Transformational

Leadership
“Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakens.” By Carl Jung

Leadership Skills
1/9/2010
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The requirement of leadership after ten years will be more than change. It will be of
transformation that can be obtained through learning rather than training. The training and
orientation provided for functional skills will be inefficient. Transformational leaders should be
appointed by a company’s board of directors by taking risk because they differ from
conventional manager. Thus transformational leadership should be chosen within the
organization because the management will have a better idea about the quality and conduct of
the individuals. The person should preferably be a person who has a good working experience.
The present day working environment requires transformational leadership since this adds to
the morale and raises the standard of human attitude and performance and aspiration of all
involved in the process. It has a diversified effect on all involved and the participants seem to
contribute rather than work according to directions.

Transformational Leadership

”The ability to get people to want to change and to lead

change.”

Now I will explain that what transformational leader is.

Transformational leadership is a leadership approach that is
defined as leadership that creates valuable and positive change
in the followers. A transformational leader focuses on
"transforming" others to help each other, to look out for each other, to be encouraging and
harmonious, and to look out for the organization as a whole. In this leadership, the leader
enhances the motivation, morale and performance of his follower group.

This means that leader have this ability to inspire people to get new heights.

Here are three elements of transformational leadership.

3 Elements of Transformational Leadership:

1) Inspiration and Charisma

2) Intellectual Stimulation

3) Individual Consideration

Inspiration and Charisma

Create an emotional bond between leader and group. It means that leader knows his each
and every follower, he knows their needs and wants and he definitely cooperates with them
as much as he can.

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Now the question arises that how can we do this?

We can do this by having meetings with them and by realizing them that they are key for
the organization. And all the progress of the organization is only because of them.

Intellectual Stimulation
Challenge the group to identify and solve challenges (out of the box)

This means that the leader motivates his followers that, they can compete with this
challenge, and this task is achievable, and he will assure them that he is also with you to
solve this challenge through innovation.

Individual Consideration
Develop appropriate personal relationships with members and treat members differently
but equitably.

The transformational leaders tend to develop proper personal relationship with every follower
so that he could know them well and they usually behave differently with the employees
according to their behavior.

Components of Transformational Leadership:

Leadership does not end with the person who shows the characteristics. Leadership is a
journey; Journey is moving from one point to another – Leadership is moving from one level to
another; even if you return to the same point you will have a different level of thinking and
understanding. Leadership needs followers, it requires dedication and one needs to follow its
principles throughout his/her life. This might be the reason why it is a bit complex to
understand Leadership as a whole.

We already briefed about Transformational Leadership in earlier part, now it is required to

know the constituents of it to practice it well. Transformational Leadership has a long history
and it evolved after earlier theories on behavioral, trait, charismatic & situational leadership
models. So, it has overlapping with those other theories. Especially, Charisma is one of the
components of Transformational Leadership.

There are four components of Transformational Leadership[1]. Some time it is referred as four
I’s of Transformational Leadership. They are:

1. Idealized Influence(II)
2. Inspirational Motivation (IM)
3. Intellectual Stimulation (IS)
4. Individualized Consideration (IC)

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Idealized Influence (II):

Whoever be the writer or presenter, everyone agrees that -’Influence’ is the first and foremost
out of all leadership qualities. The stress on influence is more with the word ‘Idealized’. About
Influence -

Maxwell says – “The true measure of leadership is Influence nothing more, nothing less.”

You will understand more about Influence when you read Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends
and Influence People”. John P. Kotter dealt in detail on this topic in his book “Power and
Influence”.

No matter whoever it is, as a Transformational Leader, you have the capability to become the
role model for them. You are respected & admired by your followers. They have a separate
place for you in their heart. You have absolute trust on your followers and they also have it for
you. Your followers understand that you have great potential and determination which will take
them to higher levels. You are having the willingness to take risks and be consistent. In any
situation, you show high standards of conduct.

Inspirational Motivation (IM):

One or the other way, Inspiration and Motivation are always part of leadership. We know about
Inspiration and motivation separately and they are used interchangeably. Let us see their
connection in the below highlighted text before we get into Inspirational Motivation.

