Transformational leadership is a leadership style in which the leaders motivate and encourage the employees to create their own ideas for the success of the organization. The leaders rely completely on their employees and allow them to take authority of the tasks given to them. This style provides a room for the employees to be innovative, plan for the future and provide solutions to the problems of the organization.
What is Transformational Leadership?
It is a type of leadership where the leaders not only remain active, passionate and engaged but also urge their employees to do so. The leaders stay aware and are willing to help the team members when needed to succeed. It is process that enables both the leaders and the employees to help each other to rise to the pillars of success in order to function in an organization. The main objective of a transformational leader is towards the organization, maintains the culture of the organization and does not have the will to change the culture of the workplace.
Principles of Transformational Leadership
There are five main principles that are important for a successful business organization. The principles are named below with brief descriptions:
1. Boosts Motivation
This leadership style enables the leaders to increase the motivation of the employees. The leaders of this leadership style possess the tools and the skills needed for the growth of the employees and the institution, which leads to a successful functioning of the organization. The leaders should be able to increase the motivation by giving speeches, practices and actions, which will make the employees compelled to of, participate for the betterment of the organization. Transformational leaders are always active in lining up the values and the principles along with the organization and create a positive atmosphere that contributes to a successful growth in the workplace.
2. Enable Innovative Thinking and Working
The transformational leaders are the followers of innovative ideas and have a mindset of the future of their organizations. The leaders introduce the innovative ideas through their thoughts, actions and methods. Transformational leadership plays a vital role in order to follow the innovative routes for the growth and the success of a company. They authorize their ideas on to their employees and set themselves as an example to transform their ideas. The leaders need to assure that their objectives of an organization match up to the creative practices so that they can compete with other competitors instead of using common techniques.
3. Preparation
The leader of this leadership style has to prepare their employees for any challenges or crisis that they are going to deal with in the organization. It is a continuous process of making the employees, speakers and others who are connected to the organization. Apart from training the employees, the leaders must have the self-observation of themselves. Self-analysis is vital for building the employees with trust, the ability to see things logically and provides an outlook on the things at hand.
4. Determination
A transformational leader needs to be determined, attentive and give their 100% efforts to their works and initiates the same among their employees at the workplace. The employees who are determined will attain success easily than the ones who are not. The leaders communicate and provide encouragement to the employees to achieve their objectives and complete the tasks regardless of their hardships. When the environment of the workplace changes, it is important for the leaders to train the employees with bravery, resistance, strength and tolerance.
5. Simplification of Leadership Process
This leadership style involves the leaders to keep everything easy and stress-free from the beginning. It includes the rounding the employees to provide a sense of encouragement and motivation to the employees. The leaders need to build up communication and a healthy relationship by discussing and evaluating the desired outcomes of their assigned tasks. In this way, there will be no chances of uncertainty while delivering the messages to the employees and the other co-workers.
Transformational Leadership Example
The vital role of a transformational leader is to create significant changes for the employees as well as the organization. For instance, the leaders should create a sense of aspiration so that that the employees give their full efforts for a business project. The aspirations could be built by discussing the future of the company, by stimulating them to come up with their own innovative ideas, to tell them to provide solutions on how to improve the project and so on. The leaders of this leadership style should also create a positive environment so that the co-workers have mutual respect and trust for each other, irrespective of a combination of different cultures. The needs and the desires of the employees should also be kept in consideration in this leadership style. The leaders and the followers will rise together by cooperating with each other in this leadership style.
Some of the Popular Transformational Leaders
1. Oprah Winfrey: A media personality: Winfrey was the North America’s first black millionaire, and was the richest African American of the 20th century. Her communication skills, her starting from the scarcity and her captivating leadership created a lot of inspiration among everyone, which is one of the qualities of a transformational leadership. Another quality of the transformational leadership is that Winfrey always stimulates her employees to carry out her visions for the company. Her leadership constitutes of three parts: her team, vision and values, which makes her a great example of a transformational leader.
2. Condoleezza Rice: Former 20th U.S. National Security Advisor Rice was the first woman to become a National Security Advisor. Rice did not believe that leadership is all about the gender or the title; rather it was more about self-confidence and determination. She played a major role in saving North Korea and Iran while she was serving as Secretary of State, which shows the qualities of a transformational leadership.
Transformational Leadership Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages
- Promotes creativity and innovation through collaboration: The transformational leaders collaborate with their employees to create, inspect and incorporate perceptions and ideas. It is one of the great advantages to be able to collaborate as there is no difference in between the leader and the employees when generating ideas and solutions to the problems. It also decreases the miscommunication and avoids chaos in between the leaders and their associates.
- Fosters Organizational Change By Influencing Positive Behavior: This leadership style helps the organization to go through changes as it affects the behavior of the employees positively. The engagement of the employees and their outlook in the changes of the workplace results in a positive outcome.
Disadvantages
- Dependence on the Cultural Context of the Leadership Situation: The cultural factors can have a negative impact among the employees in an organization. The people may show transformational behaviors when they are approached in an unpredictable manner. It was also found that any individual who has a mindset of traditional values find a weaker link between transformational leadership and leadership effectiveness than those with less traditional cultural mindset.
- Can Place High Amounts of Pressure on the Followers: As the leader in this leadership style passes on the responsibilities among the employees by giving them the authorities on their tasks. The importance is also given to the participation and the cooperation of the employees. Some of the employees may find the whole process of this leadership too challenging. It might also lead them to overworking or getting overburdened.
Transformational Leadership FAQs
The Role of a Transformational Leader?
The key role of a transformational leader builds an inspiration and encouragement among the employees in order to come up with innovative ideas. The leaders should set an example by establishing a powerful sense of culture, taking the ownership by the employees and being independent at their workplace. The leaders should allow the employees to come up with the solutions to the problems and discuss about their creative ideas.
A Good Example of a Transformational Leader?
Barack Obama is a great example of a transformational leader as he has been involved in changing his opinions. He came out and supported same-sex marriages; solved problems related to sexual harassment at educational institutions in United States and recovered the economy affected by global depression. His contributions have shown the traits of a transformational leader who is more concerned about others needs than their own benefits.
The Bottom Line
The transformational leaders are driven with different purposes. The transformational leaders are self- sacrificing in nature. The transformational employees of today’s generation look out for every opportunity to convert the challenges into real-life lessons to authorize and train their employees for the future.
References
https://www.cio.com/article/3257184/what-is-transformational-leadership-a-model-for-motivating-innovation.html
https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-transformational-leadership-2795313
https://www.investorsinpeople.com/knowledge/transformational-leadership/
https://talentedge.com/articles/core-principles-transformational-leadership/
https://www.leadershipahoy.com/transformational-leadership-examples/
https://futureofworking.com/21-famous-transformational-leadership-examples/
https://www.profolus.com/topics/transformational-leadership-advantages-and-disadvantages/
https://leadinglearners.wordpress.com/leading-learners-online-magazine/barak-obama-transformational-and-charismatic-leader/
https://www.cio.com/article/3257184/what-is-transformational-leadership-a-model-for-motivating-innovation.html
https://depree.org/transformational-leadership-conclusion/
Tamanna is working as a content writer at The Strategy Watch. She has recently completed her graduation from a reputed university in Bangladesh. Tamanna was immensely interested in knowing about leadership and has written about different kinds of leadership till now. She has gathered a vast amount of knowledge regarding the topic and is looking forward to work on more leadership related topics in future. Moreover, she is intended to dive deep into the different sectors of the business world and explore them.