Transformational Leadership

Transformational Leadership
James Burns and Bernard Bass define transformational leadership as a leadership approach geared to change both individuals and social systems. In its ideal form, it creates valuable and positive change in the followers with the end goal of developing followers into leaders. Enacted in its authentic form, transformational leadership enhances the motivation, morale and performance of followers through a variety of mechanisms. These include connecting the follower's sense of identity and self to the mission and the collective identity of the organization; being a role model for followers that inspires them; challenging followers to take greater ownership for their work, and understanding the strengths and weaknesses of followers, so the leader can align followers with tasks that optimize their performance.
Burns established two concepts: "transforming leadership" and "transactional leadership". The transforming approach creates significant change in the life of people and organizations. It redesigns perceptions and values, and changes expectations and aspirations of employees. Unlike in the transactional approach, it is not based on a "give and take" relationship, but on the leader's personality, traits and ability to make a change through example, articulation of an energizing vision and challenging goals. Transforming leaders are idealized in the sense that they are a moral exemplar of working towards the benefit of the team, organization and/or community. Burns theorized that transforming and transactional leadership were mutually exclusive styles. Transactional leaders usually do not strive for cultural change in the organization but they work in the existing culture while transformational leaders can try to change organizational culture.
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The extent to which leaders are transformational, is measured first, in terms of their influence on their followers. The followers of such a leader feel trust, admiration, loyalty and respect for the leader and because of these qualities, are willing to work harder than originally expected. These outcomes occur because the transformational leader offers followers something more than just working for self gain; they provide followers with an inspiring mission and vision and give them an identity. The leader transforms and motivates followers through his or her idealized influence, intellectual stimulation and individual consideration. In addition, this leader encourages followers to come up with new and unique ways to challenge the status quo and to alter the environment to support being successful. Finally, in contrast to Burns, Bass suggested that leadership can simultaneously display both transformational and transactional leadership.
Breaking it down, transformational leaders generally demonstrate four traits: 1 Individualized Consideration –the degree to which the leader attends to each follower, acts as a mentor or coach to the follower and listens to the follower's concerns and needs. The leader gives empathy and support, keeps communication open and places challenges before the followers. This also encompasses the need for respect and celebrates the individual contribution that each follower can make to the team. The followers have a will and aspirations for self development and have intrinsic motivation for their tasks.
2. Intellectual Stimulation – the degree to which the leader challenges assumptions, takes risks and solicits followers' ideas. Leaders with this style stimulate and encourage creativity in their followers. They nurture and develop people who think independently. For such a leader, learning is a value and
unexpected situations are seen as opportunities to learn. The followers ask questions, think deeply about things and figure out better way to execute their tasks.
3. Inspirational Motivation – the degree to which the leader articulates a vision that is appealing and inspiring to followers. Leaders with inspirational motivation challenge followers with high standards, communicate optimism about future goals, and provide meaning for the task at hand. Followers need to have a strong sense of purpose if they are to be motivated to act. Purpose and meaning provide the
energy that drives a group forward. The visionary aspects of leadership are supported by communication skills that make the vision understandable, precise, powerful and engaging.
The followers are willing to invest more effort in their tasks, they are encouraged and optimistic about the future and believe in their abilities.
4. Idealized Influence – Provides a role model for high ethical behavior, instills pride, gains respect and trust. As a development tool, transformational leadership has spread already in all sectors of western societies, including governmental organizations.
Research evidence shows that groups led by transformational leaders have higher levels of performance and satisfaction than groups led by other types of leaders. The reason is that transformational leaders believe that their followers can do their best, leading members of the group to feel inspired and empowered. Other researchers discovered that employees who identified a higher level of transformational leadership in their employers also had higher reported levels of well-being. The effect stayed significant even after researchers controlled for factors that are linked to well-being such as job strain, education, and age. Transformational leadership, which both conveys a sense of trust and meaningfulness and individually challenges and develops employees, also has a positive effect on employee well-being Here are some steps toward making your leadership transformational.
Step 1: Create an Inspiring Vision People need a compelling reason to follow your lead, and this is why you need to create and communicate an inspiring vision of the future. Your vision sets out your team or organization's purpose – why you all get up in the morning to do what you do. You develop this partly by understanding the values of the people you lead, partly by understanding the capabilities and resources of your organization, and partly by conducting an intelligent analysis of your environment, and selecting the best way forward within it.
Step 2: Motivate People to Buy Into and Deliver the Vision Now, starting with your mission statement, you need to appeal to your people's values, and inspire them with where you're going to lead them, and why. Use storytelling as part of your call to action: this will help people appreciate the positive impact of your vision on the people you're trying to help.Then, talk about your vision often. Link it to people's goals and tasks to give it context, and help people see how they can contribute to it. Transformational leaders also know that nothing significant happens unless they encourage their people. So, make sure that you know about the different kinds of motivation, and use these to inspire your people to deliver their best.
Step 3: Manage Delivery of the Vision A vision is no use on its own: it needs to become reality. However, many leaders make the mistake of developing a vision, but of not putting in the hard and often mundane work of delivering it. To manage the delivery of your vision, you'll need to combine effective project management with sensitive change management. This will help you deliver the changes you need with the full support of your people. Communicate each person's roles and responsibilities clearly, and connect these to your plans. Everyone should fully understand what they're responsible for, and know how you will measure their success. Next, set clear, SMART goals for everyone, including some short-term goals that will help people achieve quick wins and stay motivated. You may need to build your self-discipline and stamina, so that you don't let yourself down. And, set a good example to your people – especially if they're affected by delays or difficulties – by being a model of hard work and persistence. Also, stay visible by practicing management by walking around. This is an ideal technique for transformational leaders, because it helps you stay connected with daily activities, and allows you to answer questions as they arise.
Step 4: Build Ever-Stronger, Trust-Based Relationships With Your People As a transformational leader, you need to focus your attention on your people, and work hard to help them achieve their goals and dreams. It also underlines the fact that leadership is a long-term process, and that, as a leader, you need to work constantly to build relationships, earn trust, and help your people grow as individuals. Meet your people individually to understand their developmental needs, and help them to meet their career goals. What do they want to achieve in their role?
Where do they see themselves five years from now? How can you help them reach this goal? Lastly, set aside time to coach your people. When you help them find their own solutions, you not only create a skilled team, but you also strengthen their self-confidence and their trust in you.

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