Transformational leadership is a leadership style in which leaders encourage, inspire and motivate employees to innovate and create change that will help grow and shape the future success of the company. This is accomplished by setting an example at the executive level through a strong sense of corporate culture, employee ownership and independence in the workplace. Show Transformational leaders inspire and motivate their workforce without micromanaging — they trust trained employees to take authority over decisions in their assigned jobs. It’s a management style that’s designed to give employees more room to be creative, look to the future and find new solutions to old problems. Employees on the leadership track will also be prepared to become transformational leaders themselves through mentorship and training. Transformational leadership modelThe concept of transformational leadership started with James V. Downton in 1973 and was expanded by James Burns in 1978. In 1985, researcher Bernard M. Bass further expanded the concept to include ways for measuring the success of transformational leadership. This model encourages leaders to demonstrate authentic, strong leadership with the idea that employees will be inspired to follow suit. While Bass’ model dates to the ’70s, it’s still an effective leadership style practiced today — this style of authentic leadership never changes, just the environments it’s used in. It’s applicable across every industry, but it’s especially vital to the fast-paced tech industry where innovation and agility can make or break a company. For a deeper look at the transformational leadership model, see “How to apply transformational leadership at your company.” Transformational leadership characteristicsAccording to Bass, these are the hallmarks of a transformational leader that sets them apart from other leadership styles. A transformational leader is someone who:
For a look at how to draw out your transformational leadership qualities in your resume, see “IT resume makeover: Highlighting transformational leadership.” Transformational leadership in ITAlthough the concept of transformational leadership can apply to every industry — including healthcare, education and government agencies — it’s increasingly important in IT as companies embrace digital transformation. Adapting to rapidly changing technology requires innovation and strong leadership to stay ahead of the curve and to remain competitive. As leaders in IT, CIOs are responsible for setting the example as transformative leaders — especially considering they’re largely responsible for digital transformation in the business. Gartner reports that 40 percent of CIOs are leaders of digital transformation in their organization, while 34 percent say they’re responsible for innovation. Inspiring and motivating employees is an important puzzle piece when planning out digital transformation, as success depends on everyone buying into and embracing growth and change. While there is certainly a growing need to keep an eye on the future — whether it’s security, new technology or shifting platforms — not every part of IT will benefit from transformational leadership. Some processes, procedures and development projects require more structure, consistency and reliability; this is called transactional leadership. To read how CIOs are making good on transformational leadership, see “Transformational CIOs juggle innovation and operations.” Transactional vs. transformational leadershipTransactional leadership is the exact opposite of transformational leadership — it relies on motivating employees through rewards and punishments. It requires supervision, oversight, organization and performance-monitoring. This leadership model doesn’t try to innovate. Instead, it’s rooted in keeping things consistent and predictable over time. Errors and faults are closely investigated, and the overall goal is to create efficient, routine procedures. This style is best suited to departments or organizations that require routine and structure — areas where businesses want to reduce chaos or inefficiency. But it doesn’t allow for innovation or future planning the same way transformational leadership will. Transformational leadership, on the other hand, supports agile environments, especially where failure carries less risk. You want the development and maintenance of a current product to remain consistent and error free, but you don’t want that to hinder the progress and growth of future updates and improvements. Transactional leadership takes care of creating a consistent development process, while transformational leadership leaves people free to come up with new ideas and look at the future of products, services and ideas. Training and certificationAlthough transformational leadership skills are considered soft skills, there are still plenty of resources, certificates and training programs aimed at developing transformational leaders. Here’s a short list of online resources to earn training and certifications in transformational leadership. However, it’s likely you can find an in-person training course at a local college or university in your home state. Examples of transformational leadersHarvard Business Review analyzed companies on the S&P and Fortune Global 500 list to uncover the best examples of transformational leadership. These businesses were judged on “new products, services and business models; repositioning its core business; and financial performance.”
Every person is unique, so it follows that every manager's approach to leading a team is unique. Typically, how an individual approaches management stems from their personality. Some leaders are strict, while others are lenient, some are mellow while others are high-strung. According to IMD.org, leadership styles in business can be categorized according to the leaders’ personality traits.
Leadership styles in business can be organized into five categories:
Each of these leadership styles has its benefits and its drawbacks, and each is more effective in certain workplace types than others. Sometimes, the most effective leadership style for a workplace depends on the mix of employee personalities present or the mix of experience levels in the workplace.
