Transformational Leadership
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Pre-note: During the course of the last 12 months I have been witnessing a concerning increase in stress factors in most of those who have been attending workshops and programs that I have been facilitating. Radical change breeds uncertainty and uncertainty can be a dangerous destabilizer. It is therefore wise to re-visit our fundamentals, in such a way that makes space for the emergence of new future visions, for it is always so that much more is in our hands than we realize.
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According to Wikipedia, “Transformational Leadership is a leadership style that creates voluble and positive change in the followers”; thereby highlighting qualities and character formations that enable a person to be a visionary, inspiring, motivating leader. There is, however, a missing bit in how this subject is addressed. And it is quite a crucial missing bit. Because in the quest to come to grips with the meaning of transformational leadership, we must start not with a person but with the kind of mission that is driving a person’s life that others can also respond to.
As demonstrated in the course of history by great leaders – please take your pick from those who happen to be popular with you – the journey and expression of a leader is forged by the nature of their undertaking. The greater the undertaking in the form of a mission or a purpose, the more demanding the journey and the more challenging the personal development that they must go through and eventually, the more potent, persuading and influencing their message and charisma.
The First Task: Find A Mission
For live case studies about the needs for transformational leadership, simply watch the news about the ills and problems of our world and the pressing needs for new perception frameworks. Change, together with its ever-present companions in the form of shape-shifting realities, is everywhere, in every sector of living, throughout the planet.
For live case studies about the needs for transformational leadership, simply watch the news about the ills and problems of our world and the pressing needs for new perception frameworks. Change, together with its ever-present companions in the form of shape-shifting realities, is everywhere, in every sector of living, throughout the planet.
Readers of the Fulcrum know about my persistent preoccupation with the fact of change being the omnipotent governing phenomenon of our time. Like fish in an aquarium, we are mostly semi-consciously aware of the significance and consequences of the kind of change that our lives are immersed in. Instead of trying to perceive the causes of change, most people end up becoming consumed with its numerous symptoms.
As an example, we witness world leaders in their attempts to manage symptoms rather than demonstrating a genuine intention to open their minds and seek to perceive actual causes. So dealing with change becomes a management exercise instead of a much needed critical re-alignment that trains and prepares the human mind to perceive the truth and be honest and straightforward about assimilating and communicating it and what it says needs to be done.
The desperation that is born of stressful times of change and uncertainty often exposes fantastic hidden opportunities. Perhaps the greatest challenge posed by change is the speed at which history becomes irrelevant: what worked wonders yesterday suddenly, from one moment to the next, no longer works today.
The desperation that is born of stressful times of change and uncertainty often exposes fantastic hidden opportunities. Perhaps the greatest challenge posed by change is the speed at which history becomes irrelevant: what worked wonders yesterday suddenly, from one moment to the next, no longer works today.
Until not long ago Iceland – currently a bankrupt nation where people are queuing up for food rations – was regarded an economic miracle. For the people of Iceland change came thick and fast. So fast, that it took many days for them to fully absorb the new harsh reality. For this nation, transformational leadership is a crucial element for its survival, in which to survive it needs a clear, practical vision together with wise leadership.
Reading through this, you may be leading a small team, with a question already brewing in your mind: “where does team leadership come into this?” The answer to this question is in the well known leadership motto: “Think big, act small”. To develop the ability to provide service through the vector of leadership – service being the only valid context for leading – an emerging leader must be able to perceive and understand the circumstance in which a team operates and then be able to translate one’s understandings into intelligent actions. Otherwise, a person’s actions carry the danger of being disconnected and disjointed from reality, which will have its consequences.
One of the greatest arts is to learn to be able to see it coming – whatever it is that the circumstance of your life and your role needs you to be able to see. Watch the subtle change in wind factor and ionics in the air before it starts raining. By analogy, such subtle changes can be detected in many sectors of living – it’s a question of training and it can be done towards remarkable levels of developed perception capabilities.
Your purpose in life and the mission you are in train the unique perception capabilities that go with the mission. Watch the desert people fold their tents and move on a couple of hours before a seemingly sudden sandstorm. They feel it because of the way of their life.
The Second Task: Perceive The Problems
The second task of a transformational leader concerns perception. What’s happening? Why is it happening? What are the causes? What are the trends? What are the needs? What’s possible? What will make a difference? Who can facilitate the process? How urgent is it? How much time do we have? What actions are needed now? What do we need to know? Are some of the up-front questions.
The second task of a transformational leader concerns perception. What’s happening? Why is it happening? What are the causes? What are the trends? What are the needs? What’s possible? What will make a difference? Who can facilitate the process? How urgent is it? How much time do we have? What actions are needed now? What do we need to know? Are some of the up-front questions.
