David DeHaven – Transformational Leadership Research

David Blair DeHaven suggests that leadership has different meanings for people, driven by their experiences and the context of the situation.  For example, leadership within a community, religious leadership, political leadership, and group leadership within an organization may all take on different approaches because of the differing context.

Leaders are people who attract others to their vision and make sure that the right things are done.

Managers are people who receive this vision and then make sure things are done right.

• Definition of Leadership

According to transformational leadership theory, a transformational leader is someone who does the following:

• Create an inspiring vision of the future.
• Motivates and inspires people to commit to his vision.
• Manages the achievement of the vision.
• Coach and build a team to be more effective in achieving their vision.
• Transformational leadership:

Transformational leadership brings together the skills needed to achieve the aforementioned transformations. We will look at each item in more detail.

• Motivate and inspire people

A compelling vision is the foundation of leadership. But David Blair DeHaven teaches that it is the ability of leaders to motivate and inspire people that helps them realize this vision.

For example, when you start a new project, you will probably have a lot of enthusiasm for it. So it is often easy to get support early on. However, it can be difficult to find ways to keep your vision inspiring after the initial enthusiasm wears off, especially if the team or organization needs to make significant changes in the way they do things. Leaders are aware of this and work throughout the project to match their vision to individual needs, goals, and aspirations. Leaders associate two different expectations:

• The hope that hard work leads to good results.
• The hope that good results lead to attractive rewards – both intrinsic and extrinsic in nature

It motivates people to work hard for success because they expect rewards.  At the same time, the vision may warn of danger to follow if action is not taken…and a good vision incorporates both elements.

Other approaches are to reaffirm the vision in terms of the benefits it will bring to the team and take every opportunity to communicate it in an engaging manner.

What is particularly useful here is when the leaders have expert power. People admire and believe in these leaders because they are experts at what they do. They have credibility and have earned the right to ask people to listen to them and follow them. It makes it much easier for these leaders to motivate and inspire them.

Leaders can also motivate and influence people through their natural charisma and attractiveness, as well as other sources of power, such as the power to pay money or assign tasks to people. However, good leaders don’t rely too much on these types of power to motivate and inspire others.

• Manage the achievement of your vision

To do this, team members need performance goals linked to the overall team vision.

Leaders also need to ensure that they manage change effectively. This helps ensure that the changes necessary to achieve the vision are implemented smoothly and comprehensively, with the support and support of those affected.

• Coach and train a team to achieve its vision

Individual and team development are important activities carried out by transformational leaders. To develop a team, leaders must first understand the dynamics of the team. Several well-established and popular models describe this, such as Belbin’s team roles, and Bruce Tuckman’s theory.

A leader will then ensure that team members have the skills and abilities to do their jobs and achieve the vision. They do this by giving and receiving feedback regularly, and by training and coaching people to improve individual and team performance.

Leadership also includes seeking leadership potential in others. By developing leadership skills within your team, you create an environment in which you can continue to be successful over the long term. And that’s a real measure of great leadership.

Note:

The words “leader” and “leadership” are often used incorrectly to describe people who actually manage. These people can be highly skilled, great at their jobs, and useful to their organizations – but that makes them great managers, not leaders.

So, be careful how you use the terms, and don’t assume that people with “leader” in their job titles, people who describe themselves as “leaders”, or even groups called “leadership teams”. “create and bring about transformational change.

Organizations run by such a group of people think they are run, but they are not. In reality, there may be no leadership at all, with no one setting a vision and no one being inspired. This can cause serious problems in the long run so take advice from an executive coach such as David Blair DeHaven. Dr. David DeHaven is an executive coach with D3 Coaching, LLC http://www.d3coaching.com.