Motivation really comes down to inspiration. Since motivation comes from within, it is a form of
self-inspiration. This process is nurtured by watching others achieve their goals. Most often it is
developed by following the example of leaders who do the right thing for people, communicate
frequently, empower vigorously, coach regularly, and sacrifice for others.[2]

As a Transformational Leader, you have a vision. You communicate expectations with followers
and show optimism in reaching the goal. By your vision, activities and behavior, your followers
get motivated and inspired. They all feel team spirit and work enthusiastic as a group. They
start demonstrating their commitments towards the goal. Motivation can occur only if two-way
communications happen.

Intellectual Stimulation (IS):

“People respond to a challenge because it taps their inner desire to succeed.”[2]

This component deals with stimulating followers’ analytical skills and problem solving ability.
Everyone has the skill to analyze problems in their hand. Each one has a different approach to
an issue. As a Transformational Leader, you need to allow followers’ to come up with their

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solution (it may be different from yours) for the same problem. If the issue is not
understandable you can help them to re-frame it. Encourage them to approach old issues with
new methods to come up with meaningful output. Encourage their creativity and innovation.
Don’t criticize or don’t pass sarcastic comments in public.

Individualized Consideration (IC):

Each individual is different. Followers’ have different needs & show different levels of potential.
As a Transformational Leader, you need to accept this. You need to develop higher levels of
potential. It cannot be achieved by showing the same level of attention. You should take special
care of each individual follower’s need for achievement and growth. Provide supportive
environment. Have clear two-way communication in understanding their concerns. Develop
your follower by delegating tasks. Monitor and provide improvement tips on delegated
activities and make them produce finer output. This increases followers’ confidence and
morale.

Transactional Leadership vs. Transformational Leadership

“Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline,

carrying it out.” – Stephen Covey

Are you a transactional leader or a transformational leader?

A transactional leader is focused more on completing a series of goals or “transactions”.

Power is given to the leader to evaluate, correct and train followers when productivity is not up
to the desired level and reward effectiveness when expected outcome is reached. Transactional
leaders have short-term views and are focused on the present.

A transformational leader creates value and positive change in their followers. A

transformational leader focuses on “transforming” others to help each other, to look out for
each other, to be encouraging and harmonious, and to look out for the organization as a whole.
In this leadership, the leader enhances the motivation, morale and performance of the group.
Transformational leaders have long-term views and are focused on the future.

Any executive: CEO, CFO, or CIO needs to strike a balance between transactional and
transformational leadership qualities. Creating forward movement in any company requires a
mixture of both. There is no magic ratio. To be a successful leader one needs to find the right
balance that works for him/her.

Organizational leadership research has evolved from the trait, behavioral, and
contingency approaches to neo charismatic theories of leadership. Three most widely
recognized neo charismatic theories are the theory of charismatic leadership the strategic

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theory of charismatic leadership and the full range theory of leadership. The full range theory
of leadership identifies two styles of leadership: transformational and transactional.
Transactional leaders are seen as ones who use either contingent rewards as positive
reinforcement when the standards reached or management-by-exception as punishment or
negative feedback after problems occur. Transformational leaders, in turn, are able to
influence their followers to transcend self-interest and release their full potential for
performance toward the goals of their organization.

Transformational leadership is accomplished through idealized influence or charisma,

inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration Idealized
influence “refers to charismatic actions of the leader that are centered on values, beliefs, and a
sense of mission”. Transformational leaders motivate their followers to do more than they
initially intend to and think they are capable of. Identification with their leaders is an important
characteristic of idealized influence. Among its most cited consequences are followers respect
and trust, and identification with both their leaders, and with the mission and goals of their
organization. Inspirational motivation refers to the leader’s ability to articulate values and
goals which cause followers to transcend their own self-interests. Again, followers identify with
inspirational leaders and are ready to put forth efforts to achieve the mutual goals are
promoted by the leader, and to meet the leader’s high expectations of them. Transformational
leaders invoke inspirational motivation by providing followers with challenges and meaning for
engaging in shared goals and undertakings, as well as future work and opportunities.
Transformational leaders demonstrate high confidence, hope, and optimism to the followers,
engaging them to be hopeful, confident, and optimistic as well.

