Transform Your Leadership Style

Summary Title: Understanding Transformational Leadership

• Transformational leadership is a theory where a leader works with teams or followers beyond their immediate self-interests to create a vision and guide change through influence, inspiration, and executing change with committed members of a group.

• This type of leadership elevates follower's levels of maturity, ideals, and concern for achievement.

• Transformational leadership inspires people to achieve unexpected or remarkable results by giving workers autonomy over specific jobs and authority to make decisions.

• Transformational leaders perform four distinct behaviors: inspirational motivation, idealized influence, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration.

• Transformational leadership enhances motivation, morale, and job performance by connecting the follower's sense of identity and self to a project and the collective identity of the organization.

• Transformational leadership enhances commitment, involvement, loyalty, and performance of followers, and they exert extra effort to show support to the leader.

• Transformational leaders are strong in the abilities to adapt to different situations, share a collective consciousness, self-manage, and be inspirational while leading a group of employees.

• Inspirational motivation is when the leader inspires their followers to achieve high and reasonable goals for their organization, creating a shared vision.

• Idealized influence is when the leader acts as a strong role model for their organization and leads by example, considering the needs of their followers and prioritizing their needs.

• Intellectual stimulation is when the leader encourages their followers to think for themselves, creating learning opportunities, and abandoning obsolete practices.

• Individualized consideration is when the leader establishes a strong relationship with their followers, acts as a caring supportive resource for their followers and their organization, and mentors their followers.

• Transformational leadership was initially introduced by James V. Downton, a concept further developed by leadership expert and presidential biographer James MacGregor Burns.

• The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) is a survey used to measure transformational leadership. Studies have shown that transformational leadership styles are associated with positive outcomes in relation to other leadership styles.Summary: Transformational Leadership

• Transformational leaders focus on vision, motivation, and proactivity, while transactional leaders focus on goals, rewards, and reactiveness.

• The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) tests for both transformational and transactional leadership elements.

• Studies have shown transformational leadership to lead to higher satisfaction and greater effectiveness, while one transactional practice (contingent reward) leads to higher follower job satisfaction and leader job performance.

• Laissez-faire leadership leads to negative outcomes, especially in terms of follower satisfaction and leader effectiveness.

• Female leaders tend to be more transformational, while laissez-faire leadership is more prevalent in male leaders.

• Transformational leadership characteristics are the most effective, followed by transactional leadership.

• Individual personality affects leadership style, particularly the Five-factor model of personality: openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion/introversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism/emotional stability (OCEAN).

• Indian culture prefers a nurturant-task style of leadership.

• Follower characteristics and perceptions can moderate the connection between transformational leadership and subordinates' willingness to take charge and be good organizational citizens.

• Leader continuity and co-worker support enhance the effect of transformational leadership on role clarity and commitment.

• Transformational leadership is associated with higher job satisfaction, positive emotions, and effectiveness in the workplace and in team projects performed online.

• Nelson Mandela used transformational leadership principles while working to abolish apartheid and enforce change in South Africa.

• The future of transformational leadership is redefined to develop individual commitment to organizational goals by aligning these goals with the interests of their leadership community.