Why Women-Led Teams Innovate Differently
Melissa Dinwiddie
Empower your team to innovate on demand. I help tech leaders Create the Impossible? through playful, interactive keynotes, workshops, & retreats. Unlock breakthrough creativity today ??
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Hey there, innovation champions!
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Have you ever wondered why some teams seem to innovate so differently than others? I’ve recently had a fascinating experience that shed light on this question in a way I never expected.
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Back in December, I facilitated the kickoff meeting for a grassroots democracy group in my area. What started with a dozen people sitting around a living room quickly grew to more than 10x that number in just over two months.
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Had it been just me trying to run things, I would have burned out faster than a tea light. Thankfully, some amazing women stepped up to help me out, and they became my leadership team.
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As we worked together, I noticed something remarkable about our approach to problem-solving and innovation that I believe offers powerful lessons for any organization looking to Create the Impossible?.
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Let me break down what I’ve observed through the lens of my Create the Impossible? framework:
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1. Play Hard: A Different Definition of Success
In traditional innovation environments, “playing hard” often translates to competition, individual achievement, and pushing through exhaustion. But our women-led team redefined success in a way that prioritized sustainability and collective wellbeing.
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Case in point: As our group grew, I took on internal communications. Initially, I told everyone I wouldn’t be sending daily emails. Everyone agreed that made sense. But as time went on, I found myself sending emails more frequently, until I was, in fact, sending them daily.
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The open rate was insane, and the feedback was incredibly positive – a powerful incentive to continue this unsustainable pace.
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When I met with my leadership team, their response wasn’t what you might expect in a more traditionally structured organization. They didn’t say, “With this kind of open rate, you can’t stop! People need you!” – which might be the more conventional, metrics-driven response.
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Instead, their response was grounded in empathy and long-term thinking: “We want what’s best for all involved, which starts with what’s best for you.”
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This approach to “playing hard” doesn’t mean working less intensely. Rather, it means playing with an eye toward longevity and collective strength. It’s about understanding that true innovation isn’t sustainable when it burns out your key players.
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2. Make Crap: Creating Safety Through Vulnerability
One of the most powerful aspects of our team dynamic has been the willingness to show up imperfectly – to “make crap” together.
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In our meetings, I’ve noticed that the women on my team are remarkably comfortable saying things like, “I don’t know how to solve this yet, but let’s figure it out together” or “I tried this approach and it didn’t work at all!”
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This willingness to be vulnerable creates a profound sense of psychological safety. And research consistently shows that psychological safety is the number one predictor of team innovation.
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Google’s Project Aristotle, their extensive study on team effectiveness, found that psychological safety – the belief that you won’t be punished for making a mistake – was the most critical factor in team success.
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Our team exemplifies this. When any member shares her frustration about a process she’s designed that isn’t working as smoothly as hoped, rather than defending it or hiding the problems, the response is collaborative problem-solving. No blame, just improvement.
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This environment allows us to suggest solutions that might sound crazy at first. It’s exactly the kind of atmosphere where breakthrough ideas emerge.
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3. Learn Fast: Wisdom Over Speed
“Learn fast” is often interpreted in innovation circles as “fail fast” – a rapid cycle of trial and error. But what I’ve observed in our women-led team is a nuanced understanding that sometimes learning requires slowing down to integrate deeper wisdom.
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For example, when deciding how to structure our growing organization, we could have quickly implemented a hierarchical system based on familiar models. It would have been efficient and fast.
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Instead, our team took time to consider multiple perspectives, examine power dynamics, and design a structure that reflected our values of inclusivity and shared leadership. This wasn’t the fastest approach, but it led to a more innovative and aligned solution.
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This doesn’t mean women-led teams are slower – quite the contrary. It means they often balance speed with integration, leading to more sustainable innovations.
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Research supports this perspective. A study published in the Harvard Business Review found that women-led teams often excel at what’s called “transformational leadership” – a style that emphasizes inspiration, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration.
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The Innovation Advantage
As I’ve reflected on these experiences through my Create the Impossible? framework, I’ve come to believe that women-led teams often bring unique strengths to innovation:
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This doesn’t mean all women lead this way or that men can’t embody these qualities. But in my experience and according to research, these traits appear more frequently in women-led teams and create distinctive innovation advantages.
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The results speak for themselves. Our grassroots group has accomplished in months what similarly focused organizations often take years to achieve. We’ve developed creative solutions to complex challenges – from operational issues like member vetting and affordable meeting spaces to strategic questions about leveraging member expertise and optimizing meeting time.
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But beyond these tangible outcomes, we’ve built something less measurable but equally valuable: a community where trust flourishes, where diverse voices are heard, and where innovation emerges from genuine connection.
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Your Innovation Challenge
So here’s your challenge for this week: Look at your team’s approach to innovation through this lens. Ask yourself:
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Remember: The most innovative teams aren’t necessarily the ones with the most resources or the latest methodologies. They’re often the ones that foster psychological safety, embrace diversity of thought, and understand that true innovation emerges from human connection.
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Stay curious, stay playful, and keep creating the impossible!
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I’d love to hear from you. What have you observed about different leadership styles and their impact on innovation? Click here to share your story!
Senior Leaders: Want to explore how your organization can benefit from diverse approaches to innovation? Book a complimentary Innovation Strategy Session to discover how to create an environment where all kinds of creative thinking can flourish.
A version of this article originally appeared on the blog at melissadinwiddie.com.
About Melissa Dinwiddie, M.Soc.Sci.
Innovation Strategist | Keynote Speaker | Author
I help leaders and organizations Create the Impossible? through my unique 3-step process. Drawing on my multifaceted creative background—from Juilliard-trained dancer to professional artist to jazz singer—I bring a fresh perspective to the tech and corporate world, empowering even the most analytical minds to unlock their creative potential and drive breakthrough innovation.
My innovative approaches, which form the basis of my Create the Impossible? framework and Creative Sandbox Way? principles, have contributed to transforming teams at Google, Facebook, Uber, Salesforce, Stanford, and more. Through interactive, playful keynotes and workshops, I help build cultures of thriving innovation using the same principles that help artists create works of enduring impact.
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