Introduction
In any organization, the focus is based on yielding high profits. The key to this lies in the leader, who in turn inspires the staff. Leadership in an organization is usually classified into different categories based on the style the leader uses.
Different leadership styles are used to attain desired goals, but Bass (2006) pointed out in his work that the secret to an organization that is effective in achieving its goals lies in the use of transformational leadership. A leader usually uses power and influence to exercise authority. In transformational leadership, however, the idea is to emphasize influence to manage the teams and bring them aboard to understand the leader’s vision.
What Is a Transformational Leader?
Transformational leadership can be defined as implementing new ideas through adopting a more flexible and universal method of influencing and continually ameliorating those around them. This type of leadership calls for the leader and the staff to improve one another’s motivation levels.
Motivational leaders bravely work towards making the staff realize the need for higher ideas and their vision for the organization’s future. Transformational leaders naturally role model their followers and pass their enthusiasm by clearly letting them visualize their ideas and what he is doing, and by outlining their genuine personal beliefs, he shows the followers that he has these values. Transformational leaders can achieve these results by possessing certain qualities and characteristics.
Transformational leaders understand their abilities and confidently stand firm on their beliefs. Confidence in their abilities keeps them motivated and helps them connect emotionally to the organization. They have high levels of self-determination, which helps them attain a sense of direction for the organization and, in turn, influence the followers, and together they propel the organization in the right course.
They possess self-drive, which helps them to visualize themselves as achievers who do not have to rely on luck to achieve good results. It is this understanding of self that helps them to transform those around them (Chammas, 2010).
Another characteristic of effective transformational leaders is seen in their ability to understand those around them and particularly those under them. Transformational leaders carefully understand and purposefully influence and motivate the staff to understand the goals. Together, they are working toward attaining that goal since he assists them in realizing its intended worth.
This requires the transformational leader to have the right communication skills to relay their vision to the point of winning the willingness of the followers such that they, too, are excited and have the drive to achieve the desired change. Transformational leader fully understands what they hope to achieve, and the process of carefully relaying the intent to the followers requires idealized influence, which ensures the followers are not resistant to the idea.
To do so, the leader must also be willing to actively involve them in chatting the way forward towards attaining the goal. After they agree on the right course of action, the transformational leader again provides inspirational motivation to keep them going and excite their minds to have the urge to achieve the task.
After the transformational leader purposefully develops the ideas and effectively influences the staff to yearn to attain the goal, it only marks the beginning of the process. The work of the transformational leader is to keep the staff focused on the vision continually, help them stick to the agreed course of action to attain the vision, and continually be actively involved in influencing more and more colleagues to support the vision.
The importance here is to make sure that the staff clearly understands the vision the leader has for the organization’s future and make sure that they will support the course and keep abreast with the importance of the task even in years to come. The staff should not just be involved in doing their assigned job but engage in the job because they realize the importance of the outcome of the job.
The last characteristic of transformation leadership is a combination of three qualities requiring the transformational leader to think outside the box. According to Chammas (2010), a transformational leader is not afraid to evaluate the organization’s traditions and make changes without interfering with its core business.
This requires that they come up with innovative and creative ways that align with their vision for the organization. In their pursuit of change, they are seen as ignoring the present and yearning for a better future. A factor that works with this is their willingness to embrace innovations and ideas.
The transformational leader encourages others to develop new methodologies and innovations that align with attaining the vision. They do so as to keep abreast with the changing times and to demonstrate that they understand that new challenges in the future need new solutions.
Therefore, they encourage suggestions and offer appraisals for the best ideas. The third point on the same is that the transformational leader takes up their role as the advisor and the guide of the team. Their role here is to assist the whole team through the operations. This requires that they understand that each individual has their own personal strengths and weaknesses in given areas.
The leader also considers the individual’s level and will to adjust to new ideas. By understanding the readiness levels, the leader can establish the right timing for implementing the new ideas so that the resistance is minimal. The ability to forge ahead and achieve a new, transformed organization depends on the transformational leader’s influence levels on the staff and developing them in the areas needed to achieve a new organization.
Transformational leadership has proven effective by far compared to other leadership styles. This is due to its influential nature that seeks to have both the leader and the follower develop each other, and together they work towards attaining a vision and, in turn, a new organization.
The benefits of adopting transformation leadership are clearly felt in the outcomes. Transformation leadership increases the influence at the topmost leadership level. This, according to Cox (2010), is because transformational leaders act as role models to other employees in the organization and hence are obeyed, and their method of dealing with people is respected. The result is an organization where there is solid unity between the leader and the employees, giving rise to an atmosphere of mutual trust and effective communication.
This means that the executive is given a hearing by other staff. Therefore the implementation of ideas is fast, and the environment at the workplace is not tense or hierarchical. This is because more emphasis is placed on developing each other instead of arguing about bureaucracy. The leader concentrates on guiding the staff through the vision instead of spending most of the time trying to unite opposing groups in an organization. Results are achieved quickly once all the staff are on board and working passionately.
Another benefit of transformational leadership is seen in how the leader oozes the charisma and excitement they have to perform their duty. The rest of the staff can read clearly the leader’s aspirations, and consequently, they follow in trying to achieve the vision too. The energy possessed by transformational leaders is said to be a major contributor to the other staff’s willingness to join in because they are inspired by their leader’s genuine vision of taking the organization to a whole new level.