Returning to the bigger picture, many of the problems that confront humanity will not be solved from within the framework of the problem. As an example, you cannot solve a global financial crisis by owning a money printing machine that keeps churning out paper money that buys out the problems that owning this machine create in the first place, to the point that the world ends up being someone’s Monopoly board.
To effectively solve a problem there is a need to go elsewhere, to create a completely new working framework that lives outside of the problem. This is the ultimate task of transformational leadership – to facilitate the transformation of individuals, teams, organizations and whole nations from one circumstance to a different circumstance. Of course depending on the who and their mission. Barak Obama has his work cut out – to facilitate the transformation of a whole, mighty nation from a state of an impending economic calamity to a position of renewed strength, belief and prosperity and again, it will never work in the long term by way of those money printers.
The Third Task: Form A Vision
Perceiving reality is the first requirement in the process that gives birth to a vision. Therefore, to get a vision that makes practical sense, the transformational leader needs to first ask him or her-selves questions like: “What do I see my situation to be?” “What do I see our situation to be?” “What are the most pressing needs?” “What is really important?” “What is at stake?” Perhaps most importantly: "What is possible?" Answering these and other questions of a similar nature create the mental ecology that can give birth to a vision that has a validity and that can make a difference in relation to the needs.
The Third Task: Form A Vision
Perceiving reality is the first requirement in the process that gives birth to a vision. Therefore, to get a vision that makes practical sense, the transformational leader needs to first ask him or her-selves questions like: “What do I see my situation to be?” “What do I see our situation to be?” “What are the most pressing needs?” “What is really important?” “What is at stake?” Perhaps most importantly: "What is possible?" Answering these and other questions of a similar nature create the mental ecology that can give birth to a vision that has a validity and that can make a difference in relation to the needs.
And now enters an absolutely crucial element: The greater the desire in a person to do their little bit towards the betterment of humanity; towards making the world we live in a better place to be in, the more powerful will the vision be, even if it concerns making a tiny little difference. It’s not what you do, but the reason why you do it that counts. Even a tiny little vision, coming from the right reason, registers with much greater impact in the real worlds than a big vision motivated by all the wrong reasons.
The Forth Task: Understand Others And Show That You Care
Humans are acutely sensitive beings. We feel all of the time, especially when it concerns things and events that have direct bearing over our lives. We all have our wishes, fears, desires and comfort zones and none of us particularly looks forward to being in a situation of radical change.
Humans are acutely sensitive beings. We feel all of the time, especially when it concerns things and events that have direct bearing over our lives. We all have our wishes, fears, desires and comfort zones and none of us particularly looks forward to being in a situation of radical change.
While there are, of course, many levels to transformational leadership, in essence it is about what it says: Trans-formation. As of trans-Atlantic, transformation is about a movement from one end to the other end of something, towards a change of scenery – from one formation to another.
So, transformational leadership inspires people to participate in a transforming process, within a recognizable mission that they are willing to support, each according to their capability; the focus being on the mission as a first principle rather than on a leader as a first principle. And the difference is a world of difference. When it’s all about the leader, it ends up being all about the human ego. We know all about egos, don’t we? The purposes of living are never about a person. The purposes of organizations and companies are never about the person. They are – should be – about facilitating the progression and evolution of humanity. Sadly, as we know, this is not always the case.
The Fifth Task: Never Give Up
This part is refreshingly short: Never give up, always persist, insist and try again. You can do it, it can be done. To make sure, follow these simple guidelines:
This part is refreshingly short: Never give up, always persist, insist and try again. You can do it, it can be done. To make sure, follow these simple guidelines:
- Give it your best
- Define your aim.
- Keep it simple.
- Keep it simple.
- Believe in you.
- Believe in others.
- Control the ego.
- Think twice.
- Stand your ground.
- Believe in others.
- Control the ego.
- Think twice.
- Stand your ground.
- Be patient.
- Stay completely focused at all times.
- Remember that like patience, happiness is a developed state.
- Remember that like patience, happiness is a developed state.
Transformational Leadership
Being not about people but rather about a purpose and a mission, it is then all about the people, because it is the leaders and the people together that put form, life and work into a shared cause.
To sum up, here are five key developmental requirements from an emerging transformational leader:
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The ability to perceive the truth behind the symptoms in an unbiased way, no matter how uncomfortable it is.
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An irrepressible will and passion to play ones part towards the betterment of humanity, no matter how small it may seem to be.
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The ability to identify the most pressing needs and present opportunities and to engage in the kind of process that forges new ways forward by being visionary, sensible, creative and facilitating.
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A love of people and the ability to create space for people’s natural genius to be willingly recruited into the vision and the mission. The belief that it can be done and the strength of character to go through the necessary personal inner transformations, to be an example and inspirations to others all the way, through thick and thin, until the full objective is met. And then, the ability to start all over again…
The world is in desperate need of as many of us that can, to provide the indispensible service that is called transformational leadership. The future beckons.
David Gommé
25 March 2009
25 March 2009
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