As my colleague Todd shared last week, “Transformational leadership causes people to trust, respect, and even admire, their leaders.” It also inspires and empowers followers to exceed normal levels of performance. Sounds like wonderful, but heady stuff!
As a leader, you might ask: what can I do to become more of a transformational leader? How can I inspire trust and respect and empower those I lead? Is there a recipe or a checklist that can help guide me? To answer that question, Bass, author of Transformational Leadership, outlines four helpful components to transformational leadership.
Often referred to as the 4 I model, the four components listed below describe specific behaviors that leaders can adopt.
Idealized Influence
Serve as role models for followers. “Walk the talk.” Demonstrate appropriate risk-taking, consistency, and high levels of integrity.
Inspirational Motivation
Inspire and motivate followers by providing meaning and a sense of challenge to their work. Involve followers in creating a desired vision for the future, communicate clear expectations and demonstrate commitment to shared goals of the team.
Intellectual Stimulation
Involve followers in addressing organizational problems and support them in being as innovative as possible in identifying solutions. Encourage followers to challenge assumptions, reframe problems, and approach existing problems in novel ways.
Individualized Consideration
Give individualized attention to each follower’s professional development by acting as a coach or mentor. Provide customized learning opportunities for each follower based on that person’s unique needs and desires.
Over the next week and a half, my colleagues and I will be diving deeper into each of the 4 I’s. For now, I challenge you to read through each short description and to make a mental note of which I’s you are strong in and which I’s you may need to focus on as you reflect on your own leadership.
Anita Rios
Higher EDge 