired me and put me into the first management role of my career. He knew I could be a great software engineer, but as my mentor, he told me I had broader skills than that. I had to put in much extra work to develop myself under Bob’s mentorship. He put me on a career rotation, placing me in finance, marketing, advertising, sales, and IT, which helped me grow. Bob helped me think through my long-term goals and what opportunities I should seek.

Today, I do innovation coaching and mentoring and have done small companies up to Fortune 10. I’ve coached and mentored CEOs, CTOs, and CIOs, some lasting up to seven years.

Check out the Disruptive Ideation Workshop, a long-term investment for your or your team’s success.

Continuing our best of Killer Innovations series, we explore the hidden benefits of successful failures.

For innovation leaders, it is vital to learn how to turn failures into successes. Innovation is all about seeing opportunities others don't see and seizing them. Successful failures lead to successful innovations.

The Importance of Failure

The experimentation phase is within the innovation process often full of failures. These failures are not always negative. When things are unplanned, failures allow us to see what needs change. Successful innovations require risk and a capacity for productive failures, which reveal something new about the problem you are trying to solve. To experience productive failure, you have to fail successfully. Three characteristics help you figure out if your failures are successful.

Three Characteristics of Successful Failures

1. Effort: Firm commitment is a must for innovators, even when others give up hope. Ask yourself, "Did you give your project your 100% best effort?"
2. Perspective: Reflect on what happened during each failure, learn from it, and apply what you learned to future innovations. Ask yourself, "what does the experience teach you about what works and what doesn't?"
3. Inspiration: Experiment failure might lead to lessons about the nature of the problem, inspiring better solutions. They can also teach us something about how we think. Through failures, you can learn how to solve problems better. Ask, "Does this new understanding inspire a new understanding that wasn't there before?"

We kick off a new series where we will be looking at the best of past Killer Innovation shows. This episode is about creative qualities.

Creative people often have a sense of limitless creative freedom and experimentation. Creative genius is a natural part of who creatives are. If you are not naturally creative, you can learn and develop your creativity by applying creative qualities.

12 Qualities of a Creative Person

1. Curious: Creative people are always asking questions/looking for new ideas. They're not content with the status quo.
2. Creative Confidence: Creative confidence is when you know what you are about to do/say/or create is original. Creative, confident people are not afraid to fail because they know it's part of the process.
3. Thick Skin: Creative people must have thick skin, take criticism, reject rejection, stay persistent, and be unafraid of failure.
4. Independent Rebellious Streak: Creatives can't be afraid to blaze their trail and stand up for their ideas. They must find the right balance between their independent, rebellious streak and supporting the team's mission.
5. Flexibility: Creative people need to be flexible. If not, they might overlook new ideas, or you might be unable to adapt to changes a new idea would impose.
6. Playful:Playing with ideas can help break through mental blocks by going outside the box to create new solutions or inventive ways of looking at old ones.
7. Thorough: Creative people are more comprehensive than most because they never stop at the first idea. They always look around at what else they can do.
8. Ambitious: Creatives are ambitiously striving to push the boundaries of what is possible. They crave feedback from others to improve and desire to create something new and unique.
9. Energetic: Creative people constantly move, inspiring others with their creativity and energy.
10. Naïve:Creative people are often naïve about their limitations but can be more creative than others because of this naivete. It's important to balance creativity and practicality.
11. Dreamer:Creative people are sometimes called "dreamers" because they imagine new possibilities.
12. Persistence: Creatives persist in their efforts over time despite any obstacles. Creative solutions result from patience and tenacity.

Are you ready to take your leadership skills to the next level? Visionary leaders possess unique characteristics that set them apart from other leaders. They have the confidence to make tough decisions and the creativity to develop innovative solutions. It is their willingness to embrace risks that truly sets visionary leaders apart.

Qualities of Visionary Leaders

Their ambition, creativity, and courage set visionary leaders apart from other leaders. They are naturally inquisitive, asking questions and looking for innovative solutions. Their entrepreneurial spirit drives them to take risks and embrace change.

Let's take a deeper look at these qualities.