Intellectual stimulation refers to a transformational leader’s encouragement of her followers to

think about new approaches to solving problems. Not only transformational leaders emphasize
the importance to think differently but also they “promote organizational culture in which
followers are encouraged to question old assumptions, beliefs, and paradigms”. This approach
is argued to stimulate follower’s creativity and innovativeness. Individualized consideration

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emphasizes giving the followers individual recognition and praise for their performance.
Transformational leaders are known to build one-on-one relationships and to adapt to
individual needs of followers. Transformational leaders pay special attention to specific needs
of the followers, e.g., for personal growth and achievement. Thus, transformational leaders are
often perceived as a coachers and mentors by followers. The personal attention they receive
builds confidence, motivation to meet the leader’s high expectations, and increases their
overall job satisfaction.

Rafferty and Griffin (2004) reexamine the theoretical model developed by Bass (1985) to
identify five dimensions of transformational leadership: vision, inspirational communication,
supportive leadership, intellectual stimulation, supportive leadership, and personal recognition.

 Vision is the expression of an idealized picture of the future based around

organizational values. Vision results in the internalization of organizational values and
goals that encourages individuals to adopt desired behaviours. Defined vision as a
transcendent ideal that represents shared values. Argued that charismatic leaders
demonstrate a number of behaviours, including articulating n ideology that enhances
goal clarity, task focus, and value congruence.
 Inspirational communication is the expression of positive and encouraging messages
about the organization and statements that build motivation and confidence.
Inspiration refers to “the extent to which a leader stimulates enthusiasm among
subordinates for the work of the group and says things to build subordinate
confidence in their ability to perform assignments successfully and attain group
objectives”. Inspirational leaders use appeals and emotion-laden statements to arouse
followers' emotions and motivation.

 Supportive leadership is expressing concern for followers and taking account of their
individual needs. Supportive leaders direct their behavior toward the satisfaction of
subordinates' needs and preferences, display concern for subordinates' welfare, and

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create a friendly and psychologically supportive work environment. Supportive

leadership is a component of the individualized consideration leadership construct.

 Intellectual stimulation is enhancing employees' interest in and awareness of

problems and increasing their ability to think about problems in new ways. Intellectual
stimulation increases followers' abilities to conceptualize, comprehend, and analyze
problems and improve quality of solutions.
 Personal recognition is the provision of rewards such as praise and acknowledgement
of effort for achievement of specified goals. Personal recognition occurs when a
leader indicates that she values individuals' efforts and rewards the achievement of
outcomes consistent with the vision through praise and acknowledgment of followers'
efforts.

Transformational leaders also arrange celebrations, religious functions and get together

to boost the morale of the team. Also even insignificant changes get a huge applause by which

the transformational leader gathers trust from the followers. The transformational leader

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parallel focuses both on the team progress and morale boosting of the team members because

Transformational leaders do know that only motivated team members brings success to the

team.

Transformational leaders have the ability to recognize their own capability and the ability of

other employees at workplace, which enables them to guide their performance and thereby

indulge in shared activity by creating a conscious atmosphere where behavior and task is

adjudged. Transformational leaders have unlimited power in them and this power is distributed

to all workers around the leaders. These types of leaders in an organization give importance to

substance and empower all who surround the leader’s professional activity. From the business

perspective, transformational leaders visualize involvement in the long run with all parties

concerned with the business like customers, shareholders, communities, employees and

suppliers. When importance equals is given for the opportunities of all concerned shareholders

and stakeholders also enjoy the advantages of transformational leadership. The

implementation of transformational leadership enhances the level of performance in any

industry.

Transformational leaderships give importance to the ethical part of work to consumers

and customers. Women usually follow this type of leadership and it is time for organizations to

follow this method as the basic leadership policy. The survival and efficiency of organizations

have a longstanding evidence and association with transformational leadership.

Transformational orientation gives individuals the opportunity to conduct self-examination and

then evaluate their conduct based on present values and prospective high value actions in the

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organization for total improvement. The efficiency of a transformational leader can be

improved by conducting retreats at regular intervals in a year with a relevant party or

institution. Retreats give opportunities for business executives to revive their present plan and

apply critical transformation policy and would enable them to use them in their further conduct

in the organization and bring novel strata of success to the company.

