Transformational Leadership 3 of 4 (Dr. Brent Lindquist)

Hello again and welcome back to part three of my series entitled "Becoming a Transformational Leader and Follower".  This is a four part series, and the first two parts I looked at defining transformational leadership itself and its four elements.  Then I looked at the whole idea of well-being and what that means in creating a context that allows for growth.  And today, I'm going to be looking at some of the characteristics that are related to instilling, informing, confirming or encouraging transformation in the part of the followers.  And then finally, the fourth part I'm going to talk about, which is next time, will be transformational leadership and multicultural contexts.

So today we look at, perhaps in more detail, how transformational leadership is involved or improves the well being of followers. This is what I call the Great Interaction.  Remember that a couple of programs ago I talked about self-judgment or self efficacy. Self efficacy refers to the ability of a person or their perceived ability to accomplish a task.  Our self-appraisal determines how well we can accomplish whatever task that is before us.  It's not just the technical aspects but it includes the feeling aspects as well.  If we are good at this, we can confront our stressors and we can adjust our work to deal with them.  If we're not real good at this, then we could get caught up in worrying about the outcome.  Imagine how much energy it takes to accomplish things and then imagine how much energy it takes when you're worrying about it all the time.  You kind of understand what happens.  The transformational leader can come in and really have an impact here.  For example, they can inspire the person to higher levels.  They can model problem solving behaviour and they can have another model of positive outcome thinking.  They can also provide a supportive climate.  Critical to growth in this area are all of these components because they impacts our responses to the leaders.  If I as a follower were having a lot of struggle, I don't see myself as able to do things.  My negative self-report is operating in overload (if you will) and my leader is coming across as distant, uncaring and not willing to hear what's all going on as I try to accomplish these tasks.  I'm going to give up.

If, on the other hand, my leader is talking about how this is a hard situation, they're authenticating my sense of reality but they're providing me with things that I can do, think or use that can make a difference.  Guess what?  I'm going to be a lot more invested in working.  Not just working in the context of working harder but involving myself in my hopefulness for the positive outcome.

A second issue is trust in management.  Trust refers to our willingness to be vulnerable.  Trust is one of the most important predictors in positive organizational outcomes.  Role modeling the right thing increases the level of respect and trust of the followers on the part of the leader.  High levels of trust give people the arena for an emotional resource to manage stress and change.  The transformational leader acts as a role model here.  He's committed to follower needs and not just to the task.  He's concerned about empowering and encouraging followers to act on their own.  The leader is also motivating to achieve more than they thought possible.  These aren't just fancy words.  This is important stuff.  So often in my work as a therapist when I'm dealing with people who are struggling, one of the greatest gifts I can give them is the sense that their perspective is not necessarily wrong.  I say things like:  "I understand how much of a struggle this is.  I haven't experienced it exactly, but there is a lot going on.  Your perception is not that far off".  And then I take them to the next step.  What might be some ways to adjust to this situation?  The transformational leader does some of the same things.  He encourages us to recognize the reality of the situation but to develop hope for positive outcomes -- very powerful.  The end result in all of that is that it increases the level of trust.  Employees or followers that have high trust in their leadership are willing to go the extra mile.

The third point has to do with meaningful work.  Now, certainly I am applying some business or work environment context a little creatively here.  But I think when we think of our lives as purposeful to a greater calling, there still has to be a lot of the mundane that we have to work through, and if we tend to diminish the importance of this mundane stuff, I think we get overwhelmed.  We need to have a high sense of value for the work that it takes us to achieve the results that we expect.  Also, we have to recognize that meaningful work transcends the limited financial benefits as well.  The transformational leader raises levels of morality and moral principles and stimulates and transforms people in that context.  What happens is that in crisis or stressful situations when the work is meaningful, perceived as meaningful, some of that moves from stress to challenge.  That's a big word for me. Challenge is not necessarily stress.  The stress level of followers goes down because of the sense of identity provided by the leader.  He has instilled it in them and that gives them a sense of being in something bigger than themselves and worthy of positive work and outcome.  The response from the leader in these kinds of environments is key.  Verbal cues are very, very powerful.  The leader that wanders around saying "thanks" - this is what is important.  The leader that is connected, the leader that asks about how things are going is going to continue to create this meaningful work environment which decreases stress, which increases trust, which increases self efficacy.

Finally the fourth point is organizational occupational identity.  You can see how all of these are interrelated, and they are all cumulative.  That is, they build on each other.  I think it goes the other way too.  They can tear each other down.  But the identity that we have about who we are and what we do allows us to have extra strength.  So why is all this important again?  The interaction between the leader and follower are critical to how we develop new contexts, new behaviours, and our ability to cope, to manage and to continue our own transformation.

Think through the leader and follower kind of dynamic that you've been in over the last few months or a year, or maybe the last few times.  Are any of these components there?  Were there ways that they could have been implemented?  Did you learn what to do from certain leaders?  Conversely, did you learn what not to do from certain leaders?  These are all important things and they're not going to get addressed clearly in this one short program, but hopefully I've given you some ideas to think about.  Certainly, the way a leader behaves towards you will help drive you to certain conclusions.  However, I want to also encourage you that there is a choice that you can make and that there are decisions that you can make that can contribute or tear down.

Have a good week.  Talk to you next time.