We are going to look at transformational leadership theory. We'll take a look at five key characteristics of transformational leaders, and we'll see if you can relate to them. So let's get into it. I'm Alex Lyon, and we will soon have almost 200 videos on communication and leadership on this channel.
Today, I'm gonna rely mostly on two key books. Johnson and Hackman's book on leadership, a communication perspective, and Nordhaus's book on leadership. I highly recommend both for your personal library, and I will put all of the references and links in the description below this video.
There's been lots of interest lately in the transformational leadership approach, but it has its origins in the late 1970s. James MacGregor Burns wrote a book on leadership where he contrasted transformational leaders with transactional. leadership. He used Maslow's hierarchy of needs to explain these two approaches.
Transactional leadership is where a leader is mainly concerned with helping followers meet their lower level needs on the bottom three tiers of Maslow's pyramid by satisfying followers'psychological, safety, and belonging needs. It's a transaction. In exchange for followers'hard work, transactional leaders help followers secure these rewards.
Transformational leaders take that to the next level and attempt to engage the entire person to satisfy followers'lower level needs that I mentioned, and also their higher level needs on Maslow's hierarchy, esteem and self-actualization. According to Burns, transformational leaders enhance followers'level of motivation, commitment, and ownership. Ultimately, the thinking goes, this transforms followers into leaders themselves. Johnson and Hackman described the five key characteristics of transformational leaders. Let's see if you can relate to any of these personally.
First, transformational leaders are creative. They're always looking for new ideas and ways to do things. They challenge business as usual.
Creative people come from all walks of life. What they have in common is that they are hardworking, non-conformist in their thinking, and they're comfortable with ambiguity and complexity. A great example of this is Dave Kelly.
He's the founder of IDEO, the most successful product design firm in the world. Kelly and IDEO are known for developing incredibly innovative products and services for clients. So question for you, do you see yourself as a creative person?
The good news is Dave Kelly has been teaching professionals creativity skills for decades, and he's convinced that anybody can be more creative with practice. Second, transformational leaders are interactive. They communicate a lot with followers. They are engaged. And through this communication, they become more aware of their followers'needs and motivations.
As Johnson and Hackman say, only when the leader is involved with followers can he or she find ways to do things better. A great current day example is Barack Obama. I've never met him, but they say that he is very interactive, socially engaged, and a strong. communicator. He connects with everyday people and world leaders equally well.
Question for you, would you describe yourself as interactive? Do you have strong people skills? Well, communication skills are learnable and we can all improve with guidance and practice.
Third, transformational leaders are visionary. Some say this is their most important characteristic. They can explain in concise and clear language where they want to take the organization. They're able to explain the goal with a sense of purpose and ways that energize people and creates a standard of excellence that inspires followers. And I can think of no better person to illustrate this than Martin Luther King Jr.
He articulated in compelling language a vision for the future that was worth fighting for. His famous I have a dream speech is perhaps one of the most vision based communication examples there is. So a question for you.
Are you able to articulate a goal and purpose clearly and in a compelling way? Well, like the other characteristics mentioned, You can get better with practice. Now remember, before King gave his famous speech, he was preaching and speaking multiple times a week in church and in the community for decades. He sharpened his message with lots and lots of practice. And practice is something that anybody can do.
Fourth, transformational leaders are empowering. As I said earlier, Burns based his thinking about transformational leaders on the higher levels of Maslow's hierarchy. The top level is, is self-actualization. Transformational leaders, in essence, have to empower their leaders to become all they can be by delegating important jobs and then supporting and trusting followers to rise to the occasion. This also allows organizations to grow more quickly.
I think Phil Knight, the founder of Nike, is a great example of an empowering leader. In his book, Shoe Dog, he described the early years at Nike when he was hiring employees. quickly recognized that if he wanted Nike to grow, he had to empower his employees to build the business and sell more shoes without his day-to-day direct involvement in every decision. So question for you, are you able to delegate, encourage, and trust others to take action?
If we want to engage our followers on those highest levels and help them grow into leaders themselves, then empowerment is the best way to get there. Fifth, transformational leaders are- passionate. They are true believers in their cause.
They demonstrate extraordinary commitment, even in the face of repeated failure. Their passion, enthusiasm, and motivation are contagious. Mother Teresa is a great example. Her organization and mission was to minister to the sick and dying, the people on the streets that society had forgotten. She worked until she was 87 years old and was hospitalized several times as she got older.
There were many stories about Mother Teresa leaving the hospital early. She would say to doctors, I have to go. I still have important work to do.
Her passion and commitment electrified the people around her. So question for you, how would you rate your level of passion? If we can find something we truly care about, that's usually when we will see our level of passion go up. So how would you rate yourself on each of these key five characteristics? As mentioned, I highly recommend Johnson and Hackman's book, on leadership, there's a link below to that.
And I recently recorded a related video on the top five traits that leaders tend to have. Once that is posted, I will put a link to that video in the description below this one as well. Until next time, thanks, God bless, and I will see you soon.