Joseph Soares is a former advisor to the Prime Minister of Canada, and a managing partner at HR firm IBPROM Corp.
getty
It’s late at night. You’re waiting up for your teenager to get home. They've missed curfew, so every worst-case scenario is rolling through your mind. Finally, mercifully, they come in. You might be ready to berate and punish them, but is that the right approach?
Your teenager is different than they were at two, four or even 10 years old. They’ve grown and (hopefully) matured. They remain subject to your rules, of course, but if you’re still treating them the way you did when they were a kid, are you being fair? They've changed, and your parenting style needs to evolve in response to that.
The same is true when it comes to leading a business team. When you understand the importance of shifting your style while maintaining authority and your values, you can become the kind of leader who always gets the best out of their employees.
The Common Forms Of Leadership
One of the main points of any leadership style is to get results. You don’t lead a group of people to fall short or fail. You do it to achieve a goal. There are a number of styles of leadership, each with its own benefits and challenges.
Authoritative Leaders
One of the most common forms of leadership is authoritative. With this style, there’s little to no input from anyone else. What the leader (or parent) says goes, and that’s it. There are some benefits to this. Authoritative leaders can provide a very specific direction and vision to teams, so no one is left in the dark about how to move forward. These leaders can also autonomously recognize and remove issues that are preventing employees from success.
However, some people find this leadership style to be domineering as it doesn't allow for teams to make their own decisions. This can minimize trust in leadership. Additionally, authoritative leaders can get overwhelmed by this level of responsibility because all successes—and failures—rest on their decisions alone.
Transactional Leaders
Transactional leadership is based on a reward and punishment model. This is common with parenting. If children do their chores, they get their allowance; if they get poor grades in school, they may get grounded. Some pros to transactional leadership are that it offers a clear structure, motivates people through a level working environment for the team and provides simpler training.
Sometimes, though, transactional leadership may inadvertently devalue creativity and minimize adaptability. People may choose to stick with what they know, rather than innovate, to ensure they're rewarded. Transactional leadership is also a bit impersonal as its rigid reward-punishment structure might not take into account the personal progress of individual employees.
Transformational Leaders
Transformational leadership is where innovation grows and change takes place. It allows leaders to act as mentors while also leaving space for people to grow toward their goals organically. It’s about giving guidance when needed, then stepping back. Oftentimes, being an effective leader means moving from an authoritative to a transactional to a transformational style. This is because transformational leadership creates a more individualized approach to team management, with each employee's concerns being heard and taken into account more often. This can ensure people feel like their efforts are valued. People may also be more intellectually stimulated because this fosters an environment where it’s safe to have conversations and ask questions.
Of course, this style has its drawbacks. Some employees prefer being given a specific set of steps for achieving a goal, so transactional leadership may be too hands-off for them. Taking this approach also requires leaders to juggle multiple people's goals and motivations simultaneously, which can lead to confusion and a lack of a useful routine.
How To Become A Transformational Leader
Whether at work or at home, you have a responsibility to understand the style you lead with. If you're interested in shifting toward a transformational style, here are some tips.
• Work on your self-awareness: Knowing and understanding how you can grow as a leader is just as important as understanding how your team can succeed. Reflect on your actions daily and take time to review the goals you’ve set for yourself.
• Remain open-minded: As a leader, you inevitably hear a lot of ideas that may initially seem out of left field. If you want to be a transformational leader, you must be open to hearing new things. Some of the greatest innovations that transformed entire businesses and industries started as ideas that traditionalists believed were absurd.
• Be proactive: Don’t wait for change to happen if you can see a solution. Make bold, well-informed decisions, and inspire those you lead to do so as well.
• Lead with humility: You don’t have all the answers, and that shouldn't be expected in the first place. Being aware of your flaws or blind spots as a leader—and actively acknowledging them—can be tough. But when you practice humility, it becomes more natural.
Just as parents should adapt as their children grow, business leaders should be open to evolving their leadership styles to ensure their organizations and teams succeed. While other styles of leadership work well in a variety of situations, transformational leadership shapes and molds everyone—including the leaders. It’s not a one-size-fits-all approach, but the results that are possible can elevate teams to greater heights.
Forbes Human Resources Council is an invitation-only organization for HR executives across all industries. Do I qualify?
