Other leadership styles, such as servant leadership or benevolent leadership, have slightly different goals. Servant leadership focuses on serving your employees. Benevolent leadership focuses on creating good for your employees. Each leadership style aims to lead and empower employees well—just with a different method of doing so.
How to be a transformational leader
Researcher Bernard Bass created a theory of leadership now known as “Bass’ Transformational Leadership Theory.” In this theory, he suggests that there are four different components to transformational leadership:
- intellectual stimulation
- individualized consideration
- inspirational motivation
- and idealized influence.
What does that even mean? Let’s break it down.
Intellectual stimulation: Encourage creativity
Transformational leaders know they don’t have all the answers. When problems or challenges occur, they trust their employees to think creatively and find new solutions.
This is not a blind trust, hoping that something works out in the end. Before a problem or challenge occurs, transformational leaders work with their employees to make sure that:
- They’re in a role that suits them best.
- They have the training to be an expert at what they do.
- They’re confident in their tasks and responsibilities.
During the daily routine of the workplace, a transformational leader builds their employees up. When the big challenges come, employees are confident, prepared, and can successfully and creatively come up with solutions.
Individualized consideration: Create relationships
In Matthew 22:37-40 (ESV), as the Pharisees and Sadducees were testing Him, Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
These two commandments are cornerstones of transformational leadership as well.
As Christians, the command is simple: Love God and love His people. As transformational leaders, it’s also simple: people first, employees second.
Transformational leaders get to know the people working underneath them. They care about how their employee is doing at work and outside of work. Their employees know they can take ideas, thoughts, concerns, challenges, and more to their boss without worry or fear.
Inspirational motivation: Pass on the vision
In any business or organization, there must be visions or goals. Without having something to work towards, employees—and even leaders—find themselves in a stalemate, struggling to figure out how to move forward.
Transformational leaders know the vision they’re working towards. But more than that, they know how to give the vision to their employees. They don’t just want to lead someone towards a goal—rather, they want their employees to get excited about it and make it their own goal.
An employee who catches sight of the vision will feel a sense of ownership and responsibility for achieving goals and will be more passionate about their job. When the goals are achieved, that employee will feel a sense of accomplishment.
