Does the Business or the World Really Want Transformational Leader?

Transformational leadership is based on vision, to connect dots into the future.

We live at a time when organizational longevity has never been shorter and leaders have been born with a limited life span. There’s a tough choice for leadership practice facing in business and society as well: do you prefer transactional leaders who care about the short term result or shall you advocate transformational leaders who articulate long-term vision and direction? Do you think that the majority of transformational leaders are "nuts," what do you mean? Do you see these as positive character traits that transformational leaders should have? In your experience interacting with transformational leaders who were "nuts," do you feel that they articulated the vision adequately? Do you have a positive experience with them? Are you willing and able to implement the changes they proposed? How often are you persuaded to support the changes they proposed? Put simply, does the business or the world really want transformational leaders?

Transformational leadership is based on vision, to connect dots into the future: Transformational leaders reject conventional structure and thought without apology. Operational managers reject them and fight against them because it is risky. It is true that individuals who try to effect significant change usually face opposition and skepticism. This opposition often stems from a fair of the unknown. That's why the skill of persuasion and the ability to effectively communicate new ideas in ways that the average person can grasp is so critical in transformational leadership. The questions that we need to ask ourselves when facing push-back against the change we are seeking to implement is: Are the skeptics failing to see the idea? Or am I failing to communicate the idea in ways that the skeptic can understand and buy-in to the concept? It is easy to say all the right things, but when it actually comes to making the hard choices that will deliver the changes they say they want, the organization does not have the “intestinal fortitude” to actually deliver.  The challenge is even more fundamental than transformational leadership. It is the operational mindset that enables leaders to be successful and the belief that that Business-as-Usual (BAU) mindset can deliver change as well. Therefore, transformational leaders are seen as trying to crack an egg with a sledgehammer.

The transformational leaders are called “craze one,’ which is a compliment from an innovation perspective: People usually call others crazy when they don't understand them. To be a transformational leader does not require one to abandon the realm of reason, logic, and research. It is true that often times, individual and organizational transformation require a shift in thinking and decision making in order to produce improved results individually and corporately. While the shift in thinking and decision making may be novel to most of the individuals or to organizational leaders, the idea may be founded on strong research and experience, and even good common sense. Hence, transformational leadership requires the person leading the transformation to woo and persuade other key stakeholders to come along with him/her on a nerve-racking but significantly rewarding and invigorating venture. A better solution is to communicate the new vision in ways that are understandable to most and to figure out the most effective way to achieve the goal. If the goal is to implement a transformational change and the change requires a certain number of individuals to achieve the goal, then figure out ways to get those key individuals to buy-in to the idea. To borrow a phrase from Jim Collins: Get the right people on the bus.

The transformational leaders need to have strategic intelligence, the interrelated set of skills--foresight, systems thinking, visioning, motivating, etc. Transformational leaders tend to be quicker to recognize and potentially impact the social or economic change in very early stages. Transformational leaders see beyond the conventionally perceived barriers and head toward a goal because they know the goal is achievable. The problem followers face is how to determine who is truly transformational and knows how to get there. The true transformational leadership requires the leader to have a deep understanding of themselves, and be conscious of the impact they are having on others. Effective transformational leaders will strike a balance between taking people outside of their comfort zones whilst building confidence that the change is desirable and achievable. This takes time and resilience..... The art is to create a burning ambition rather than a burning platform.

Transformational leaders can see beyond conventional boundaries. Transformational leaders perhaps propose ideas ahead of their time or intend to fill the gap when people’s mindsets lag behind the era in which they live in. Transformational leaders are leaders who are driven (almost to obsess) by a purpose bigger than themselves and, in the moment, not obvious to most people. There are transformational concepts that may be seen by a majority as a departure from logic. This does not mean that the concept is crazy; neither does it mean that those who reject the new idea are ignorant hermits. It could be that the idea is proposed ahead of its time, or the “mainstream” mindsets lag behind the contemporary era we live in. And, often, the time needs to be right for change to occur. In situations like these where the ideas of a transformational leader are viewed by the conventional populous as conceptualizations that are void of reason or logic, it is the duty of the transformational leader to demonstrate the need to depart from conventional thinking and into the realm of the "on-known." This is where pilot testing and research comes in. And this is the very reason transformational leaders have to step into the void to bridge the gaps.

Transformational leadership styles have different dimensions: Inspirational, Game-changing,  Intellectual stimulation, Idealized. There are transformational leaders who dare to believe they can do what conventional wisdom says is either impossible or so improbable, things that only the truly "touched" would do. Transformation is all about growing and we all know how much most people embrace that. Could transformational leadership be a quality that exists within an organization such that it permeates every position and individual? Could the very culture of an organization define settling for a solid, predictable past as unacceptable? Could excellence be an unattainable goal that comes to life only at the moment, one moment at a time? If culture is not ready, perhaps there are the types that may start in an organization but cannot survive within its constraints. These transformational leaders break out and find avenues to create transformation. Many become entrepreneurs and or consultants. 

Transformational leaders are not only inspirational but also systematic. Many organizations today develop systems of management and performance which are designed to make the individuals replaceable or at least to minimize the cost of replacing the individual (employee). The logic and wisdom behind systems management are solid, however, it has ripple effects that can put a lid on the organization’s effectiveness. An effective leader is someone who improves the overall effectiveness of a person or an organization. In order to do that, a leader has to gain the trust of a person or organization so they can take ownership of its weaknesses and to begin the necessary changes to become more effective, and most people are capable of transforming well beyond the capacity they currently believe they have. However, what many leaders often fail when constructing transformation is the need to design real transformative change at the individual, relational, and systemic levels simultaneously. Programmatic approaches often focus on just one - coaching the leader, building the teams, or changing the culture or designing the organization. Transformational change sticks when the leader guides all three domains simultaneously and engages the whole organization on the journey.

Transformational leadership is the higher-level digital leadership, history has shown us that transformational leaders place a high value on human being within their organization. The world will always need transformational leaders because it is only failing that you achieve experience and later success. In reality, most transformational leaders are not recognized until well after momentum has been established and the risk of recognition is much lower. Still, transformational leadership is the sunshine to brighten the future.

Posted in: Future of Leadership,Keywords in 21st Century