The transformational leader should focus on empowering subordinate and serve as an

example for hard in order to transform a company’s work culture and trajectory. The path

towards success is to challenge subordinates to improve their performance above the standard

expectation of the company and acts as a stimulator for innovation and creativity to attain

collective leadership capability. Transformational leadership is not applicable for people in the

managerial level. It can be imbibed by individuals at all levels and in all circumstances. Hence

leaders should make sure to develop leadership qualities among subordinates. This kind of

leadership is applicable to people from all walks of life. This has application in school, sports,

family, social change, etc. A change in ideology or opinion or culture can be effected by

exchanging or assuring rewards. In business terms transactional leaders offer financial reward

to motivate employees and increase productivity and deny increments for poor productivity. In

the political scenario, politician ensures to provide jobs for votes or subsidies for assisting them

through election campaign.

Transformational leaders lead the subordinate towards growth and development by

paying attention to follower’s requirements and placing the objectives of the person, leader

and the entire team and the organization at ease. In short, transformational leaders have the

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capacity to bring out an outcome that exceeds the requirement of the organization and enable

followers to achieve better satisfaction and commitment towards the team and the

organization. Transformational leadership has been a successful tool in the military. However,

latest findings state that it is applicable to all sectors and every social circumstance. Psychology

and economics go hand in hand when it comes to transformational leadership with personal

motivation converting to financial rewards on the successful accomplishment of the mission.

Transactional leadership ensures that the follower will be rewarded only for a specific outcome

but transformational leadership ensures that the follower is comfortable with the idea and

there is compliance and commitment and the vision engages the person and feels self worth.

Therefore the basic idea of a transformational leader is to motivate other to increase

performance or productivity. Transformational leadership can be either participative or

directive. The charisma used by transformational leaders has turned havoc on followers in the

case of charismatic leaders like Adolf Hitler and Osama Bin Laden who exploit followers for

personal and self-aggrandizing objectives. Authentic transformational leaders give more and

exhibit high levels of involvement instead of imposing superiority.

An authentic transformational leader gives importance to challenges and persuasion by

explaining the meaning of the challenge. They adorn the role of model followers, which creates

interest for all associated with the leader. True leaders are respected, admired and trusted.

Followers then identify themselves with the leader and would like to follow them by admiring

extensive levels of capabilities, determination and persistence. This is called idealized influence.

The level of follower’s commitment is measured through the nature of interaction, which the

leader initiates. A collective enthusiasm is usually formed to achieve the mission and reassure

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the followers that hindrances can be overcome. Leaders who cast idealized influence have the

willingness to take risk and have consistency in their approach. They are reliable and can be

trusted for doing the right thing due their moral and ethical orientation. As an inspirational

motivator, transformational leader evokes team spirit.

Optimism and enthusiasm are other positive traits. This enables leaders to attract

followers to accomplish future objectives through clear communication and instill a feeling that

followers will also require to meet the target. Since this is a shared vision all concerned should

be demonstrated about the reason for achievement of a high set goal. Contingent reward is an

aspect of constructive transaction that has resulted in good outcomes for higher performance

and development levels. Contingent reward leaders assign work and take the consent of the

follower for satisfactory performance of the task. This is a transactional reward but it will turn

to be transformational when the reward is psychological when the follower is appreciated for

the good work or improvement in productivity. (Bass & Riggio, 2005)

Transformational leadership can be better understood as a task involving development

through delegation. The best methods of delegating work are learnt by a manger through

practice and on the job experience. The manager should recognize the fact that learning is an

outcome of the opportunities encountered during a job. This is the reason why people with

more exposure and opportunities and people who have worked with a number of assignments

during their career have the additional edge of developing and growing in a professional

manner to evolve later into successful managers of their own.

