Are You A Transformational Leader? Part 2
Contributed by CEO Coach Henna Inam
Are you achieving success in your career but still feel like you are not making the impact you have the potential to make? Are you successful but not deeply fulfilled by the work you do?
Beyond your achievements, if you truly want to make a contribution – like many women do – you have the potential to be a transformational leader. Transformational leaders are able to tap into the discretionary energy, the full creativity and potential within themselves and within the people around them. These are the type of leaders organizations need now.
They are purpose-driven, finding ways to connect the mission of the organization, their own mission, and that of the team to the work needed to be done. They play the role of mentor and coach to the people around them. They constantly encourage intellectual stimulation, dialogue, and debate and they inspire others by creating a culture of trust and high integrity. For a more detailed description of how transformational leaders are different, read here.
Why is this particular leadership style is so needed in today’s organizations?
The pace of change is dramatic and unpredictable. Most industries today are faced with the challenge and opportunity of new technology, new markets and new competitors. A single leader cannot have all the answers to the increased complexity that organizations face and the rapid pace of change. What they must do is create leaders around them who are much closer to where the change is happening so that they can anticipate and respond appropriately. Transformational leaders create leaders around them.
Organizations will increasingly win with creativity and innovation. Transformational leaders tap into the discretionary energy and creativity of employees at every level in the organization and in every function. IBM’s 2010 study [PDF] of 1,500 CEO’s across 60 countries and 33 industries concluded that creativity, more than any other leadership trait, is what is most needed now. According to the study “Creative leaders invite disruptive innovation, encourage others to drop outdated approaches and take balanced risks. They are open-minded and inventive in expanding their management and communication styles, particularly to engage with a new generation of employees, partners and customers.” This is the kind of intellectual stimulation that is characterized by transformational leadership.
There is a great move toward transparency. This requires the highest integrity on the part of leaders. In our increasingly connected social media world there are no more secrets. Employees do report anonymously on what their company or their boss is really like to work for. According to the Yankelovich Monitor, trust in our institutions is low. The percent of Americans willing to trust their employer to treat them and their family fairly is only 17%. Transformational leaders via their ability to be transparent, ethical and caring are able to tap into the need for trust in the marketplace.
What is interesting is that a McKinsey study found that women are uniquely suited to lead the organizations of today and tomorrow. According to the study, Women Matter, women exhibit more frequently, 3 of the 4 leadership behaviors most closely needed in organizations. These include inspiration, participative decision making and expectations and rewards. These leadership behaviors are very closely tied with the attributes of a transformational leader. The leadership trait identified as most needed is “intellectual stimulation,” and is exhibited equally by men and women.
Yet, so many women are opting out of their leadership positions in search for work that will help them be both successful and fulfilled.
The questions we need to ask ourselves as leaders are:
1) Given the unique challenges my organization is facing and what I find personally meaningful, how can I re-engage in making a contribution to my organization?
2) How often am I engaging with my team in a way that builds the team’s creativity?
3) How am I rewarding innovation on the part of the teams and people I work with, regardless of outcome?
4) What are my core values? How do I walk the talk on my core values such that they create a foundation of trust in the organization I work in?
As always, I would welcome your feedback and comments. How are your contributing as a transformational leader in your organization? What are the biggest challenges you see to that?
Stay tuned for Part 3 of this series where we will discuss how you can embark on your journey to be a transformational leader in your organization and community.
Henna Inam is a CEO Coach focused helping women become transformational leaders. A Wharton MBA, and former C-Suite executive with Novartis and P&G, her passion is to engage, empower, and energize women leaders to transform themselves and their businesses. Sign up for her blog at www.transformleaders.tv.