Their courage is key, as they must make decisions even when uncertainty or risk is involved. Visionary leaders are not afraid to take risks, knowing that without risk, there is little chance of success. As such, they accept responsibility for their decisions and embrace failure as a learning experience.

They believe that setting one's mind to something can accomplish anything, no matter how difficult it may seem. Visionary leaders push themselves further than anyone else to reach new heights, creating opportunities for others.

Besides being ambitious and having an eye for potential opportunities, visionary leaders possess strong communication skills and empathy toward those around them. They understand everyone has different strengths and weaknesses, making them open-minded about strategies and solutions put forth by team members, which helps build trust between all involved.

Lastly, visionary leaders know when it's time to move on from a specific project or task to progress further, which shows great awareness of internal and external circumstances.

Embracing Risk

Visionary leaders exhibit their willingness to take risks. They understand that to achieve success and reach new heights, one must be willing to step out of their comfort zone and try something new.

Risk-taking behavior for visionary leaders can manifest in a variety of ways. For example, they may take calculated risks to capitalize on opportunities leading to more significant rewards. They may also be willing to try innovative solutions or methods that no one else has tried before, as this kind of experimentation has the potential for breakthroughs.

These risk-takers often go against popular opinion or convention to pursue their ideas and dreams. Visionary leaders recognize that sometimes taking the path less traveled is necessary, and they have the courage and conviction to act ‌even when faced with criticism or doubt from others.

Visionary leaders understand that failure is an essential part of the learning process. They don't allow fear of failure or uncertainty to deter them from trying something new - instead, they embrace it as a source of knowledge and growth. They learn from each situation and use it as a stepping stone toward future success.

The Benefits of Risk

Taking risks as a leader is an essential part of developing into a successful visionary leader. To be deemed successful, one must think ahead and anticipate the possible consequences of taking certain risks. For example, if you risk investing in emerging technology that could become popular, you would gain from being ahead of the curve and having the opportunity to capitalize on its success before anyone else.

Learning to identify potential opportunities for growth and success requires understanding risk-taking principles. This involves learning how to manage and minimize risks when necessary. Knowing when it is wise to take a risk and when it is better not to can be critical for staying competitive in the marketplace. Taking unnecessary risks can lead to severe setbacks or failures, so it's essential to understand what could go wrong with any decision before making it.

Leaders who can identify potential risks and opportunities, while still willing to take necessary ones, will come out ahead in the long run. Effective risk management helps leaders make informed decisions that optimize their time and resources and identify opportunities with high potential returns versus those with low potential returns. This allows them to focus on more productive endeavors than simply following trends or relying on guesswork alone.

While some may naturally thrive on taking significant risks without considering the consequences, this is rarely effective in the long term. Leaders must always use their knowledge of risk-taking principles and their understanding of their current situation to make informed decisions that will benefit them both now and in the future. By learning how to manage and assess potential risks associated with any decision, leaders can help ensure that they stay competitively viable while being able to capitalize on potential opportunities quickly before anyone else has the chance to!

How To Take Risks

To start taking risks and reap the rewards, one must first understand how to identify potential opportunities for growth and success while managing and minimizing risk when necessary. With this understanding of both sides of risk-taking, leaders can make informed decisions that will allow them to seize opportunities while mitigating competitive threats.

Calculate Risk

When embracing risk as a leader, the most important thing is to be mindful and ensure that any risks taken are calculated. This means not taking unnecessary risks where the potential upside does not outweigh the downside. To take responsible risks as a leader, taking an inventory of yourself and your organization is crucial. Identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to determine which risks are worth considering and which to avoid. What are the potential rewards and risks associated with this decision?

-        What is the most likely outcome of taking this risk?

-        Are there any alternative options that might be less risky?

-        How can we protect ourselves against potential losses if things don't go as planned?

-        Is my organization prepared to handle a negative outcome from taking this risk?

-        How do I measure the success or failure of this risk taken?

Decision-Making Process Including Risk

Next, become aware of your decision-making process and how risk factors into it. Figure out what type of knowledge or information you need to make informed decisions about when it is appropriate to take certain risks. Consider investing in data analysis tools or hiring experts who can help you make better-informed decisions regarding risk-taking. Additionally, adopt a learning culture by encouraging others to share their successes and failures when discussing potential opportunities or threats.

