So what’s this deal about Tricycle Leadership?

Well, Tricycle Leadership is a proven three prong, albeit a three wheeled approach to building collaborative and innovative leadership teams. My thirty years of advising executives and organizations has pointed out that through the implementation of innovation, the application of risk taking and the acceptance of the magic of accountability, solid leadership teams can be built.

These teams not only foster creativity and cherish collaboration, but they stand the test of challenging times. This insures that when those challenges rear their ugly head, the wheels won’t fall off.

The first key to making this happen is the development of innovation and creativity. This can be a real challenge for most individuals and organizations. According to respected studies the creativity of a four year old is squelched in half by age nine. One can only imagine what happens from age nine to high school graduation, let alone college. Through the consistent implementation of sound procedures and exercises you can bring back that resourceful challenging mind of our youth and construct that first wheel of Tricycle Leadership. This innovation wheel becomes the foundation of the leadership team.

The second wheel, the wheel of risk taking is often a real challenge for most organizations and individuals. We love the status quo, we hate stretching out of our comfort zone, or in any way rocking the boat. It’s only when individuals find that calculated and systematic risk taking yields improved productivity and collaboration that we become comfortable stepping over to this challenging side. Risk taking has to become part of an organization’s culture, and it must be reinforced even when there are failures.

The last wheel, the wheel of accountability is where these behaviors of innovation and risk taking are ultimately accepted, rewarded and challenged. This organizational tradition must never impede growth even though there are some small failures. It’s the combined implementation of these three wheels that develop collaborative and innovative leadership teams that stick together, even in the bad times, yes, so their wheels don’t fall off.

One interesting side note is that studies show that these three concepts work across generations, be it baby boomers, generation X or generation Y, but because of attitudinal difference they do have to be applied in specific ways for each group.

Is it as simple as just doing just these three things? No, it took my thirty years in the trenches as a national sales manager, an entrepreneur, and teacher to discover that there are many nuances and techniques that must be followed for the ultimate success of this Tricycle Leadership. Feel free to look on my website at tricycleleadership.com for some of the answers, and feel free to contact me if you want your organization to have the finest collaborative and innovative leadership team; a team that not only knows and understand these techniques but implements them as well.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 23rd, 2010 at 2:33 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.