Leading Human Resources: An Analysis (part 26 - The Conclusion)

Transformational Leadership
by
Charles Lamson

Studies of successful and unsuccessful organizational transformation have emphasized the decisive role of leadership in these situations and have given rise to the concept of transformational leadership, which is also termed visionary leadership, strategic leadership, or charismatic leadership. This new leadership arena involves specific leadership behaviors, actions, and strategies that are required to bring about organizational transformation. The concept of transformational leadership does not alter the basic definition of leadership, the process of influencing the activities of an individual or a group in efforts toward goal achievement in a given situation. It does, however, highlight the specific actions that the leader should perform in a transformation. Let's summarize the key leadership actions for bringing about organizational transformation.

Personal Commitment to the Transformation by the Leadership

The leadership of the organization must be fully committed to the transformation, and the commitment must be visible to other organizational members and external stakeholders (key players).

Firm, Relentless, and Indisputable Communication of the Impossibility of Maintaining the Status Quo

The leadership must forcefully communicate the future of the status quo. This must be done in such a way that a critical mass of members will want to change. The Schein model emphasizes the importance of increasing the anxiety of not changing and decreasing the anxiety of changing. This process requires:

• Firm statements backed by credible evidence that the status quo is untenable because of circumstances and trends external to the organization.
• Clear indications that the failure of the status quo is final and irreversible.

Clear and Enthusiastic Communication of an Inspiring Vision of What the Organization Could Become

The leadership must persistently communicate a clear picture of the future state of the organization in a way that this vision is shared and supported by the members of the organization, individually and collectively. This communication requires:

• A clear and vivid value-based vision created by an appropriate mix of rational analysis, intuition, and emotional involvement.
• Repeated communication of the vision, beliefs, and values to the members of the organization in a way that inspires and excites them and touches their hearts and minds with a sense of urgency.

Timely Establishment of a Critical Mass of Support for the Transformation

The leadership must identify the key players and power holders in the organization and in its operating environment and obtain their support for the change. Obtaining support requires:

• Acknowledging the power that key players in and outside the organization have.
• Discussing with them the failure of the status quo, presenting them with the vision of the future and the values accompanying it, and convincing them of the need to change.
• Showing personal and organizational benefits to be achieved and involving them in decisions and implementation.

Acknowledging, Honoring, and Dealing With Resistance to the Transformation

The leadership must acknowledge resistance to the change and deal with it as a necessary stage in the process of abandoning the status quo and embracing the new vision with its beliefs and values. Dealing with resistance requires:

• A willingness to listen.
• Some tolerance and patience.
• Clarification and repetition of the need to change and the benefits of the transformation.

Defining and Setting Up an Organization That Can Implement the Vision

The leadership must design and put into action an organization that will be congruent with the new beliefs and values. Leadership must be willing to risk the introduction of structural changes and the acquisition and allocation of resources that will secure the competence and commitment to make the transformation work and that will put into place appropriate systems of organization for the transformation including:

• Modeling and anchoring the required beliefs and values in appropriate new roles and actions.
• Implementing strategies, structures, and systems including a power network that is clearly aligned to, and supportive of, the actions that need to be accomplished in order to realize the vision and enact the new beliefs and values.
• Replacing key staff, or staff in key positions, who are not suited to the change.
• Introducing education, training, and retraining in the actions required by the transformation and specifically by the new beliefs and values.
• Implementing a reward system that will reinforce actions that are congruent with a new set of beliefs and values.

Regular Communication of Information about Progress and Giving Recognition and Reward for Achievements

The leadership must communicate to the organization how the transformation is progressing, announce and celebrate achievements, openly share setbacks, and encourage the risk-taking behavior required to implement the vision. This step requires:

• Regular publication of achievements and face-to-face feedback sessions.
• Emphasizing, recognizing, and consistently rewarding the gains made toward the implementation of the vision, the beliefs, and the values.

Transformational leadership thus includes both the dramatic, courageous, and emotionally stirring actions and the mundane, ongoing day-to-day transactions that are integral to life in organizations. Putting all of this together, we define transformational leadership as:

A deliberate influence process on the part of an individual or group to bring about a discontinuous change in the current state and functioning of an organization as a whole. The change is driven by a vision based on a set of beliefs and values that require the members of the organization to urgently perceive and think differently and to perform new actions and organizational roles.

Let's examine this definition in some detail.

A Deliberate Influence Process

The leadership is very conscious of what they want to bring about, and they have a specific plan, at least initially, of how they want to bring about the transformation. Their actions are premeditated rather than spontaneous.

On the Part of An Individual or Group

This phrase specifies that the leadership may be an individual or a group within the organization.

To Bring About a Discontinuous Change

The term discontinuous is used in deliberate contrast to the term incremental. A transformation is a clear break from the past and the present. The acid test for a discontinuous change is analysis of future critical success factors. If these factors are not qualitatively different from the current critical success factors, the change is probably only incremental.

In the Current State and Functioning

State refers to the performance of the organization, such as the health of the organization. Functioning includes the internal and external interactive patterns as reflected in organizational structures and systems.

Of An Organization As a Whole

Transformational leadership is pervasive in terms of both the horizontal and vertical dimensions of the organization, and it is also systemic in that it sees the organization as a system to be changed.

The Change is Driven by a Vision Based on a Set of Beliefs and Values

The development and pursuit of a belief- and value-anchored vision is the distinguishing feature of transformational leadership. The vision, in terms of being a belief- and value-infused picture of representation of what the organization as an entity could become, is also the clearest signal that the change to come is discontinuous. The vision, and particularly the set of underlying beliefs and values, is, in effect, a control mechanism for ensuring the type of activities required to achieve the future state.

That Requires the Members of the Organization to Urgently perceive and Think Differently and to Perform New Actions and Organizational Roles

Transformational leadership aims at instilling new behaviors in most members of the organization and without exception requires new role sets and role behaviors in the classic interpretation of the concept of role, as used in the behavioral sciences. Although we  have put the emphasis on new actions as the observable result, we also include in the concept new ways of perceiving and thinking as the precursors toward observable behavior. Transformational leadership is also invariably characterized by an urgency; time is important, and because a transformation more often than not is a response to an organizational crisis, the new actions are urgently required.

*SOURCE: MANAGEMENT OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR: LEADING HUMAN RESOURCES, 8TH ED., 2001, PAUL HERSEY, KENNETH H. BLANCHARD, DEWEY E. JOHNSON, PGS. 417-421*

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