The Hogan 360 Leadership Model and 14 Core Competencies
Self-Management	Relationship Management	Working in the Business	Working on the Business
Integrity Resilience	Communication People Skills Team Player Engaging	Capability Efficiency Results Customer	Accountability Motivation Strategy Innovation

The final competency in the Working on the Business quadrant is Innovation. Innovation pertains to whether one suggests and supports ideas that improve processes and deliverables. Those scoring higher on Innovation tend to be seen as outgoing, socially oriented, naturally inquisitive, and curious. Those scoring lower on Innovation may be seen as more practical and process-focused, and they may struggle to find and implement new ways of doing things. Lower scorers also tend to be less confident and more deferential to others’ opinions. Lower scorers tend to have lower moving against scores (Bold, Mischievous, Colourful and Imaginative), as well as lower Ambition, Sociability and Inquisitive scores. The key areas of focus in working with someone scoring lower on Innovation will be: 1.) Leveraging resources to create new solutions; 2.) Devising alternate solutions to a problem; and 3.) Spending time thinking creatively.

The first area to consider with this person is what resources are available to them to continue learning about new ways of doing things that they can incorporate into their work. Reiterate that innovation does not necessarily require one to invent something brand new. Encourage the individual to obtain information from a variety of sources, such as conferences, networking contacts, other experts in the field, webinars or articles. The individual can use these resources to learn about how others have handled a similar task, project or situation. By incorporating what they learn into their work, the individual will appear more creative and also contribute something new to the organisation. As a practical coaching tip, have the individual determine one such resource that they can use to inform a better approach to a process or solution. In your next meeting with them, have them share with you how they used this knowledge to develop an innovative solution. You could also encourage the individual to participate in the organisation’s product and market planning; this would expose them to new ideas and different methods of thinking about the business.

A second area of focus for the individual will be changing their current approach to problem-solving. Instead of immediately relying on their first solution to a problem, encourage the individual to pause before moving forward to consider what other options might be available. It might be helpful for them to ask other colleagues or team members about how they would approach a situation or problem to spark more creative thinking. This is especially crucial when thinking about situations where long-standing habits have been formed. It’s important to revisit these processes every so often to consider if there might be a better way of doing things. Work with the individual to identify one such process or task and brainstorm with them how they might adapt the process or implement a new method to improve it. You might suggest that the individual begin keeping a file for new ideas, in which they can write down and organise new approaches and review periodically to inform their creativity.

Finally, encourage the individual to designate time each day to just think and create. Think about Google’s 20% policy, where employees were given one day each week to think about a new idea or project. Perhaps the individual does not have a whole day each week to devote to this kind of thinking, however, even 30 minutes each day spent solely on brainstorming and problem-solving could produce new ideas and solutions over time which could make a positive organisational impact. During this time, have the individual write down every item or solution they think of, without evaluating any idea until they have exhausted their thoughts. Once done, review the list to analyse which ideas seem best, giving consideration to the top two or three ideas. As part of this exercise, encourage the individual to move temporarily to a different environment, as changing spaces may help stimulate thinking and idea generation.