The fundamental premise of this chapter is that, in order for innovation leaders to lead teams and achieve successful outcomes, they must understand the concepts of followership and team dynamics. This chapter will define followership, identify the different types of followers, and identify the characteristics that make a successful follower. Likewise, it will define the innovation leader–follower dyad, explore theories related to the innovation leader–follower dyad, and examine innovation leader–follower communication perspectives. Readers also will learn the importance of developing an appreciation and understanding of diversity among innovation leaders and their followers.

Description

While much emphasis has been put on leadership attributes when explaining the roles and characteristics of group or team dynamics, another aspect is often overlooked. This unique aspect is followership. Followership refers to a role held by certain individuals in a group or team environment. Followership is often referred to as the reciprocal social process of leadership (Riggio, 2008). The study of followership involves the examination of the nature and impact of followers and following in the leadership process. The leadership process is a term used to describe leadership as a dynamic system involving leaders and followers interacting simultaneously.

Research foundations

Followers play a powerful role in the successes or failures of organizations, groups and teams. Riggio (2008) states that effective followers are individuals who are enthusiastic, intelligent, ambitious, and self-reliant. Team projects allow both innovation leaders and followers to reproduce their existing norms and values through daily interaction thereby legitimizing their innovation leader–follower relationships. As a form of people management, innovation leaders can use active coaching techniques to ensure followers cultivate teamwork and strong communication. Innovation leaders must also give followers accurate and timely feedback so that they feel valued and show followers that their contribution to the team and to the organization is recognized.

Kelley (1992) summarized behavioral characteristics of four types of followers: alienated, conformist, passive, and exemplary. Alienated followers are mavericks who have a healthy skepticism of the organization. They are capable, but cynical. Conformist followers are the yes people of the organizations. They are very active at doing the organization’s work and will actively follow orders. Passive followers rely on leaders to do the thinking for them. They also require constant direction. Exemplary followers are independent, innovative, and willing to question leadership. Kelley (1992) views exemplary followers as critical to organizational success. Exemplary followers know how to work well with other team members and present themselves consistently to all who come into contact with them.

Kelley (1988) described four main qualities of followers. These qualities are: self-management, commitment, competence, and courage. Self-management refers to the ability of group or team members to think critically, control their own actions and to work independently. Commitment refers to the group or team member’s ability to be committed to the goal, vision, or cause of the group or team. Competence refers to skills and aptitudes the group or team members hold which are necessary to complete the goals or tasks assigned to the team. Courage refers to the ability of team members to hold steadfast to their beliefs and uphold ethical standards even when faced with dishonest or corrupt leaders. Kelly (1988) also defined two underlying behavioral dimensions for followers. The first behavioral dimension looks at whether or not the team member as an independent, critical thinker. The second dimension refers to whether the team member is active or passive.

There are three leadership theories (see Figure 3.1) that focus on developing the innovation leader–follower dyad including Path-Goal theory, Leader Member Exchange theory, and Diffusion of Innovations theory.

According to House (1975), Path-Goal theory identifies a leader’s effectiveness by evaluating a leader’s impact on employee motivation, their ability to perform effectively, and their ability to increase employee satisfaction. The major concept of Path-Goal theory is that a leader influences the subordinates’ perceptions of their work goals, personal goals, and paths to goal attainment. Innovation leaders, like a trail guide, lead their followers along the path to the goal. The theory suggests that a leader’s behavior is motivating or satisfying to the degree that the behavior increases subordinate goal attainment and clarifies the paths to these goals. The first proposition of Path-Goal theory is that leader behavior is acceptable and satisfying to subordinates to the extent that the subordinates see such behavior as either an immediate source of satisfaction or as instrumental to future satisfaction. The second proposition of this theory is that the leader’s behavior will be motivational (House, 1975). These motivational behaviors are measured to the extent that (a) such behaviors make the satisfaction of subordinates’ needs contingent on effective performance by complementing the environment of subordinates and (b) by providing the coaching, guidance, support and rewards necessary for effective performance (House, 1975). These two propositions suggest that the leader’s strategic functions are to enhance subordinates’ motivation to perform, satisfaction with the job, and acceptance of the leader.

The second theory associated with followership is the Leader Member Exchange (LMX) theory. The major concept of LMX theory is that within work units or teams, different types of relationships develop between leaders and followers (Clarke, 2017). These relationships are depicted by the physical and mental effort, material resources, information, and emotional support exchanged between the leader and follower (Zhichao, 2012). LMX theory is a development-focused theory of leadership and employee development is a key source follower motivation. LMX theory is grounded in role theory. Role theory suggests that organizational or team members accomplish their work through roles or sets of behaviors expected of the team members in their positional roles on the team (Broderick, 1998). Role definition tends to occur when team members are assimilated into new positions on the team and involves the leaders having a vested interest in the performance of that team member. An innovation leader can have a significant impact on the role assignment process because the leader has the authority to negotiate roles using formal methods. Thus, when combined with Path-Goal theory, innovation leaders lead followers along the path to the goal and develop them using LMX theory along the way.

