Innovative leaders know that providing staff with various learning experiences contributes to a mindset of continual growth. There are many ways that staff can be exposed to new growth opportunities; and these opportunities can come about internally with the airport organization, externally with the aviation industry, or even through structured professional-development initiatives. Innovative leaders are always seeking ways to encourage staff to engage in learning experiences.

Innovative leaders

• Provide inside-out opportunities. Look for innovation-related learning and problem-solving experiences for employees right in their own backyard. Think about meaningful ways to collaborate with a robust cast, from airlines to fixed-base operators to concessionaires. Each of these entities represents a business with its own set of processes and procedures that staff can learn from. Offer sessions in the form of on-site workshops, informal meetings where folks can collaborate to remedy a particular challenge in the airport ecosystem. Reflect on opportunities inside your airport environment and consider how they might play out with regard to the outside world (i.e., inside-out).
• Offer outside-in opportunities. Look for outside opportunities with industry experts. Start by offering attendance at industry-centric conferences or connecting with other airports of similar size or within the region. These settings provide learning experiences for airport personnel in a way that is transferable and tangible to their everyday work. These settings enable staff to quickly learn from experimentation or witnessing activities of others, and they offer insight into fail-fast (e.g., experiment-fast) methodology. This is also an opportunity for staff to witness daily activities, which helps them identify areas where there are opportunities to take a small, low-level risk; experiment; document findings; and discuss lessons learned. Reflect on opportunities outside your airport environment and consider how they might play out with regard to a specific ecosystem setting (i.e., outside-in).
• Offer professional opportunities. Look for professional-development training opportunities to enhance employee skills and learning experiences. These can take the form of classroom time, workshops, or seminars, and they can cover myriad topics such as leadership, empowerment, change management initiatives, agility, and innovation. These are opportunities to help employees develop skills in ideating, design thinking, and critical thinking-all in pursuit of creating an innovative mindset.