I read an article the other day in the Leader Post newspaper regarding a presentation that was given by Dr. Julian Barling, Assistant Dean at the School of Business at Queen’s University regarding transformational leadership. Dr. Barling peaked my curiosity to better understand “transformational leadership” and to see how it interwove with mentoring.

The definition of transformational leadership goes somewhat like this:

“Transformational leadership enhances the motivation, morale and performance of followers through a variety of mechanisms. These include connecting the follower's sense of identity and self to the mission and the collective identity of the organization; being a role model for followers that inspires them; challenging followers to take greater ownership for their work, and understanding the strengths and weaknesses of followers, so the leader can align followers with tasks that optimize their performance.”

“The full range of leadership introduces four elements of transformational leadership:

1. Individualized Consideration – the degree to which the leader attends to each follower's needs, acts as a mentor or coach to the follower and listens to the follower's concerns and needs. The leader gives empathy and support, keeps communication open and places challenges before the followers. This also encompasses the need for respect and celebrates the individual contribution that each follower can make to the team. The followers have a will and aspirations for self-development and have intrinsic motivation for their tasks.
2. Intellectual Stimulation – the degree to which the leader challenges assumptions takes risks and solicits followers' ideas. Leaders with this style stimulate and encourage creativity in their followers. They nurture and develop people who think independently. For such a leader, learning is a value and unexpected situations are seen as opportunities to learn. The followers ask questions, think deeply about things and figure out better ways to execute their tasks.
3. Inspirational Motivation – the degree to which the leader articulates a vision that is appealing and inspiring to followers. Leaders with inspirational motivation challenge followers with high standards, communicate optimism about future goals, and provide meaning for the task at hand. Followers need to have a strong sense of purpose if they are to be motivated to act. Purpose and meaning provide the energy that drives a group forward. The visionary aspects of leadership are supported by communication skills that make the vision understandable, precise, powerful and engaging. The followers are willing to invest more effort in their tasks; they are encouraged and optimistic about the future and believe in their abilities.
4. Idealized Influence – Provides a role model for high ethical behavior, instills pride, gains respect and trust.”

I found all of this to be very interesting in that it confirmed that a good leader, a transformational leader is one that has mentoring qualities/skills. Conversely a good mentor is someone that could be a transformational leader – with the right training and practical experience.

I am sure that we have all worked for someone at some time point in our career that was that scream and holler, in your face, kick the garbage can type of person that we questioned as to how they got into a leadership role. Those behaviors are so out of place and have been for quite a while and yet we still see some that emulate those behaviors. Most of us shut down or turn that sort of leader off and likely can only remember the first two sentences of their rant at best. You may ask yourself “why do they resort to that sort of behavior?” I have found that typically there are self-esteem or confidence issues that need to be addressed. The best way to mask this is to become very aggressive in your behavior – hence the screaming and shouting!

A good mentor/transformational leader will not use behavior such as this to motivate the people that they work with. They emulate behaviors that inspire their followers to be the best that they can be personally and professionally. They take pride in watching the growth of their followers and to help out wherever they need to!

Each of the four elements of transformational leadership reflects the skills of a trained mentor. A good mentor – a trained mentor will become a transformational leader with experience. Now is the time to embrace mentoring as a way of life for your organization. Take your leadership development program to the next level and leverage the “power of mentoring!”

References:

1. http://www.leaderpost.com/business/Scream+shout/6648171/story.html
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformational_leadership