Change is hard. Navigating organizational change as a business leader is even harder. If you’ve ever gone through a restructuring, entered a new market, or even replaced an old software with a new one, you know that the success of those changes hinged on buy-in from your team because if they aren’t on board, they’re likely to resist.
But how does a leader foster buy-in and reduce resistance so their business successfully navigates the change? One answer is transformational leadership. Transformational leaders know they have to create a compelling vision for the future, help their employees understand the purpose behind the change, and involve their team in the process to inspire and motivate them as they navigate the change together.
What Is Transformational Leadership?
In his book Leadership: Theory and Practice, professor of communications and leadership researcher Dr. Peter Northouse defines transformational leadership as “the process whereby a person engages with others and creates a connection that raises the level of motivation and morality in both the leader and the follower.”
Transformational leadership is all about engaging with team members in a way that inspires leaders and followers to achieve higher performance levels.
4 Key Elements of Transformational Leadership
Drs. Bernard M. Bass and Ronald E. Riggio, renowned leadership researchers and authors, literally wrote the book on transformational leadership. In their book, they presented the four components of transformational leadership (sometimes referred to as the four I’s), which break down this leadership style into practical terms, making it actionable for business leaders.
Idealized Influence
Transformational leaders’ behaviors and personal qualities create trust, admiration, and respect among their followers.
Inspirational Motivation
Transformational leaders don’t bark orders. Rather, they act in such a way that challenges and inspires followers. Together leaders and followers craft a vision of their desired future state and then work enthusiastically and optimistically to turn their vision into reality.
Intellectual Stimulation
Following the status quo isn’t an option for transformational leaders or their followers. These leaders ask questions, challenge assumptions, and use reframing to inspire their followers to think and act differently. Whereas some leaders discourage creativity and risk-taking, transformational leaders encourage it, knowing that this can lead to new and better ways to solve problems.
Individualized Consideration
No two followers are alike. Transformational leaders understand this and invest the time to learn what each follower needs and how to motivate them effectively. They customize their leadership to individual followers, building loyalty.
Transformational Leadership at Work: A Business Scenario
A small family-owned business is about to undergo a major digital transformation: adopting Office365, which comes with a host of digital tools the company has never used before. This transition requires rolling out Office365, adopting it, training staff, and shifting from primarily paper-based to digital processes and documentation.
Many long-term employees have little experience in other office environments and have not had to go through such a big shift in how they work. They’re understandably resistant to this change and struggle to use their new digital tools, let alone replace their tried-and-true methods.
Departments are siloed, preventing cross-functional collaboration. Many feel disconnected from the goals and reasoning behind this transformation. Morale is dropping across the company, as teams are overwhelmed by the scale of the change.
Here’s how the leadership team could turn these challenges if they practiced transformational leadership.
- Idealized Influence – The CEO becomes a role model for the rest of the coming by embracing the changes and demonstrating how Office365 and its myriad tools align with the company’s long-term vision and help them reach their organizational goals. By showing confidence and commitment, the CEO builds trust and reduces fear of the unknown among employees.
- Inspirational Motivation – The leadership team communicates a clear, compelling vision of how the shift to Office365 will not only keep the company competitive but also open up new opportunities for innovation, growth, and personal development. They involve key team members in the planning process, making them feel like they’re a meaningful part of something bigger.
- Intellectual Stimulation – Rather than dump the tools onto employees without an adoption plan, leaders encourage employees to think creatively about how they can best use the various programs within Office365 to do their work better. They create a safe environment for experimentation, empowering teams to embrace this learning opportunity and propose new processes without fear of failure.
- Individualized Consideration – The CEO and leadership team take the time to meet with employees individually to hear their concerns and offer personalized support. Whether it’s additional training, flexible timelines, or recognizing individual contributions, employees feel seen, heard, valued, and supported through the transition.
Thanks to transformational leadership, the employees buy into the company’s shift to Office365, actively learning the tools and capabilities, collaborating across departments, and ultimately adopting the programs into their workflows. The organizational change is implemented with minimal disruption, and morale improves as employees see themselves as contributors to the company’s success. The company has completed its digital transformation and is now more efficient and competitive.
Why Is Transformational Leadership Important?
I believe authenticity is central to transformational leadership, and I see this overlap between authentic and transformational leadership styles as valuable. Both are centered on ethical, purpose-driven leadership, which fosters trust and effectiveness. Studies cited in Bass and Riggio’s book demonstrate that authentic transformational leaders have more integrity and are deemed more effective than other leaders.
Here are some ways authentic transformational leaders can positively impact business outcomes.
Boosts Performance
Transformational leadership has been shown to improve organizational performance by creating strong alignment between leaders and team members. One way transformational leaders accomplish this is by empowering their employees to perform. This can have positive psychological benefits, like boosting one’s self-efficacy, or belief in their own ability to organize and execute tasks.
Encourages Innovation and Adaptability
Recall that intellectual stimulation is a key component of transformational leadership. When transformational leaders foster creative thinking and problem-solving, they help their teams build and strengthen those skills and create an environment of adaptability crucial for business success.
Increases Trust and Morale
Through their authenticity and influence, transformational leaders build trust and morale. Those aren’t just nice-to-haves – in business, an environment of trust and positive employee sentiment leads to higher engagement, loyalty, and satisfaction, all of which reduce costly employee turnover.
Transformational Leadership in Action
In the late 1990’s, I was challenged to integrate four disparate teams and develop a go-to-market strategy. While other executives resisted this change, I embraced it, working with these teams to create and execute a vision. Not only did we achieve our goals, we excelled. Here’s what one of my direct reports wrote about the experience.
“Marty brought together a diverse group of individuals and formed us into a high-performing sales team and ignited a passion for what we did and how we worked with each other. It was a time of change and a lot of unknowns, but he helped shape a vision and strategy that led to numerous account acquisitions. And we were able to achieve our goals because of how he involved the team in the planning and execution [and] then made sure we celebrated our success. Many of those working relationships are friendships to this day, thanks to Marty and his energy, perspective, and encouragement.”
If you’re ready to grow as a leader and develop transformational leadership skills so you can realize success, contact me to learn how joining an executive peer advisory group can help.