-        How can we analyze data to make a more informed decision regarding risk?

-        What tools can help us assess the potential risks of specific actions?

-        Are there any experts we could consult better to understand the implications of our decisions on risk?

-        What have been other successful and unsuccessful experiences regarding managing risk in similar cases?

-        How can we create an environment encourages open communication among stakeholders to make more informed decisions?

Assessing Risk Success and Failure

In addition to understanding when it is wise to take certain risks, leaders should also create processes for assessing each risk's potential success and failure before committing any resources to pursue them. Prioritize thoroughly evaluating new ideas rather than blindly investing resources into unproven concepts that could potentially fail with disastrous results if you do not take proper measures beforehand.

-        What are the potential issues that could arise from this risk?

-        What resources will be needed to make sure this risk is successful?

-        How likely is it that this risk will generate a positive return on our investment?

-        Do we have enough resources and personnel to successfully execute the plan for taking on this risk?

-        What are some alternative strategies or solutions if things don't go as planned?

Have Contingency Plans

Leaders should also ensure they have contingency plans for different scenarios resulting from taking on a given risk. This will help reduce uncertainty while allowing them to pursue more daring endeavors without fear of total failure if something inevitably goes wrong during implementation.

-        What are the possible risks associated with this decision?

-        How can we mitigate each of these risks?

-        What impact will the execution of the mitigation plan have?

-        Are there any potential long-term consequences of taking this risk?

-        Have all stakeholders been consulted about the potential impacts of taking this risk and the mitigation plans?

-        Who would manage and mitigate adverse effects if something went wrong?

Avoid Analysis Paralysis

Ultimately, visionary leaders take risks and are comfortable with some uncertainty. They take on calculated risks based on thorough research and analysis. Still, they don't let their team fall into "analysis paralysis," where they never actually act on anything due to fear of failure. As a leader, it is crucial to make timely decisions that will accelerate progress for the organization.

-        How can leaders ensure their decision-making process leads to action instead of stagnation?

-        What is knowable, and what is unknown about this risk?

-        Are we prepared for unexpected outcomes of taking on this risk?

-        Are there any external factors that may affect our decision to take this risk?

-        How can this decision provide a lasting benefit to our organization, customers, and team members?

Example of a Visionary Leader

One example of a visionary leader who took outsized risks is Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX and Tesla Motors. Musk has disrupted the aerospace and automotive industries with his bold strategies for ushering in a new era of innovation.

In 2002, Musk founded SpaceX intending to reduce space transportation costs to enable the colonization of Mars. No other private company had ever succeeded in reaching orbit, making this an incredibly risky endeavor. Despite this, he invested $100 million of his own money into the venture and tirelessly worked to develop reliable, reusable rocket technology that could revolutionize space exploration. After several failed attempts to reach orbit, SpaceX eventually succeeded in 2008 when its Falcon 1 rocket became the first privately funded liquid-fueled vehicle to do so.

Since then, SpaceX has achieved multiple firsts. These include sending cargo vehicles to resupply the International Space Station (ISS). They have also launched the world's most powerful operational rocket (Falcon Heavy). Additionally, SpaceX became the first commercial entity to fly astronauts to the ISS with its Crew Dragon spacecraft. Finally, they produced highly reusable technology, such as its Starship vehicle, which could send people to Mars in the coming years.

Through his achievements at SpaceX, Elon Musk stands out as a visionary leader through taking outsized risks that have pushed humanity forward.

Conclusion

Today's ambitious leaders face a challenge - take innovation risk despite uncertainty and doubt, or play it safe? It may seem like uncharted terrain at times, but taking risks has the potential for game-changing success. However, navigating risks requires careful planning to ensure informed decisions. It's vital to assess a situation by looking at the entire picture and considering all factors, from financial costs to potential outcomes.

A successful risk-taker must be willing to take calculated risks, challenge assumptions, and understand that failure is part of any innovation journey. Ultimately, taking innovation risks can lead to rewards far more incredible than playing it safe.