What Jolito Ortizo Padilla says about Transformational Leadership

Increasing business competitiveness and the need for the most effective use of human resources has resulted on focusing attention on how leaders revitalize or transform organizations. Burns has given rise to a distinction between two fundamental forms of leadership: transactional or transformational.

• Transactional leadership is based on legitimate authority within the bureaucratic structure of the organization. The emphasis is on the clarification of goals and objectives., work task and outcomes, and organizational rewards and punishments. Transactional leadership appeals to the self interest of followers. It is based on a relationship of mutual dependence and an exchange process of " I will give you this, if you do that."
• Transformational leadership by contrast, is a process of engendering higher levels of motivation and commitment among followers. The emphasis is on generating a vision for the organization and the leader's ability to appeal to higher ideals and values of followers, and creating a feeling of justice, loyalty and trust. In the organizational sense, transformational leadership is about transforming the performance of fortunes of a business.

The transformational leader motivates followers to do more than originally expected and the extent of transformation is measured in terms of leader's effects on followers. Applying these ideas to organizational management, a theory of transformational leadership that argues that the leader and motivates followers by:

1. Generating greater awareness of the importance of the purpose of the organization and task outcomes.
2. Inducing them to transcend their own self-interests for the sake of the organization or team: and
3. activating their higher-level needs.

Transformational Leadership is comprised of four basic components:

• Idealized influence- the charisma of the leader, and the respect and admiration of the followers;
• Inspirational motivation - the behavior of the leader which provides meaning and challenge to the work and followers;
• Intellectual stimulation- leaders who solicit new and novel approaches for the performance of work and creative problem solution from followers;
• Individualized considerations- leaders who listen and give special concern to the growth and developmental needs of the followers.

Yuki provides a set of guidelines for transformational leadership:

• Articulate a clear and appealing vision of what the organization could accomplish or become to help people understand the purpose, objectives and priorities of the organization, and to help guide the actions and decisions of members.
• Explain how the vision can be attained and establish a clear link between the vision and a credible conventional yet straightforward strategy for attaining it.
• Act confident and optimistic about likely success, demonstrate self confidence and conviction, and emphasis positive aspects of the vision rather than the obstacles and dangers.
• Express confidence in followers and their ability out the strategy for accomplishment the vision, especially when the task is difficult or dangerous, or when members lack confidence in themselves.
• Use dramatic, symbolic, actions to emphasize key values and demonstrate leadership behavior through dramatic, highly visible actions including risking personal loss; self sacrifice or acting unconventionally.
• Lead by example by recognizing actions speak louder than words through exemplary behavior in day to day interactions with subordinates and by demonstrating consistency in daily behavior.

Transformational is the same as charismatic, visionary, or inspirational leadership.Charismatic leaders transform followers by creating changes in their goals, values, needs, beliefs, and aspirations. They accomplish this transformation by appealing to followers' self concepts-namely, their values and personal identity.

Successful transformational leaders are usually identified in terms of providing a strong vision and sense of mission, arousing strong emotions in followers and a sense of identification with the leaders. Leadership today is increasingly associated with the concept of creating a vision with which others can identify, getting along with other people and the concept of inspiration. This might be considered as part of transformational leadership or arguably it has given rise to a new approach to leadership-that of inspirational or visionary leadership. Inspirational ;leadership is not concerned so much with the theory of leadership but  more with the skills of motivating and inspiring people.

Effective transformational leaders are those who inspire people and create a vision for the organization and its future direction.

" The big word now associated with leadership is vision. The ability to see the bigger picture. To take the long term view. What the ultimate objectives are and how people can work together to achieve them. Perhaps the most important attributes is that a good leader inspires people by creating a climate where it is OK for people to make mistakes and learn from them. Leading from this position, they gain a higher level of commitment from their people than more compliance."

Visionary leadership as transformative. It involves greatness.penetrating the ordinary, and requires total involvement. Among the qualities visionary leaders cultivate are imagination, engagement, tangible results and penetrating self-reflection.They engage society with its competitive , divergent viewpoints. Visionary leadership is ultimately about increasing performance but also with the rewards of tangible results to your membership and deep personal satisfaction.

Leadership is not about the leader, it is about how he or she builds the confidence of everyone else. Leaders are responsible for both the big structures that serves as the cornerstone of confidence, and for the human touches that shape a positive emotional climate to inspire and motivate people. Leaders deliver confidence by inspiring high standards in their messages, exemplifying these standards in the conduct they model and establishing formal mechanism to provide a structure for acting on those standards.

Leadership may be based on the  personal qualities, or charisma, of the leader and the manner in which influence is exercised.

Now the big question is whether you are born with charisma or whether you can develop it. I believe you can develop elements of it. For example, you can take courses to improve your speaking skills. You can learn to stage events that send powerful messages.You can learn to think more critically about the status- quo and its shortcoming. You can do more on a daily basis to motivate your team. What you simply cannot learn is how to be passionate about what you do. You have to discover that for yourself, and passion is a big part of what drives a charismatic leader. It is also what motivates and inspires those who work for the charismatic leader.

However, the extent to which charismatic or inspirational leadership helps bring about improvement in organizational performance is open to much debate. Conger also draws attention to the danger that the leader's vision, dynamism and inspirational nature are highly attractive, which leads to natural dependence. Staff see this extraordinarily figure as a model to be emulated and the leader's abilities become the yardstick by which they measure their own performance. This is a potential source of leadership derailment. Dependence makes the followers more susceptible to deception.

Dearlove draws attention to the increasing focus on leaders as real people managing in consensus-seeking manner. While traditional views of leadership tend eventually to concentrate on vision and charisma, the message now seems to be that charisma is no longer enough to carry leaders through. Bloomfield also refers to the cult of the individual, supposedly charismatic leader and the danger that this leads businesses into deep water far more often than the application of rational leadership . Too often the charismatic, aided and abetted by the language of current management fashion,attempts to inspire, to delight with their vision and to produce a mission statement of where the business might be -at the expense of real substance.

Adair argues that to be truly inspirational leader one must understand the spirit within. All people have the potential for greatness. The inspirational leader connects with the led, appreciates the capabilities of others and through trust will unlock the powers in others. Adair refers to "the inspired moment"- a recognition and seizure of a brief window of opportunity that can act as a powerful catalyst that inspires both the leader and the led.

The role of the leader as visionary is a fundamental to creating the broad philosophical context of democracy and as the architect of shared purpose.

Leadership is one of the most vital and yet elusive ingredients in  modern business. Leaders provide vision, direction, inspiration, give the business a sense of purpose and at the same time act as a moral compass. The need for visionary leadership is becoming increasingly important. Traditional business hierarchies gave managers and workers a sense of their own position and what was expected of them. Now, as these hierarchies break down, it is leaders themselves who must fill void, helping subordinates to understand their place and purpose. Personal leadership is beginning to replace organizational structure.

What sets great leaders apart is their ability to engage those around them in shared vision of the future. By making the right decisions, they demonstrate their commitment to turning that vision into reality; and by doing so successfully, they instill in others the confidence to trust in their leadership.