A successful and effective organization is able to be realized through two important aspects; a leader who has a clearly defined vision for the organization and staff who have the will to assist and work together towards the realization of that goal. Transformational leaders are enthusiastic about their vision and through their ability to bring other staff on board, realizing the vision becomes very easy and hence a successful and effective organization (Cox, 2010).
A major benefit of transformational leadership is how it can guide the employees bit by bit in achieving a change in the organization. They do this by gradually explaining and influencing the employees and taking them through the step-by-step process of attaining the desired change.
They can visualize the changes the organization should hope to achieve, e.g., introducing a new product, new operating methods, new technology adjustments, etc. They then embark on a mission to carefully engage the employees to understand their feelings toward the desired change. According to Xenitelis (2010), they do this by employing tactical approaches to reveal their thoughts on the same and involve them directly in defining the desired change.
They then attempt to make that necessary adjustment to make the employees clearly understand why the change is important and what it hopes to achieve. After the necessary change is made to propel the vision, the transformational leader then guides the process and ensures that everyone is on board. The leader keeps a constant check by evaluating the process as it continues and hence makes the necessary changes.
This step-by-step engagement of the process proves very successful and is the most effective way for the organization to realize changes. It is also an effective way of avoiding resistance to change which is usually a major hindrance to organizational progress. Its effectiveness is seen especially when the organization wishes to launch a new product or desires to make a complete change in its operating processes (Xenitelis, 2010).
Employees in an organization led by a transformational leader always feel the challenge to keep their energies going because they are inspired by the leader. This fosters a feeling of taking one’s duties and responsibilities personally and yearning to perform one’s tasks to the best of their abilities. This sort of inspiration by the transformational leader encourages the employees to come up with new ways of doing things.
Creativity and innovativeness amongst the employees are encouraged, which, in turn, brings out the individual’s full potential while still addressing the issue of self-development. The benefits of such a working environment trickle down to the organization, which has employees with self-fulfillment and give their best, and their creative input is enjoyed; hence the organization’s effectiveness is realized (Stewart, 2006).
Bass, one of the pioneers of transformational leadership, pointed out that the application of this style of leadership helps the employees push their abilities to levels they never thought they could reach. In addition to transformational leadership uniting and ensuring people agree Bass pointed out that it fosters a working culture where moral force flourishes, and therefore the level of employee turnover is kept at a minimum.
Employees who understand that the organization they are working for encourages them to give their creativity and allows them to develop to levels they never thought they could achieve are likely to stick with the organization for long. The benefits of such a working culture are realized in the organization’s success in achieving its vision since the costs associated with employee turnover and retention are cut, as well as the benefits of developed and satisfied employees (Bass, 2006).
Transformational leadership brings forth culture and climate in an organization whereby success is bound to prosper. When a transformational leader takes into consideration the abilities and needs of each employee individually and shares their genuine vision clearly and elaborately, it brings forth a culture of honesty and receptiveness.
The employees feel that their input is respected and credit awarded for their ideas. This, in turn, gives rise to a working environment where there is job satisfaction, and consequently, due to the absence of commotion, the environment is stress-free.
The employees are always in high spirits, and their motivation to work hard is on top; hence they freely express their abilities to improve in certain areas, and the areas where they are strong are emphasized. An organization’s success is bound to be realized in such a stress-free working culture with high motivation levels. Job satisfaction is high and personal abilities are given consideration.
Transformational leadership is beneficial in that it can help an organization cut costs. Through the transformational leader’s ability to connect with the employees and give them a chance to understand the task at hand, including allowing their ideas and creativity, job satisfaction is achieved, which means employees do not feel the need to leave the organization hence the reduced employee turnover. This, in a major way, saves the organization high costs associated with losing employees and having to employ new ones.
In a transformational leadership organization, the employees are given a chance to concentrate on areas they are strong in; hence, the unnecessary costs of training the employees in unfamiliar areas are reduced. This also goes for the fact that the employees are given a chance to develop, and as they work harmoniously, they teach each other by sharing ideas. Hence, in-training employees is unnecessary in most cases (Stewart, 2006).
Transformational Leadership: Conclusion
In conclusion, effectiveness in an organization highly depends on the leader’s ability to have a vision, build consensus with the employees, and adjust his leadership style to fit the vision and guide the whole team toward the desired direction.
Transformational leadership considers all this by having the leader clearly understand the direction he wants to propel the organization, influencing the employees, and making them understand how important the change is. Then together, they engage in the process.
Transformational leadership combines the right employees and the right motives. It inspires creativity and motivation in achieving a smooth flow of processes which, in the long run, ensures an effective organization that delivers its results and is consistent in achieving the desired changes.
Reference List
Bass, M. and Riggio, E. (2006) Transformational Leadership. New York, Routledge.
Chammas, A. (2010) Leadership Characteristics for Organizational Transformation Success, Transformational Leadership, vol. 12, no. 6, pp. 16-27.
Cox, R. (2010) The Benefits of Transformational Leadership. Web.
Stewart, J. (2006) Transformational Leadership: An Evolving Concept Examined through the Works of Burns, Bass, Avolio, and Leithwood, Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy. vol. 27, no. 56, pp. 1-19.
Xenitelis, M. (2010) Transformational Leadership, Management. vol. 43, no. 12, pp. 11 -17.