Transformational leadership

Birmingham, England

Transformational leadership is best demonstrated in business through clear vision, values and goals and to make changes in a timely manner. In a rapidly changing culture, leaders need to take their organizations through constant change, while maintaining stability. 

3 steps toward transformational leadership

Create a culture of discipline – A team of creative media Millennials will bring with them endless ideas, a distinct dot com culture where there is much less structure and order.  This lack of structure needs to be managed very carefully so that the company can become successful. Creative companies become less effective when they begin with disorder and chaos.  The outer lines need to be firm and clear, with some clear inner grid lines that allow for creative expression.

Validate generational differences - It’s imperative that managers and leaders look at their team members as individuals and cease to categorize them by the decade they were born in. These stereotypes have become unfair labels.  Individuals need to be addressed according to their unique skills and abilities.  It would be inappropriate to categorize people by their ages and the process of generational categorization is equally wrong, but done continually

The impact and use of technology - Technology, in and of itself, does not create transformation. It needs to serve as an accelerator. Many companies seek to adapt to the latest and greatest technology to stay in the game.  This not the right approach.  A company needs to carefully review what they plan to do, how they want to accomplish their vision and goals and then use the most applicable able and user-friendly technology to accomplish it.

The importance of clear vision

Leaders who build into their leaders, and are willing to provide clear vision and direction, while navigating them through change can help them to become even more effective in furthering the goals and vision of a company.  When an entrepreneurial leader has clearly defined and understood their personal vision and values, those can serve as the foundation for their team to determine and own a corporate vision and values.  As a team is invited to participate in a change management process, they will develop a sense of ownership and motivation.

“Leadership is the alignment of people to accomplish a common vision and mandate. It is entirely dependent on the people who are on the team.  

“Success doesn't come from what you have going for your company ... but who. The RIGHT people are your biggest competitive advantage.  So the questions become: "What are you doing to attract, train, develop, and retain the RIGHT people? How do you get the best people, the RIGHT people on board?" [i] Ron Haynes. 

Temporary solutions may be necessary

It’s important to know who needs to be on a team, how to develop them and together create and execute the vision that you are called and committed to.  There will be times when the right people may not be available. That would not be a time to settle, but to obtain temporary resources to meet the needs and then seek the long-term solutions to build out a healthy and highly effective team. 

[i] Haynes, R. (2015). Retrieved from Linked in.  https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-really-makes-your-company-different-from-ron