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Transformational leadership gives importance to emotions, imagination and intellect of

all concerned and gives opportunity to increase a person’s performance capability under

pressure, challenging work atmosphere and deal with problems at work. Therefore the

leadership aims to implement change by strengthening the ability of person by enhancing the

interaction capability of a person in a complex situation to utilize creativity when there are

obstacles and conflict for improvement. Behavioral change is one of the key factors for

transformation of an individual. Conventional approach is replaced by exhilarating experience

to identify the potential of a person where the learning of the person is directed towards an

improved trajectory. The outcome of such training is a cycle of personalized experiences that

penetrate into a person for deeper progress and results in powerful performance.

Transformational leaders instill increased confidence, deeper insight, better understanding,

increased understanding about capabilities, increased understanding about structural factors

and a greater sense of individual authority in the followers. The followers will also be

empowered to recognize and contribute their work with diversity in an informed and enriched

working atmosphere, which results in better effectiveness of services.

Transformational leadership requires change to be implemented and sustained in an

organization. Rather than demonstration, transformational leadership is learning and working

together process where both the leader and follower involve in a particular task. The influence

of the leader is more on the behavior, which results in the action of the subordinate and getting

people to involve in their work especially in the case of multi-tasking. The word criticism does

not hold well in transformational leaders for the mistake of a follower. The mistake or error in

the performance is corrected by the leader’s involvement and guidance about how the work

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has to be performed. Encouragement is the most important part for followers who have

already implemented the new policies while appreciation; praise and reward are the significant

factor to sustain the performance of followers who have already accomplished the vision and

mission of the transformational leader. This boosts confidence and instills credibility about the

ideas and vision of the transformational leader.

A transformation leader uses the inborn leadership quality to perceive leadership in

followers. Self-schema is an important aspect of leaders who display a different trajectory in

invoking leadership. The leader prototype is self-defining for followers wherein the experience

of leaders in other settings stimulates the actions to influence action of followers. The action of

leaders from different demographic regions varies and they display different leadership self-

schema. Besides this, there are gender differences when it comes to transformational

leadership. Male and female leaders manage followers from different perspectives.

In conclusion, transformational leaders lead the change in an organization, society or

group by implementing their self developed policies and the strategies they have arrived at

from previous work experiences. The transformation leaders is not a boss who directs followers

to implement actions, but the leader is a member of a group or team who instills confidence,

improves intellect and functionality and builds confidence among the team members. By

involving in the team, the leader finds better acceptance for new policies and procedures,

which leads to the substantiation of the leader’s vision. The leader also gives opportunity for

followers to discover their individuality and personal capability, which eventually leads to

better performance and improvement in the assigned task that is beyond the expected level of

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performance. Therefore, a transformational leader lead the change in any set up and

contributes to the overall improvement of performance.

References:

 Bass, B. M., & Avolio, B. J. (1993) “Improving Organizational Effectiveness through

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o Transformational Leadership” London: Sage.

 Bass, B. M., & Riggio, R. E. (2005) “Transformational Leadership” London: Routledge

 Burns, M. J. (1978). Leadership. Harper & Row.

 N. A. (2008) “Breaking Through’s 'Transformational Leadership Programme’”

o Retrieved 22 August, 2008 from

o http://www.kingsfund.org.uk/leadership/breaking.html

 N. A. (2008) “Transformational Leadership Primer” Retrieved 22 August, 2008 from

o http://www.legacee.com/Info/Leadership/LeaderResources.html

 N. A. (2008) “Transformational Leadership” Retrieved 22 August, 2008 from

o http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/styles/transformational_leadership.htm

 Hellingsworth, B., Best, R., & Valence, Gerard de. (2002) “Design and Construction”

o Butterworth-Heinemann.

 Hogg, M. A., & Tindale, R. S. (2001). Group Processes. New Jersey: Blackwell Publishing.

 Venkateswaran, N. (2007, Feb) “Transformational Leadership” Retrieved 22 August, 2008 from

 http://www.indianmba.com/Faculty_Column/FC512/fc512.html

 Transformational Leadership (Second Edition) BY Bernard M. Bass, Ronald E. Riggio, Lawrence

Erlbaum Associates, Inc.,2006
 Great Motivation Secrets of Great Leaders BY John Baldoni, McGraw-Hill,2005

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