Welcome back to the Levelling Up Your Leadership series, where we are exploring the practical skills that can help to drive real impact. So far, we’ve covered Resilience (why it’s more about adaptability than endurance) and Strategic Management (why it’s sometimes about smart choices than endless planning).

Now we’re diving into something that leaders love to talk about but can struggle to apply: Creative Innovation.

Innovation Isn’t Just for ‘Creative’ People

Everywhere I’ve worked, I’ve heard the words “I’m not a creative person”. It’s a great line to stay in your comfort zone.

Creative innovation isn’t about being artistic and it’s not only reserved for tech disruptors or product designers. Creative Innovation is about problem-solving, seeing opportunities where others see obstacles, taking smart risks, and challenging to make things better.

The Innovation Blockers

For every leader who thrives on fresh thinking, there are many who unintentionally shut it down. Any of the below sound familiar?

❌ You play it too safe – You wait for certainty before making a move. Killing momentum before it even starts.

❌ You stick with ‘the way we’ve always done it’ – Comfort zones feel nice, but they rarely produce breakthroughs.

❌ You overthink everything – You analyse every idea to death before you actually test anything in the real world?

❌ You only value ‘big’ ideas – You think innovation has to be a game-changing, rather than a series of small but powerful improvements.

The best innovators don’t have all the answers, but they just manage to get comfortable with trying, testing, and adjusting as they go.

Ways to Level Up Your Creative Innovation

Want to become more innovative in your leadership? Here’s some things to try:

✅ Start before you’re ready – Stop waiting for the ‘perfect’ idea or moment. Test something small, get feedback, and refine from there.

✅ Ditch the fear of failure – Reframe failure as feedback. The best innovators see setbacks as learning, not losses.

✅ Ask the question ‘What if?’ more regularly - Creativity thrives when you open up questions. Challenge your own assumptions and explore alternative solutions with your team.

What’s Next?

Creative Innovation is just one of our priority leadership areas that we believe drive real impact. The most effective leaders balance structured thinking with bold experimentation, knowing when to stick to the plan and when to break the rules.

If you’d like to assess your leadership strengths and growth areas, the Impact Readiness Index is a good place to start. The free self assessment tool can helps you to identify where you stand across all eight of our impactful leadership domains and where to focus development next.  It’s also free.

👉 Take the Impact Readiness Index today and get a personalised report on your leadership strengths and opportunities.

At The Change Arc, we help leaders and teams build influence and impact—with the right mix of strategy, creativity, and execution. Find out more about how we work here.

About the Author

Iain Fowler is the Co-Founder of The Change Arc, helping leaders and teams build influence and impact. With a background in strategy, leadership development, and communication, he works with leaders to define and activate value, sharpen their leadership brand, and deliver real-world results.