Transformational leadership is a type of management and control that seeks to bring change to individuals, organizations, or societies. According to RodrĂguez Aboytes and Barth (2020), at its best, transformational leadership not only leads to a positive change for the organization but also seeks to leaders growing other individuals who will replace them. This form of leadership seeks to bring change to an organization by having to leader act as a role model who motivates and inspires the rest of the workforce. For the leader to achieve his mandate, they must eliminate challenges that make the organization stagnant and resistant to change. The three main principles that guide transformational leadership are Motivation, individual consideration, and intellectual incentives.
Transformational leadership is one of the core theories of psychological leadership, and being over three decades old has been widely studied, and various strengths and weaknesses about it established. Studies have established that one of the major strengths of transformative leadership is that it creates an enthusiastic culture in an organization (Carleton et al., 2018). This brings positive energy to a company key to achieving its strategic objectives. Transformational leaders are also known to be filled with innovation and creativity and seek to transfer this trait to junior managers. These traits have resulted in transformational leadership being ranked as the best leadership strategy, followed by trait and servant leadership theories.
Transformational leadership has a range of limitations, including the leaders holding a tough stand and often disagreeing with other leaders. The leadership has also been accused of bringing a lot of pressure on its followers (Carleton et al., 2018). Transformative leadership is different from servant leadership because while the former focuses on the top influence of a leader to drive change, servant leadership focuses on ethics, empathy, and collaboration between the leader and others.
References
Carleton, E. L., Barling, J., & Trivisonno, M. (2018). Leaders’ trait mindfulness and transformational leadership: The mediating roles of leaders’ positive affect and leadership self-efficacy. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science / Revue Canadienne Des Sciences Du Comportement, 50(3), 185–194. Web.
RodrĂguez Aboytes, J. G., & Barth, M. (2020). Transformative learning in the field of sustainability: a systematic literature review (1999-2019). International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 21(5), 993–1013. Web.