What is transformational leadership? Style or substance?
Is it the key to effective leadership, or just plain schmaltzy corporate speak? Transformational leadership is no doubt something you’ve heard about before.
It’s one of those buzz words that gets brought out whenever a company goes through tremendous growth caused by a particular leader. But what even is transformational leadership, and does it deserve the hype?
What is Transformational Leadership?
Transformational leadership is a theory of leadership built on the idea of bringing about valuable and positive change in both individuals and teams. This transformation is driven by a true sense of compassion whereby leaders treat their followers as collaborators working towards a mutual benefit.
Quick History
The concept of transformational leadership was brought into existence by James V. Downton in 1973. It was then developed further by leadership scholar and presidential biographer James MacGregor Burns in 1978 who coined the term we all know today.
"Leaders and their followers raise one another to higher levels of morality and motivation."
– James MacGregor Burns
Burns also introduced the concept of transactional leadership, and believed it could not be done simultaneously alongside transformational leadership.
Seven years later, researcher Bernard Morris Bass took things further with his 1985 book “Leadership and Performance Beyond Expectations”. The book set out a model that encouraged leaders to demonstrate authentic and collaborative leadership that would inspire and challenge employees.
Transactional VS Transformational Leadership
The difference between transactional and transformational leadership is night and day. The former uses carrot-and-stick to motivate, while the latter uses a holistic approach involving collaboration and transparency to push followers to do more than the bare minimum.
Transactional leadership requires strict oversight to be able to effectively monitor performance, with a large focus on rooting out slip-ups and blunders. The overall aim is to create consistent, predictable and efficient processes.
In his 1985 book, Bass theorised that successful leadership can simultaneously display both transformational and transactional leadership. However, he believed that the former was more likely to achieve more for an organisation, as it allowed for more ambitious goals.
"Transactional leaders work within the organisational culture as it exists; the transformational leader changes the organisational culture."
– Bernard Morris Bass
The 4 Components of Transformational Leadership
Bass introduced these four components of transformational leadership:
Idealised Influence (II)
Inspirational Motivation (IM)
Intellectual Stimulation (IS)
Individualised Consideration (IC)
Idealised Influence (II)
Idealised Influence essentially boils down to leading by example. An effective transformational leader will practice what they preach, embodying the qualities they want from their team. When team members see their leader as a role model, they can’t help but emulate and internalize their ideals.
Inspirational Motivation (IM)
To truly inspire and motivate your followers, you must have a crystal-clear vision that everyone can follow, and importantly, excite them. By being able to effectively communicate the end goal – and all the juicy benefits – your team will be fighting tooth and nail alongside you to make it a reality.
Intellectual Stimulation (IS)
A transformational leader will never let their team stagnate. They will constantly push for innovation and creativity, and will nurture an environment where everyone can flourish. Intellectual Stimulation is key to getting your team to weaponise out-the-box thinking and challenging them to improve their performance at every possible moment.
Individualised Consideration (IC)
Individualised Consideration can be a demanding aspect of transformational leadership as it involves showing genuine concern for the needs and feelings of every individual in your team.
Through tailored support and encouragement, you can help build trust with and throughout your team. This is usually done through open lines of communication where everyone is given equal opportunity to freely share their ideas and opinions.
An example of this would be speaking to your quieter members outside of team meetings to get their input without the pressure of everyone listening.
“Teamwork begins by building trust”
Traits of Transformational Leaders
Now we know the components, what do these look like as actual traits?
Transformational leaders are:
Open to New Ideas – Transformational leaders understand that not being open or receptive to new ideas can stifle an organisation’s growth, and prevent innovation.
Clear Visionaries – Having a clear, thought-out and realistic end goal that you can communicate clearly is a vital trait. Master this and you will be able to cultivate a sense of purpose, commitment and belonging among your followers.
Capable of Broadening Minds – You will need to be able to shift peoples’ perceptions of how things should work and push them far beyond their comfort zones.
