James McGregor Burns in his 1978 book Leadership, defined transforming leadership as a process by which "leaders and their followers raise one another to higher levels of morality and motivation".
Transformational Leadership, as developed by Bernard M Bass in the 1980s, remains one of the most influential models of effective leadership. It centres on the idea that a leader:
Is a model of integrity and fairness
Sets clear goals
Has high expectations
Encourages others
Provides support and recognition
Stirs the emotions of people
Gets people to look beyond their self-interest
Inspires people to reach for the improbable
Ronald Riggio worked with Bass. Here he explains the main pillars of Transformational Leadership and how they relate to the idea of 'charisma' - a somewhat nebulous and misunderstood concept - that gets a sharper definition in the Transformational
Leadership model.
The four pillars of Transformational Leadership are:
Idealised influence
Inspirational motivation
Intellectual stimulation
Individualised consideration
Here is a quick recap on the difference between Transactional and Transformational Leadership:
So why is Transformational Leadership important? One of the reasons is that it helps to keep the WHY at the core of what we do. This video points to the difference in motivation from extrinsic (transactional) to intrinsic (transformational). When
we are clear about the purpose - the WHY - we and we have leaders who invest in us, we can achieve so much more.
This next short presentation video tells us that transformational leaders:
Work towards a noble vision
Act with authenticity and honesty
Adopt a growth mindset
Promote creativity and new ideas
When Bernard Bass explored ways to measure a leader's transformational qualities, he concluded that it was the views of their followers (direct reports) rather than their managers (the people they report to) that gave the most accurate assessment.
The following TedX talk is an honest self-reflection by Lesley Hayes, an entrepreneur who is prepared to listen to the people she leads and to start to make changes in her own behaviours.
Reflection
What aspects of Transformational Leadership do you most want to develop in yourself?
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