The Role of a Leader in The Organization

The role of a leader is a key factor for successful innovation in an organization. The perception of followers with respect to the traits linked to an innovative profile of their leader can act as a driving factor for innovation. The main reason for this article might have been to explore the qualities of an innovative leader. The result shows that behavioral qualities, traits, and skills of innovative leadership. The assumption of leadership being a social and relational process emphasizes the importance of the perception of the manager of the intermediate level in relation to the primary leader because this influences the way the former will conduct himself in his role as leader. Reasoning skill is most important for innovative leaders. List of the reasoning skills of innovative leaders is also discussed in this article.

Innovative leadership provides others to think outside the box, then creates an environment where new ideas can be tested. These leaders tend to be visionaries and motivate their followers through leading by example. To meet the needs of the organization, innovative leadership uses several leadership styles. Innovative leaders manage the process of innovation. In some cases, this leader is responsible for generating new ideas within an organization.

History of innovative leadership

Innovative leadership is a product of path-goal theory and leader-member exchange theory was founded by researchers Basu and Green in 1997. Path-goal theory is based on the fact that many leadership styles are needed within an organization. In order for innovative leadership to work well within an organization, it needs follower cooperation and an environment that is effective. Leader-member exchange theory states that each individual should be governed by a leadership style that fits them.

Examples of innovative leadership

Benioff is the founder and CEO of Salesforce, a cloud-based company. It was started in the year 1999. The company expanded through a large number of acquisitions. In 2013, its revenue topped $3 billion. It topped the Forbes World’s Most Innovative Companies list in 2011, 2012, and 2013. Salesforce.com claims to have transformed the enterprise software market, and they say that now they are leading the shift to social enterprise.

Skills for an innovative leader

• Manage risk: Innovative leaders scored 25% higher than their non-innovative counterparts on managing risk. Innovative leaders are bold when it comes to experimenting with new approaches. However, they will initiate reasonable action when potentially negative consequences are expected. Innovative leaders develop plans to identify the risk and minimize the risk.
• Demonstrate Curiosity: Innovative leaders scored higher in terms of demonstrating curiosity. They exhibit an underlying curiosity to know more. These leaders will actively take the initiative to learn new information, which demonstrates engagement and loyalty to company goals. They need to lead effectively and stimulates new ways of thinking in other workers.
• Lead Courageously: Innovative leaders are proactive and lead with confidence. They turn tough circumstances into prime opportunities to demonstrate their decisive capabilities and take responsibility for difficult decision making. Innovative leaders are sure to engage and maintain audience attention in meetings and discussions. They do not avoid conflicts and differences of opinion.
• Seize Opportunities: Innovative leaders scored higher when it comes to seizing opportunities. They are proactive and take initiative and ownership for success. These CEOs anticipate potential obstacles before taking action but avoid over-analysis. They push for personal performance and are able to work independently for extended periods of time with minimal support. When new opportunities come they are able to change directions quickly.
• Maintain a Strategic Business Perspective: Innovative leaders score higher when it comes to maintaining a strategic business perspective. These leaders demonstrate a keen understanding of industry trends and their implications for the organization. They thoroughly understand the business, the marketplace, and the customer base and are adept at identifying strategic opportunities or threats for the business. They actively participate in community, industry and leadership organizations to understand the external environment. They have the ability to articulate convincing approaches to moving their business forward.

Reasoning skills for innovative leaders

• Paying attention: They watch what is happening and make sure the group is collaborating
• Personalizing: Developing a rapport with a group and also paying attention to the individuals within a group
• Imaging: Innovative leaders have a clear vision of the goal that they are good at communicating
• Serious play: Fostering a playful environment to encourage production. They know that pressure will kill creativity.
• Collaborative inquiry: Innovative leaders stress collaboration. They find ways to increase the cross-pollination of ideas.
• Crafting: Innovative leaders help the group to prototype, find holes in the idea, and generally evaluate the final results.

Common traits

• Open leadership behaviors
• Creating a work environment conducive to innovation
• Devising processes that lead to creative thinking and problem-solving
• Encouraging an environment that allows the followers to implement and evaluate new ideas

Innovative leadership style requirements

• Clear strategic vision
• Strong focus on the end-user
• Able to build strong two-way trust
• Strongly committed to doing right for the organization and the individual
• Trust in the ability to communicate upward in the organization
• Excellent at getting people to go beyond their normal limits
• Believe in speed and getting ideas and prototypes completed quickly
• Blunt and straightforward communication style

Innovative leadership advantages

• • High job satisfaction
  • Higher job performance
  • High-quality group interaction
  • The greater the diversity, the greater the variety of ideas

Innovative leadership disadvantages

• Results are not predictable
• Resource intensive
• Time-consuming

Innovative leaders should think different and also they will adapt to any situation. Reasoning skills such as personalizing, imaging and crafting are important for innovative leaders. Skills for innovative leaders such as manage risk, demonstrate curiosity, lead courageously, seize opportunities and maintain a strategic business perspective. Innovative leadership should provide high job satisfaction and high job performance. So this article contains skills and traits for innovative leaders. It concluded that reasoning skill is most important for an innovative leader.