Transformational Leadership 1 of 4 (Dr. Brent Lindquist)  

Today I am introducing a four part series on becoming a transformational leader.  During this session, I'm going to define terms and set the context -- the why.  Then in the second session I'm going to talk about the whole idea of well-being as it relates to transformational leadership and followership.  And then in part three, I'm going to look at the impact of the transformational leader on his or her followers.  And finally I'm going to apply transformational leadership to a multicultural context in the 4th program.  I hope you find it interesting.

So what does transformational leadership mean?  Well, I'm using as my main text a book called "Positive Psychology in Practice" edited by Lynly N. Joseph, and I'm referring specifically to chapter 15 which talks about leading well.  Now this is research based and there's a lot of stuff going on in there.  There are a lot of studies and I'm going to try to call out stuff because I think this has tremendous applications to us as we try to manage, monitor or lead, in a transformational way, a group of people, whether they're in a profit or non-profit status.  Transformational leadership, as defined, has four components or elements.

#1 is the whole idea of idealized influence -- the transformational leader leads in the way he or she does because it's the right way.  It's the moral way and it's not just expedient.  Followers develop respect and trust for this particular style.

The second element is inspirational motivation.  The transformational leader inspires followers to do their very best and if possible even more than they thought they could do.  He or she does this by instilling in followers realistic levels of self-judgment.  Self-judgment is how we perceive ourselves.  In literature, it's called self-efficacy and I may refer to that but I want to stay away from that word because I think it's pretty complex.  I’m referring to self-judgment feelings of what can be accomplished rather than fears of what can not be accomplished.  Very interesting dynamic going on there.

The third element is that the transformational leader uses intellectual stimulation.  He doesn't provide all the answers and allows the followers to think more for themselves.  This really increases the sense of confidence and positive judgment skills.

Finally, the fourth element looks at the whole idea of individualized consideration.  Leaders pay attention to issues and needs of the individual and of the individual development and psychological safety.  They use behaviours like listening, showing care, empathy, and compassion.  So why are all these issues important?  Why am I bringing this up?  I think there are three parts about transformational leadership that make it a big deal for us to consider.

The first one - I think that this gets at in the business sector, in the research sector, in the scientific sector, if you will.  Some of the issues of transformation are referred to in the whole books of Romans 12 and II Corinthians 3.  We are transformed, or we are seeking to be transformed, to become more like, to reflect the qualities of our leader, and I think this is endorsing in some way those concepts, those principles that exist in our wisdom literature.  We're not supposed to necessarily be conforming to this world, but we are conforming and transforming to something greater.

Secondly if my first postulate is correct, that transformation in business and team is related to the transformational concepts, goals and aspirations that exist in Scripture, then we need to pass it on.  If it really is important to transform, we need to pass on that spiritual transformation.  Now certainly we don't always have the right context to do that.  But what I'm getting at here is the ability or desire to make the connection, to connect the dots to say "huh transformation is important throughout all of life".  I also think that it's important that once we start doing some of these transformations as leaders, that that will transform the followers and the followers will grow and actually transformational leadership is a great multiplication strategy because it creates transforming followers.  And in my opinion, a transforming follower is just a few steps behind the transformational leader and becoming, or transforming if you will, into a leader themselves.

That actually is my third point.  Transformational leadership creates transformed followers, leaders in their own right.  Now if we see how important this is -- the context -- this all arises out of the environment that the transformational leader seeks to develop.  It's staggering to consider the impact that this has.

Let me review those four elements of transformational leadership:

Idealized influence: I do this, I lead this way because it's the right way.  It's the right way based on the principles by which I operate, the philosophy of life and the individual and business.

That leadership style creates trust.  It's easier to trust somebody who’s leading in this way.  It inspires!  The leader inspires motivation.  There is a calling to be greater than you thought you could be, to move toward the hoped-for goal, to aspire for something a little bit more.  Is there possibility for disappointment and failure?  Oh certainly!  Very much so, but that doesn't mean that you don't keep trying.

Thirdly -- the whole intellectual stimulation arena.  Don't provide all the answers, but provide enough of the components that are necessary for an answer that people don't feel stymied, that people can take that and move things around and create their own solutions, create an opportunity and avenue for solution seeking or solution thinking.

And finally, individualized consideration, the empathic communication, the presence with the follower and the person together looking at how things are going.  Not just how the goal is being achieved, but how daily life is being lived out; being willing to be transparent.  All of this creates an atmosphere of trust and I think we'll see in the future a resilience and that's one of my big things – trust, resilience, encouragement, compassion and empathy…all of this leads towards effectiveness.

So my homework for you, if you're a leader - can you think about idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration?  How might you continue to implement them?  If you're a follower, are you seeing those kinds of characteristics in your leader?  If not, is there anything you can do to move both of you towards that arena?  It's not all their responsibility.

Well we'll come back and deal with this a little bit more the next few times I'm with you and I hope this was helpful.  Transformational leadership begets transformational followership.  Have fun being transformed this week.  Talk to you next time.