Able to Take Intelligent Risks – There’s no transformation without risk. This is why you’ll need to become less risk-adverse and evaluate how exactly they’ll impact the future vision of your organisation, for good or worse.
Willing to Accept Responsibility – Failure is a fact of life! And any good leader will accept their responsibility when their idea becomes a dud. Plus shirking the blame to your team members will be catastrophic to your team’s confidence and trust.
Active Listeners – Listen to what your team members have to say! Keep an open mind and do not dismiss their feelings. Create an environment where they feel seen, understood and respected.
Able to Inspire Participation – Transformational leaders can motivate every single person around them to rise to the occasion.
Willing to Trust – For innovation to take place, people need autonomy. Effective transformational leader understands this fully and trusts their followers to define their own steps to success.
Able to Make Connections with Individuals - Treat each team member as a valued individual and take the time to understand what motivates them, and their own personal style of working.
Examples of Transformational Leaders
A reasonable question to ask is “Are there any real-word examples of transformational leaders?” Well, not too long ago the Harvard Business Review ranked transformational leaders of world’s biggest companies.
Names such as Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Reed Hastings (Netflix) and Shantanu Narayen (Adobe) were at the top of the list. All these big players had no prior experience in their industries but - as you can no doubt see - made quite the impact in their roles as leaders.
It was this outsider perspective that let them break the norms of their industry, and introduce ground-breaking visions that would lead their companies to new and exciting areas of growth.
Shantanu Narayen, for example, forever changed the fate of Adobe by pursuing digital marketing services (becoming 45% of their total revenue). His clear vision for the company and openness to innovation and creativity is what drove these waves of growth.
Of course, this style of leadership is crucial to keeping tech companies afloat in their ever-shifting industry. Although it does show its face in other areas – namely politics.
Mahatma Gandhi is a shining example of a political transformational leader. He led by example, had a clear vision that went beyond his own self-interests and, most importantly, he was humble. He chose to live in solidarity with millions of his followers by experiencing the same amount of poverty they did.
Pros and Cons of Transformational Leadership
We’ve heaped lots of praise onto the Transformational Leadership style so far, but do we actually believe it? Let’s have a look at the advantages and disadvantages:
Pros
✓ Transformational Leadership works well with others who warm to this style
✓ It’s more inclusive and therefore aligned with today’s diversity attitudes
✓ Focuses on co-creation of solutions rather than command and control
✓ More suited for a VUCA world (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity)
✓ Builds employee loyalty and job satisfaction
✓ Links actions to the vision and strategy for the future
✓ Sparks connection through empathy
✓ Ignites energy through human centric experiences
Cons
❌ One leadership style on its own is never enough
❌ Transformational leadership doesn’t work for every business (especially those that don’t need transformation)
❌ Pulling it off in an all-virtual world is no easy task, and can be very time-consuming
❌ May be better suited to western countries due to social norms and cultures
❌ Blurs the boundary between friendship and professionalism
❌ It’s an older style of leadership that wasn’t coined for the digital age
❌ Influence can be lost if your team disagrees with your vision
No style of leadership is perfect. The best leaders use multiple models to create hybrid systems that work for their business and, more importantly, for their teams.
However, if you were to force me to arbitrarily rank leadership styles, transformational leadership would be a strong contender for the number one spot.
If you’re looking for leadership development solutions for your organisation, my consultancy offerings include the design of strategic curriculums as well as fully customisable keynote speaking services. My programmes are data-driven, underpinned by business psychology tools, that will equip your leaders with the capabilities required to lead your organisation through change and transformation successfully. Find out how I can transform your leaders by getting in touch today!
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Written by Michael
Michael Mauro is the founder of a forward-thinking organisation specialising in leadership, HR and employee development. With over a decade of global experience, Michael has become a leading voice on topics such as culture, inclusion, wellbeing, and the future of leadership.
