What is Transformational Leadership and How Can It Help You Be a Better Leader?

You may not have thought about it much, but if you’ve ever experienced transformational leadership, you’ll realize that it’s a whole step up. Ordinary leaders are focused on getting the job done, managing, and organizing to complete the tasks at hand. And there's nothing wrong with that.

But transformational leadership can inspire and motivate their teams, stretching them and challenging them to perform better than their wildest dreams. So how can you take on more characteristics of transformation leaders? Here are four things you can start doing right now to lift your leadership game.

1. Personalize Your Leadership

A transformational leader knows their team members inside out and can see the potential in each one. See yourself as more than a manager: be a mentor to your employees and encourage them to stretch their personal development goals. Allocate projects and tasks based not just on current skills but also on challenges to grow and promote motivation and confidence.

2. Be a Role Model

A transformational leader has the power to inspire their team. Model the behavior you want to see, act with integrity, openness, and honesty. You will inspire respect in your team members and give them a model to aspire to.

As a leader, your people will follow your example. They will live up to your expectations, so make those expectations positive.

3. Be More than a Manager and Inspire Your Team

Your job is to set the vision, the strategy, and the goals for your team. Your employees will look to you to be their guide. If you focus on getting the day to day tasks done, you probably get the result you want. But if you show transformational leadership, communicating positivity and optimism, you can fire up your team to deliver results better than the project brief.

Transformational leaders are continually encouraging their team members by keeping the enthusiasm high, checking in on progress, acting collaboratively to find creative solutions, and celebrating successes big and small.

4. Encourage Creativity

Creativity is probably the hallmark of transformational leadership. A transformational leader lifts their head above the day to day and is constantly attuned to their industry changes. They are keen to foster innovative approaches and not afraid to take some risk in doing things differently. A transformational leader is not just an active listener and collaborator. They reward independent thinking and people who challenge the status quo.