4 Steps to Becoming a Transformational

Leader
You can be a good manager without being a good leader. You can be a good leader without
being a good manager. You can be a good leader without being a transformational leader.
James MacGregor Burns first used the term transformational leadership in 1978 to describe a
process in which leaders and followers help each other to advance to a higher level of morale
and motivation.
Non-transformational leadership encompasses traditionally expected tasks: managing,
supervising, organizing work, and monitoring performance. This is also your pre-work. If you
have considerable room for improvement with these basics, now may not be the right time to
jump in head first with transformational leadership.
Outcomes of Transformational Leadership
Create a supportive environment where responsibility is shared
Encourage actions that support the organization rather than personal interests
Break through status quo; have freedom to set strategy and change direction
Earn genuine trust, respect, and admiration from your team
Influence performance and business impact beyond expectations
1. Personalize Your Management Style
Give Individualized Consideration.
Adapt your leadership style to the different personalities, needs, and skills of your team. Act as a
mentor or a coach more so than a boss. Assign and delegate work based on talents and interests,
but also challenge their comfort zones. Support their career development independently of their
tenure with you and show concern for their well-being as people not just as workers.
2. Encourage Creativity
Provide Intellectual Stimulation.
Foster innovation by challenging assumptions about what can and cannot be done. React to
mistakes and failures in a way that shows that you condone risk-taking. Give your support,
provide resources, and remove barriers to change. Approach problems as learning opportunities.
Think twice when people agree with you; show you value independent thinking and reward
people who challenge you.
3. Guide, Motivate, and Inspire
Exude Inspirational Motivation.
Guide your team in the direction you want the group to go by setting a vision, strategy, and
goals. Motivate them to bring their best by expressing your passion, communicating with
confidence and optimism, and connecting tasks to a greater purpose. Your work doesnt stop
there; inspire them to act by continuously engaging their talents, re-recruiting their spirit, and
celebrating successes.
4. Be a Role Model
Embody Idealized Influence.
Act with integrity and ethical standards; with both your behaviors and your words. Just as small
children mimic and emulate their parents, your team will take note of what you do and use it as a
template for how they act and behave. It happens automatically and subconsciously, whether the
behavior is positive or negativepeople will follow your example. It will happen with intention
for transformational leaderspeople will strive to be like you.