What is Transformational Leadership?

What is Transformational Leadership?
Transformational leadership is a leadership style where leaders encourage, inspire and motivate employees to innovate and implement changes that will shape the company’s future success.
by Square Apr 29, 2021 — 3 min read
What is Transformational Leadership?

Transformational leadership is a leadership style where leaders encourage, inspire and motivate employees to innovate and implement changes that will shape the company’s future success. Transformational leaders lead by example – sharing a compelling vision, building trust and respect, and empowering employees to achieve higher levels of performance.

First described by James MacGregor Burns in his book, Leadership, published in 1978, transformational leadership is when: “leaders and followers help each other advance to a higher level of morale and motivation”. The concept was further expanded on during the 1980s by researcher Bernard M. Bass, who identified four components of transformational leadership.

Transformational leadership is enjoying renewed focus as an effective leadership style in an era of continued disruption. Regardless of industry, businesses worldwide are facing both challenges and opportunities created by technology advancement, climate change and evolving consumer expectations. COVID-19 adds another layer of complexity to the already challenging business landscape.

One of the world’s best known transformational leaders, Jeff Bezos, used this leadership style to grow Amazon into the biggest online retailer in the world during the coronavirus crisis, delivering close to 200% profit growth throughout 2020.

What are some of the advantages of transformational leadership?

Transformational leaders motivate employees, promote creative thinking and encourage teamwork and collaboration. Some of the benefits of this leadership style include:

What are some of the disadvantages of transformational leadership?

Transformation leadership isn’t right for every organisation. Some of its shortcomings include:

What are the four elements of transformational leadership?

The four characteristics that make a transformational leader (sometimes called the 4 I’s) are:

We share some tips for keeping staff motivated during the coronavirus crisis and other valuable small business resources on our blog, Town Square.

Examples of transformational leaders

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