The single biggest way to impact an organisation is to focus on transformational leadership. There is almost no limit to the potential of an organisation that recruits good people, raises them up as leaders and continually develop them. — John C Maxwell

THE July 23, 2014 Jamaica Observer reported that Patrick Hylton, managing director of National Commercial Bank, indicated that transformational leadership at the levels of the organisation and the individual is the key missing ingredient for significant economic growth in Jamaica. This reflects the same sentiments that I have been propagating in the MBA Forum — that good leadership in general, and transformational leadership in particular, is the single most important input to an effective organisation! The quote above from John Maxwell also endorses this idea which has been confirmed by substantial research.

Leadership styles

Transformational leadership is the hip phrase in management circles nowadays. If you are a manager, then you will be expected to say that you are a transformational leader if asked about your leadership style. Many managers do not understand the basic tenets of this leadership style and

how to apply it in their organisations — but they know the term.

When I was doing my doctorate and trying to decide on a topic for my dissertation, I wanted to study leadership and was narrowing in on Fiedler’s Contingency Leadership Model. I was strongly discouraged by a professor who thought that “everybody is going into transformational leadership, so why do you want to research that?”

Contingency leadership involves applying the appropriate leadership style for a given situation, and I think it has several merits to appreciate. As a matter of fact good leaders must be able to exercise contingency (otherwise called situational) leadership, as this means first assessing the situation and the followers, and then applying the appropriate leadership style — whether autocratic, participatory, supportive or others. However, based on the interest levels of researchers and the proven impact on leadership effectiveness when applied, transformational leadership now reigns as king in the leadership research arena. We will have a brief look at it in today’s MBA Forum.

Transformational leadership

Leadership implies that there is a leader, and there is at least one follower. The term also implies that there is some influence applied by the leader over the follower towards achieving some shared objective. “Transformational” betrays its meaning — that there has to be some amount

of “transforming.” Transformation is a strong word, and means to change completely and usually in a good way (Merriam-Webster). So the goal of this leadership style is a lofty one indeed.

Several recent research findings indicate that transformational leadership has a significant positive relationship with organisational effectiveness, employee behaviuor and general organisational outcomes. It is therefore important that current managers understand the basic tenets and seek to apply them, since the benefits are quantifiable and significant.

Brief background of transformational leadership

In 1978, J. Burns wrote a book with the simple title Leadership, in which he outlined the concept of transformational leadership and also differentiated it from transactional leadership. The work on transformational leadership was subsequently further enhanced by Bass in 1985 in his research documented in his article Leadership: Good, Better, Best.

Based on the flurry of work done on the topic, researchers have zoomed in on four components of transformational leadership, and have been creative enough to confine them to the letter “I” for ease of recollection.

Idealised influence

For this component of transformational leadership, the followers see certain qualities in the leader that they believe that they need to emulate — according to McKlesky in his 2014 research article. Furthermore, the leader’s behavior is such that the followers are impressed with such behaviour. The followers, therefore, look up to the leader and consider that he is the kind of person they would really like to be someday.

Individualised consideration

According to McKlesky, “Individualised consideration involves acting as a coach or mentor in order to assist followers with reaching their full potential. Leaders provide learning opportunities and a supportive climate.”

Inspirational motivation

The leader does not just seek to motivate, but also to inspire with charismatic behaviour. It means, therefore that the leader who chooses to be transformational has to be able to appeal to the emotions to inspire followers. Dynamic gospel preachers do this well. A corollary to this is that the leader must be able to speak and articulate well; so as a manager you should assess whether you need to do a course in public speaking. To be a transformational leader, one needs to be able to inspire towards a shared vision, so it is good to be able to be enthusiastic when sharing the message.

Intellectual stimulation

According to Johannsen

on legacee.com, “Transformational leaders show new ways of looking at old problems, they challenge the existing boundaries and the mental prisons people put themselves into.” Transformational leaders are willing to challenge basic assumptions — however long they have been held. When President John F Kennedy announced in 1961 that America would put a man safely on the moon before 1970, this was never done before and so was unheard of (history.nasa.gov/moondec.html). The risks were high, so were the global political stakes at the time — but it was a fantastic vision! The president sold it well, and even though significant resources were involved, the vision was achieved in 1969.

Dr Kenroy Wedderburn is a MBA part-time lecturer. Send your e-mails to drkwedderburn@gmail.com.