Leadership and Innovation Characteristics - Transforming Your STEM Career Through Leadership and Innovation - page 87

This study highlights the importance of external support in the organizational
innovation process. The results implied that internal support for innovation by
itself may not be sufficient to promote organizational innovation, in particu-
lar, incremental innovations. Rather, it is the support received from outside the
organization that serves as leverage to the effect of transformational leadership
on organizational innovation. Therefore, to boost the level of company innova-
tion, managers, especially of micro- and small-sized entrepreneurial compa-
nies, should play external roles such as boundary spanning and entrepreneuring/
championing and should build relationships with external institutions which
provide technical and financial support.
Other implications of the study suggest that for a leader to function at a trans-
formational level a high level of commitment to the vision and the organization is
required. As a result of this commitment to people, the vision, and respect, the leader
is able to inspire people and empower them to achieve the vision. The response
would lead to the followers viewing the leader between levels four and five on the
leadership continuum described by John Maxwell [32] and would be expected to
provide outstanding outcomes toward the organizations' mission and vision.
BEYOND TRANSFORMATIONAL INNOVATION LEADERSHIP
The levels of leadership espoused by Maxwell take the image of leadership
to another level - beyond the vision to a level of leadership that integrates the
vision, care for others, and the attainment of goals for a much bigger purpose
( Figure 4.3 ).
Gaining an understanding of these levels of leadership can be instrumental
in the establishment of our vision as well as the paths we take to reach our mis-
sions and goals.
Leadership Assessment Test
A variety of complex leadership assessment techniques exist and should be uti-
lized as you frame your leadership goals and develop as a leader. In the assess-
ment of your potential effectiveness as a leader, a survey developed by Gaebler.
com [33] to assess the entrepreneurial leadership skills of an individual may be
a good place to start ( Figure 4.4 ). Again, this survey is not designed to provide
scientific, personality, or theoretically proven conclusions about your abilities
as a leader, but rather it is a tool to assist in understanding your current leader-
ship potential.
SUMMARY
By this point, you've learned the elements of an innovator and a leader. Addition-
ally, you have probably begun to understand where you are in the innovation and
leader continuum and allowed some time to consider where you are and where