Autocratic leadership, also known as authoritarian leadership, is a leadership style where the boss has absolute control over decisions in the workplace. Team members are not asked for input; they are expected to comply with all decisions and orders made by their leader.
Autocratic leadership, like all the other leadership styles in management, has its benefits as well as its drawbacks. Benefits of autocratic leadership include saving time on the decision-making process, every member of the team knowing exactly what is expected of them and how they are to perform, and fewer strategy implementation errors because there are fewer people involved in the strategic planning process. Drawbacks include employees feeling like they are not personally valued, reduced motivation among team members and an increased risk of employee rebellion.
In certain workplaces, an autocratic leader is the ideal type of leader, according to St. Thomas University. These workplaces include high-stakes environments where human error can mean a safety or security risk, like the military. In other environments, like education and creative services, an autocratic leader can hinder their team and ultimately, undermine their organization’s success.
In many ways, democratic leadership is the opposite of autocratic leadership. Democratic leadership, also sometimes known as participative leadership, is a leadership style characterized by the leader’s choice to involve team members in the decision-making process. In all decisions, the leader has the final say, but they make decisions according to the input they receive from his team.
Benefits of democratic leadership include:
Democratic leadership is not the perfect leadership style, though. Drawbacks include a time-consuming decision-making process, as well as the potential for poor choices if the employees do not have the experience necessary to provide well-informed input. A democratic leadership style can be a great choice for a smaller team or a team composed of similarly skilled members.
Perhaps the easiest way to understand laissez-faire leadership is this: If democratic leadership is the moderate opposite of autocratic leadership, laissez-faire leadership is the extreme opposite of autocratic leadership. Laissez-faire leadership is, essentially, the lack of a clear leader role. While one individual may be the leader in title, the reality in this type of workplace dynamic is that everybody is an equal decision-maker and every piece of input from the team is considered equally.
Rather than gathering team members’ input and then considering it when making a decision, a laissez-faire leader leaves the decision-making up to their team members. This can lead to feelings of importance among every member of the team, but it can also lead to confusion and bottlenecks in strategic processes.
A laissez-faire leadership style can be a very effective way to lead a team composed of highly skilled, highly specialized individuals. In this kind of environment, each team member can take the lead in situations that require their expertise and trust their colleagues to make effective choices when they are in the “driver’s seat.”
According to St. Thomas University, a transactional leader’s primary goals are order and structure in the workplace. Under a transactional leader, self-motivated employees tend to be most successful because the leader has created a structured, rigid environment where they use clear rewards and punishments to drive employee performance. For example, a transactional leader might require each member of the sales team to speak with five prospective customers each day, offering catered lunch on Friday for every team member who met this goal Monday through Thursday.
Benefits of transactional leadership include:
Transactional leadership can also have drawbacks. These include:
Among all the recognized leadership styles in business, transformational leadership is perhaps the most focused on the leader’s personality. With this type of leader, employees are guided by a clearly defined vision for success, which may be the leader’s personal vision or the company’s mission statement. According to Northeastern University, this kind of leadership inspires innovation and generally creates a positive workplace culture.
Transformational leadership is characterized by:
Like the other leadership styles, there are benefits and drawbacks to transformational leadership. A transformational leader can inspire employees to try to be their best selves, create a workplace where mutual respect is highly valued and encourage employees to think critically about the values they hold. But this type of workplace can also become a cult of personality or create an environment where gaining the leader’s approval becomes a priority for employees, diverting their focus from performing their jobs well or supporting each other.
No two leaders approach management exactly the same way. Although managers can have similar styles, and individuals often emulate their mentors, there are as many leadership styles in management as there are people in management.
As an employee – or supervisor of somebody tasked with managing a team – recognizing a team leader’s management style can help you understand their mindset, the reasons behind their decisions and how best to communicate with them. It is not uncommon for an individual to exhibit characteristics from two or more management styles, like a leader who embraces transformational ideas and puts them into action through democratic methods. In fact, very few leaders can be classified into any one leadership category 100 percent.
It is also not uncommon for a leader’s management style to evolve as their career progresses (or as their team members progress). For example, a leader managing a fairly young, inexperienced team might need to take a blended autocratic and transformational approach to leading them because they are not ready to take more active roles in leadership.
But as time goes on and the individual team members become more experienced in their roles and their industry, their manager might switch to a more democratic approach to heading their projects. |
Which leadership style is most effective when managing an experienced group of employees whose jobs require creativity as a top priority?
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