Charismatic and transformational leadership styles have quite a lot in common, although they are applied differently. Charismatic leadership can be used to inspire employees to achieve the company’s vision, whereas transformational leadership encourages employees to grow and develop individually and as a group (Oti, 2014). When used together, these two leadership models become effective in driving significant company change. One example of a change process where the emotional approach would be useful is enhancing customer service.
Employee commitment and motivation is the key to excellent customer service; using transformational and charismatic leadership can enhance employee motivation and encourage workers to communicate with customers more efficiently. To encourage employees to improve service, I would first need to make excellent customer service an integral part of the company’s vision. Both charismatic and transformational leadership approaches are more efficient if employees feel like they are working towards a shared goal.
Then, I would need to establish free training opportunities that would enable employees to learn more about customer service and develop their skills. Once the training is complete, I would need to set mechanisms to monitor progress, such as post-visit customer surveys. Finally, in order to motivate workers, I would also devise a set of rewards for one employee of the week and three employees of the month. Providing employees with contingent rewards is one of the key features of transformational leadership, as it raises commitment and motivation (Oti, 2014).
Overall, I believe that utilizing the emotional approach would help to motivate employees to achieve higher customer satisfaction. By improving customer experience, the company will be able to increase the number of returning customers and build a better reputation, which will help to achieve the company’s mission and vision.
References
Oti, F. (2014). Charismatic and transformational leadership: characteristics, similarities, and differences. Web.