Leadership is an interesting area for both researchers and managers. Everyone wants to know how to succeed as a leader. This interest and curiosity are due to the fact that effective leadership is key to organizational success. Without an effective leader, the organization becomes like a rudderless ship: one without a direction or purpose and doomed to failure. In this article, we will learn about transformational leaders and how you be one.
The concept of transformational leadership dates back to the late 1970s. MacGregor Burns proposed this concept to describe leaders in the political context. In the 1980s, his conceptualization was elaborated by a researcher names Brass, when he contrasted transformational leadership with transactional leadership, proposing that the former is a more effective leadership style. Later on, transformational leadership emerged as one of the most prominent types of leadership.
4Is
The easiest way for students to remember about transformational leadership is the 4I plan.
Individualized Consideration
This basically means that the leader is empathetic and considerate of the needs and emotions of the followers. A transformational leader treats his or her followers with respect and coaches and mentors them so that they can perform better. They are not abusive or coercive. Such leaders are always open to communication and feedback from their followers. They also give credit to followers for their contributions. As a result, the followers feel valued and respected. Hence, followers are likely to be intrinsically motivated.
Intellectual Stimulation
This refers to the extent to which the leader challenges conventional protocol, takes risks and pushes followers to think outside the box. Transformational leaders continuously stimulate followers and encourage creative ideas. This is because they listen to and consider novel ideas for implementation. Such leaders never shun away from an opportunity to learn and develop. In addition, they encourage their followers to constantly learn and develop newer ideas and think deeply.
Inspirational Motivation
Transformational leaders lead with vision. They have long-term goals and they successfully foster feelings of purpose and meaning in the tasks of the followers. This motivates the followers to work in a goal-oriented fashion. Meaning greatly drives positive energy in the workplace. Transformational leaders have very good communication skills. Hence, they are able to verbally communicate their vision and passion to the followers in a precise, engaging and powerful way.
Idealized Influence
Due to the above three characteristics, transformational leaders are able to influence the followers. They serve as role models for the followers, who aspire to be more like them. Having good role models is not only good for self-development in childhood but also later in life. Hence, transformational leaders have the whole package to be successful in inspiring and motivating their followers.
Qualities of Transformational Leaders
- They have an appealing goal and vision.
- They can develop goal-attaining strategies for their followers.
- Transformational leaders have very good communication skills.
- They develop attainable and action-oriented goals for their followers.
- Transformational leaders are empathetic to their followers. Followers see them as their coach or mentor.
- They are proactive and do not hesitate to take change-oriented decisions.
- Transformational leaders have high levels of emotional intelligence.
Modern-day examples
Most great leaders are transformational leaders. In this section, we will learn about a few transformational leaders who have taken their respective organizations ahead, keeping in mind their employees’ wellbeing.
Rose Marcario
She is the Chief Executive Officer at Patagonia. Patagonia is a company that manufactures outdoor sports apparel. The brand is very popular and famous in the USA. Her leadership style transformed the organization and it made huge profits after she came to office. However, the interesting point is that she has minimized wastes and cares deeply about the environment. Patagonia consistently donates a part of its profit for environmental protection. In addition, she keeps in mind the wellbeing and work-life balance of the employees. Patagonia has child-care facilities inside its office premises. Her leadership style has drawn attention and the Patagonia model is being adopted worldwide.
Steve Jobs
He started Apple with unmatched passion. Anyone who has seen his interviews online or has read about him knows how he conveys his passion. This is partly because Jobs has excellent communication and motivational skills. His vision has been taken forward by Tim Cook. Harvard Business Review has mentioned Steve Jobs as an excellent transformational leader.
Eric Yuan
Eric Yuan is the founder and CEO of Zoom Telecommunications. His organization has transformed the way we think about video-conferencing. In the time of Covid-19, Zoom is probably the most widely used software. His leadership style is also employee-friendly. He believes that the first priority of businesses should be employee happiness. If employees are unhappy, nothing will be right for the organization. He is also dedicated to customer satisfaction. In the initial days, he would himself write emails or dissatisfied customers in order to build a good reputation for Zoom. Zoom’s story is truly inspiring for entrepreneurs.
Other examples include Jeff Bezos, Satya Nadella, Sarah Nahm and many more. You may look up online for their inspiring life-stories.
Advantages
Profits
A common pattern in all these examples is that all of them have transformed their organization and made it better. All organizations led by transformational leaders make a huge profit. We all know that in order to survive, an organization needs to make profits. Hence, the first advantage of having a transformational leader is an increase in business profits.
Reputation
The image and reputation of an organization depend to a large extent on their figureheads. Transformational leaders are perceived in a positive light by customers and other businesses too. This benefit percolates to the organization. For instance, Patagonia is known worldwide, even in countries where its products are not very popular because of the CEO’s leadership style.
Employee Satisfaction
Employees always want better jobs, where they are treated well, get a good salary and work independently. Organizations would want to retain a talented employee because the cost of acquiring and training new talent may be high. Retention of talent has become a serious challenge for many organizations. Transformational leadership can help in this area because they know how to treat their valuable employees. Employee satisfaction is usually high in organizations with transformational leadership.
Customer Satisfaction
What do customers want? They want to purchase products and services which are reliable, preferably from an ethical brand. Having a transformational leader serves all these purposes because they communicate a strong vision and image for the organization.
How to assess whether you are a TL?
If you are keen to find out whether you are a transformational leader, you may click here and take the online survey. Please remember to be absolutely honest while filling out your responses.
How to be one?
Good leaders know that they need to adapt their leadership style because they know that they need to stay updated with the demands of the changing business environment. If you want to be a transformational leader, you may follow these guidelines:
Emotional Intelligence
If you are reading this article from the beginning, you know that transformational leaders are empathetic and do not have sudden outbursts of temper. In fact, they are emotionally mature and regulate their emotions well. Also, they are considerate of the feelings and emotions of their followers. They have high emotional intelligence. Therefore, you may come to a step closer to being a transformational leader if you can enhance your emotional intelligence. Click here to read about the MAGICS framework to enhance EQ.
Be Proactive
Transformational leaders have a long-term vision. Therefore, they are good at anticipating future changes in the business environment. In other words, they are highly proactive. If you want to be a transformational leader, you may work to be proactive in life. In fact, proactivity is a key indicator of long-term success in leadership positions. If you want to know more about how to be proactive, please click here.
Encourage Creativity
In order to be a transformational leader, you need to be open to suggestions and ideas from your followers or subordinates. Be sure to welcome innovative and creative ideas and engage all your team members in the decision making process. This will allow your subordinates to develop critical thinking. In addition, it will make you a better leader.
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