‘‘Becoming a leader is not easy, just as becoming a doctor or a poet isn’t easy, and anyone who claims otherwise is fooling himself.’’ ~ Warren Bennis, author and leadership expert
 

Throughout history, many unique and memorable → leaders have come and gone. However, these leaders all have one thing in common – they all exhibited a transformational leadership style. Some examples of great leaders throughout time that utilised these transformational leadership techniques include Plato, Socrates, Florence Nightingale, Andrew Carnegie, Winston Churchill, Jack Welch, Oprah Winfrey, and the list goes on...

One of the more famous people to utilize a transformational leadership style was Mahatma Ghandi. Ghandi is a great example of this style of leadership as he was highly effective at satisfying the needs of his people – yet he always led with a higher purpose and the greater good in mind.

That said, we are often witnesses to transformational leadership on an everyday basis. For instance, we can witness the transformational leadership through:

Parents – many parents utilise a transformational leadership style. They can essentially transform a self-centred child into becoming a child that is thoughtful, considerate and respectful of others.

Religious Leaders – the very job of a religious leader involves using transformational leadership tactics. While some individuals may be tougher cases than others, the overall goal is to transform people into ethical beings.

→ Entrepreneurs – entrepreneurs must seek to inspire people to fund their ventures and to buy their products or services. In essence, entrepreneurs must use a transformational leadership style to see their business grow in the proper manner.

→ Coaches – Without a doubt, coaches exhibit a transformational leadership style in order to both teach a skill set and to → motivate people. Coaches must also learn to teach people the value of perseverance as there most likely will be set-backs.

That said, transformational leadership, itself, was first used by a Political Scientist named James McGregor Burns in 1978. Specifically, Burns said that transformational leadership occurs when “one or more persons engage with others in such a way that leaders and followers raise one another to higher levels of motivation and morality… transforming leadership ultimately becomes moral in that it raises the level of human conduct and ethical aspirations of both the leader and led and, thus, has a transforming effect on both."

Thus, within transformational leadership, importance is placed on the relationship between both followers and the leaders. Transformational leaders let their values, and the values of others in the organisation, influence their actions. In turn, both the leaders and the followers then create a shared behaviour. Further, transformational leaders → empower others and distribute this power among all of the people.

Of course, transformational leadership is quite different from a more traditional top-down leadership approach. For instance, transformational leaders believe that → leading is not a “job” but instead leadership is part of who they in fact are. In addition, transformational leadership does not rely on exhibiting power over people, but it instead relies on empowering and enabling other people. Lastly, transformational leadership also centres on offering a mutually beneficial relationship – instead of one where followers blindly complete tasks for leaders out of fear.

Transformational leadership can also be used successfully in business environments that can include lawyers, environmental consultants, professionals that handle managed forex accounts, and other professions. Often, transformational leaders within a business environment look to change behaviours and processes for the long term.

Instead of only thinking about the short-term value to stake holders, transformational leaders also believe that you should think about the employees, suppliers, shareholders and the community at large. They believe that when you look after all of the individuals, everyone will benefit. → Results-based Leadership

That said, most businesses do not currently have transformational leaders on staff. Instead, most business leaders exhibit transactional leadership. Transactional leadership, among other things, focuses on a reward/punishment system when dealing with followers. While a leader using this style of leadership can be influential, little change will actually occur under this type of leadership. Why? Well, people with the transactional leadership skill set often operate under the mindset of “that is how we do things here” rather than “the way things should be done”. In other words then, transactional leadership encourages the “status quo”.

Over the years, a couple of intellectuals have studied how transformational leadership works. Two of the most important contributors to the study of transformational leadership were named James McGregor Burns and Bernard Bass. Let us discuss Bernard Bass – Bass believed that transformational leadership was made up of four different behavioural components. These behavioural components included charisma, inspiration, and intellectual stimulation and individualised consideration.

Charisma – Charisma is usually defined as the ability for leader to trigger emotions in their followers that allow them to identify with that particular leader.

Vision – The leader is able to gain the trust and respect of his or her followers – and also able to provide an outstanding picture of the future that the followers identify with. In turn, the people have a common commitment and goal to work towards.

→ Inspiration – Inspiration is defined as the ability for the leader to stimulate the mind or emotions of his or her followers into performing a specific activity. For instance, the leader can utilise symbols to get the focus of followers and can communicate that he or she has high expectations for everyone. Moreover, the leader can also “lead by example”.

Intellectual stimulation – Intellectual stimulation involves encouraging followers to use their intelligence to become → creative problem solvers.

Individualised consideration – Individualised consideration involves the process where leaders show appreciation for their followers on an individual basis. This individual attention can include providing one-on-one attention, personal support, and praise to individual followers. >>>

That said, in order for people to become excellent transformational leaders, they must be able to be → successful themselves, gain the proper mindset, exhibit → influence, and be able to continually learn new skills.

Overall then, the most well-known leaders throughout history used a transformational leadership style. Today’s business leaders, can benefit from learning about both these individuals and specific transformational leadership techniques.

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