Transformational Leadership- OB & HR Blog-2

Transformational Leadership

“Transformational leaders don’t start by denying the world around them. Instead, they describe a future they’d like to create instead.” 

Seth Godin

Transformational leadership is a leadership approach that is defined as leadership that creates valuable and positive change in the followers. A transformational leader focuses on ‘transforming’ others to help each other, to look out for each other, to be encouraging and harmonious, and to look out for the organization as a whole. In this leadership, the leader enhances the motivation, morale and performance of his follower group.”

“Transformational leaders are those who stimulate and inspire followers to both achieve extraordinary outcomes and, in the process, develop their own leadership capacity. Transformational leaders help followers grow and develop into leaders by responding to individual followers’ needs by empowering them and by aligning the objectives and goals of the individual followers, the leader, the group, and the larger organization. Evidence has accumulated to demonstrate that transformational leadership can move followers to exceed expected performance, as well as lead to high levels of follower satisfaction and commitment to the group and organization.”

We can identify transformational leaders by what they do (behaviors) and who they are (character strengths). Here is my summary of what transformational leaders do:

1. Be an exemplary role model,
2. Motivate through inspiration,
3. Promote innovative thinking,
4. Mentor and coach your staff.

Inspirational Motivation                                                                                  Intellectual Stimulation

Idealized Influence                                                                  Individualized Consideration

More rigorously (Sosik, 2006), transformational leaders exhibit the following (what they do):

1. Idealized Influence: “Transformational leaders display idealized influence (II-B) or pro-social and positive behaviors to role model organizational values such as high levels of ethical and performance standards. When leaders display such behaviors, followers often reflect great admiration and loyalty back at them and make attributions of idealized influence(II-A) towards the leader. Followers perceive the leader as trustworthy and worthy of respect and emulation. II-A involves gaining trust, respect and confidence from followers as a results of displaying II-B through setting and role modeling high standards of conduct for yourself and others. As a results, followers are willing to show support for the leader’s vision and put extra effort into their work.”
2. Inspirational Motivation: “Transformational leaders use inspirational motivation (IM) to energize their followers to do more than is expected. IM involves speaking optimistically and enthusiastically, articulating an inspiring and evocative vision, expressing confidence, and championing teamwork and high standards of performance. When displaying IM, leaders speak glowingly about a future desired state that they describe in their vision and develop a plan to achieve it.”
3. Intellectual Stimulation: “Transformational leaders use intellectual stimulation (IS) to get followers and constituents to re-examine assumptions, seek different perspectives, look at problems in new ways, and encourage non-traditional thinking. They encourage followers to re-think old methods of doing things to break inappropriate or outdated business models. Such leadership behavior encourages followers to be willing to think for themselves, re-engineer work processes and be more creative. IS seeks to get followers to question the status quo and promote continuous innovation and process improvement, even at the peak of success.”
4. Individualized Consideration: “Transformational leaders also use individualized consideration (IC) with their followers and customers to recognize their unique potential to develop into leaders themselves. They spend time listening, teaching and coaching followers. They go out and visit their customers, one by one, to see what they really value. They treat others as individuals with different needs, abilities and aspirations and get them to appreciate the benefits of diversity. They also help others to develop their knowledge, skills and abilities. As a result, followers begin to value personal learning and development and may appreciate the breadth of knowledge, skills and abilities associated with collaborating within a diverse team. IC energizes followers to develop and achieve their full potential through mentoring and appreciation of diversity.”

With Relation to Maha Mandi

Relationship Building

                               Relational leadership and passing the knowledge are two specific areas that leaders must emphasize, which may perhaps produce an environment of possibilities through continuous and correct communication and relationship-building. Factors that must be considered in relational leadership include:

·         History of a relationship

·         Ability to direct a subordinate’s professional destiny

·         Removing communication roadblocks

For example, as the use of email increases, face-to-face communication decreases.  The culture of the organization is a tremendous factor in such a phenomenon, as it may demonstrate a perception of a faceless upper echelon whose one-dimensional communication style may create an inability to show a personal interest in the people within the organization.

Trust and Communication

Creating an environment that emphasizes an interpersonal style of communication is a critical ingredient to providing a culture of openness and interpersonal relationships. This openness will create an environment of trust and the ability to rid the organization of its dysfunctional and faceless culture, thus providing a true ability to communicate and relate with others at every level of the organization.

The second area of future leadership accomplishments is the passing of knowledge and wisdom through teaching others. The relationship between leader and led can be no closer than when a leader is teaching. There are techniques that must be used to communicate the information, whether it is through lecture, role playing, activities, group work, or individual assignments.

Individuals have their own learning preferences, and leaders must be prepared to engage individuals to ensure they are learning and understanding the information which is being communicated.  Avolio, Bass, and Jung (1999) feel that intellectual stimulation encourages innovation, creativity, and questioning of old assumptions. That is exactly the point, and what leaders want to achieve to build the relationship through teaching.

It’s All About the People

It is that building a relationship at all levels takes work, discipline, and an absolute dedication to the effort.  Being a transformational leader will allow leaders to understand the needs of others, motivate, stimulate, and provide individual attention.

Relational leadership allows the leader not only to understand the need of each individual, but provides an environment of open communication and trust. And, passing knowledge and wisdom through teaching others allows a leader to ensure that the vision and direction are achieved.

Make a difference and emphasize the relationship.  It’s about trust and respect – and more importantly, it’s about people.