Photo by Kaya Florczak (BJJ Photography)
What distinguishes a good leader from a bad one? How can you tell a transformational leader from a leader who is just going through the motions?
Coaches, teachers, bosses – the best and the worst ones stand out in our memories for their good doings and for their blunders.
Transformational leaders are characterized as having high expectations of their followers (athletes, students, employees), but differ from other types of leaders in that they use goal setting to inspire and empower rather than control.
Of the many different leadership styles that exist, transformational leadership is most effective for getting results while also keeping followers happy and motivated.
Unfortunately, many of us have trouble recalling more than just a handful of quality coaches, teachers, and bosses from our upbringings (and our adulthood).
Hopefully, this text will teach you a few things about transformational leadership so that you can identify which of your coaches, teachers, and bosses are transformational leaders.
Also, if you are in a leadership role, whether it be now or in the future, you can use this information to make sure that you’re the best leader possible for your followers.
Reflection is a crucial aspect of being a leader. More leaders need to be looking in the mirror to review how they’re doing with their followers.
But before anything else, let’s review some basics about leadership.
Follow the Transformational Leader
Besides standing at the front of a room and ordering a group of people around, what constitutes being a leader?
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”
-John Quincy Adams (6th US President)
Of the many definitions of leadership that exist, the following one will serve best for our purposes:
Leadership: a set of behaviors displayed by a person used to influence another person or a group of people in the pursuit of a common goal.
The Full Range Leadership Model includes the various styles of leadership from good to bad.
Some leaders abandon responsibilities completely and hope things work out on their own. This is known as laissez-faire leadership.
Other leaders use a transactional model for their exchanges with followers, relying heavily on punishments and rewards. This is known as transactional leadership.
And yet the transformational leaders stand alone. They demand a lot from their followers, yet find ways to inspire and empower at the same time.
Below is a full definition of transformational leadership from the textbook Sport and Exercise Psychology: A Canadian Perspective.
Transformational Leadership: “a method of leadership where the leader builds relationships with followers through inspirational exchanges that serve to increase the motivation, confidence, and satisfaction of followers beyond normal expectations.”
Expanding on this style of leadership, below are the 4 common behaviours of transformational leaders.
See how many you can identify in your favorite (or least favorite) coach, teacher, or boss.
4 Behaviours of Transformational Leaders
There are 4 components that make up transformational leadership:
1. Idealized Influence
The leader must be a positive role model for their followers. How will the athletes, students and employees take to directions if the leader isn’t walking the walk?
2. Inspirational Motivation
Followers are inspired and motivated by a vision. It’s the responsibility of the leader to relay that vision and make sure the followers are putting their energy in the right direction and that everyone is on the same page.
3. Intellectual Stimulation
Mediocrity is not acceptable. Followers are constantly challenged to innovate and seek alternative solutions to problems. The leader pushes followers to surpass their limits, resulting in followers experiencing personal growth and development.
4. Individualized Consideration
The leader attends to every individual’s feelings, needs and concerns. In doing so, the leader can help everyone grow and follow their own unique paths, leading to a team of self-actualized individuals.
These behaviors are at the foundation of transformational leadership. Coaches, teachers, and bosses look to empower their athletes, students, and employees through these actions.
Transformational leaders not only exhibit certain behaviours, they also share some common personality traits.
See how many of these traits you can identify in your favourite (or least favourite) coach, teacher, or boss.
5 Major Personality Traits of Transformational Leaders
The Big Five personality traits are believed to be the underlying elements that make up an individual’s personality. The traits are openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.
Openness: curious vs cautious.
Conscientiousness: efficient vs easy-going.
Extroversion: outgoing vs reserved.
Agreeableness: friendly vs difficult.
Neuroticism: nervous vs confident.
Researchers Bono & Judge (2004) studied the relationships between personality traits and different styles of leadership (link to the study here).
Below is a graph showing the personality traits of transformational leaders, as per findings from the above study.
Now, this doesn’t mean that one needs to be extremely extroverted in order to be a transformational leader.
Instead, the graph shows common trait scores for transformational leaders. So, if you happened to score slightly differently than the results above, you wouldn’t necessarily be barred from the transformational leader category.
Here is a different way to interpret the results:
- Low neuroticism = confident
- High extraversion = outgoing
- High openness = curious
- High agreeableness = friendly
- High conscientiousness = efficient
Could You Be the Transformational Leader You Always Wanted?
How many of the coaches, teachers and bosses in your life fall into the transformational leader category?
If you’re a coach, teacher or boss – or any other type of leader – can you say with certainty that you’re a transformational leader?
Another question – if a person identifies that they don’t meet the requirements to be a transformational leader, can they learn and develop these traits and behaviours?
Furthermore, how important is the well-being and happiness of followers if the intended results are being achieved?
These are all difficult questions, but ones that are worth asking.
For now, ask yourself this:
- Athletes, students, employees: Is your coach, teacher or boss a transformational leader?
- Coaches, teachers, bosses: Are you a transformational leader?
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