The third theory associated with innovation leader–follower dyad is Diffusion of Innovations theory (DOI). This theory explains how an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time and among members of a social system and is based on many different attributes such as diffusion networks, individual influence, and innovation attributes (Rogers, 2003; Wejnert, 2002). To understand DOI, it is important to use socio-technical systems theory, which explains how people interact with technology in a social system, as a foundation (Hermann, 2007). When an innovation is shared with others, the new idea diffuses among people as they communicate the idea within their social and professional networks. This can happen in live interpersonal interactions and through the use of technology. Many modern communication and social and professional networking platforms allow innovations to be diffused quite rapidly to large numbers of people. An example would be a viral video that can receive millions of views in less than a day. Once the innovation is communicated, it is up to the decision-maker to decide if the innovation is useful. Thus, both the innovation leader and followers play a critical role in deciding if an innovation is successful. The CREATE Model provides a set of steps by which the innovation can be readied for diffusion. Many of the competencies discussed earlier in this book play an important role in how the innovation is developed in the innovation leader–follower dyad.

Application and implementation strategies

A more democratic leadership style may work best when working in a leader–follower dyad (Gastil, 1994). Innovation leaders who possess a democratic leadership style involve followers in setting team guidelines for all to follow, involve followers in setting goals, engage in two-way open communication, facilitate discussion with and amongst followers, solicit input when setting policy and procedures, mediate conflict for team gain, and provide consistent and frequent feedback to followers. Followers bring their individual/internal aspects of their personal internal reality to the team environment. Their internal reality includes attributes such as personal values, attitude, intention and meanings, as well as various experiences. Followers reflect on the ‘I’ in the team environment as specific relationships. The ‘I’ is articulated by expressing their intra-personal characteristics such as views, feelings, and intuitions. Innovation leaders must understand that followers differ from one another in many ways. Innovation leaders must find ways to allow each follower to safely bring their own personal attributes to the team environment. This interaction makes up the internal aspects of the innovation leader–follower dyad.

The innovation leader–follower dyad is also made up of an individual’s external aspects such as individual knowledge, skills, accountabilities and performance levels. This part of the leader–follower dyad treats followers as catalysts having external aspects which can be measured and defined. Leaders must know how to identify knowledge, competencies and actions of followers in order to achieve the strategic goals of the organization. Leaders must also reinforce desired behaviors of followers such as attendance, following team guidelines, and the ability to bring substantial ideas to innovative team environments (Karaköse, 2011).

In order for both innovation leaders and followers to have successful communication interactions, they must both share critical interpersonal skills with team members (Mencl, 2016). Innovation leaders and followers must be able to engage in the following interpersonal skills.

It is important for innovation leaders and followers to build a self-awareness of their interpersonal and social styles. By building this self-awareness, leaders and followers create synergy for the team by learning how to communicate in an effective manner. The concept of synergy will be explored in a later chapter of this book.

When leaders and followers understand each other’s social style and individual traits, they have the ability to communicate, listen, react, collaborate, and negotiate in an efficient and effective manner for the good of the entire team. Emotional intelligence (EI), sometimes referred to as emotional quotient (EQ), is the capacity for individuals to recognize their own and other people’s emotions (Kunnanatt, 2008). The more team members understand about their EI or EQ, the more they can respond the emotional needs of other team members. This understanding helps to guide thinking and leads team members to use appropriate behaviors that will lead to successful team outcomes. Innovation leaders must be aware of the diversity of their followers and how to manage diversity within the team environment. How can innovation leaders do this? First, they need to focus on treating every follower fairly, ethically, and respectfully. Second, leaders need to establish relationships of trust with their followers (Torres, 2012). There are several ways innovation leaders can establish relationships of trust with followers and these are listed below.

If a follower does not trust his/her leader, their team will not be able to converse on issues of real significance. Therefore, building trust between innovation leaders and followers is a necessary foundational activity in innovation leadership.

Discussion

Creating and diffusing an innovation requires not only a focus on leadership, but also on followership. Followership is the capacity of individuals to actively follow leaders of innovation initiatives. In order to maximize innovation effectiveness, it is advantageous to have different types of followers as part of initiatives. Researchers have characterized followers in a number of different ways. One way to characterize them is by their behavioral characteristics such as: alienated, conformists, passive, and exemplary. The more innovation leaders increase the knowledge of themselves to and others, the greater their potential for building effective relationships and inspiring innovation (Mencl, 2016).

No matter what follower characteristics are displayed, leaders must recognize that their job is to engage their followers. This requires that leaders create a democratic environment that provides open and honest communication so that followers feel valued and that their contributions to the team and the organization are valued (Gastil, 1994). An effective leader of an innovative organization is inspiring. They make people feel motivated, valued, and excited to innovate on behalf of their organization. Leaders must also be flexible and recognize the value and importance of team diversity and encouraging multiple perspectives. When leaders make their ideas, reasoning, and thinking apparent to others, they build trust over time. As a result, others then become more willing to give them the benefit of the doubt during times when the leader cannot share information.

A leader that values innovation uses trust effectively. A good leader knows that trust goes both ways; you must trust employees to do their jobs well and support the organizational vision and they must be able to trust you to support them, encourage them, and have their back if things go awry (Torres, 2012). Perhaps nothing is more important to the innovation leader–follower relationship than trust. Innovation leaders have a vested interest in helping followers maximize their contributions. They also have a vested interest in providing communication channels for followers to communicate their thoughts and feelings and to inspire others to innovate and to think of better ways to do things.

Summary

This chapter explored the concept of followership and how innovation leaders can be aware of the specific needs of their followers in the innovation leader–follower dyad. The definition, types, and characteristics of followers was explored. Three different theories that are critical to understanding the innovation leader–follower dyad were discussed including Path-Goal theory, Leader Member Exchange theory, and Diffusion of Innovations theory. The chapter continued with a review of different perspectives on leader–follower communication. The chapter concluded with a discussion of how these theories can be applied in organizations.

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