Leadership Theories: Transformational Leadership

In the workplace, my focus will be on building cognitive trust among team members so that they will put more efforts into performing the given task. Having trust in the team leader and trust amongst team members has a positive effect on team performance. If I want the vision to be fulfilled, it’s imperative that I encourage my employees to work together. As the article mentions, trust is an important factor that mediates the effect of the transformational leadership on group outcomes. Applying the learnings of this article will enhance my leadership skills as well as improving organizational

I believe good leaders have the desire and willpower to become an effective leader. Good leaders develop through a never ending process of self-study, education, training, and experience. I think one of a leaders’ main goals should be to inspire their workers into higher levels of teamwork, which can be acquired through continual work and study. Good leaders should constantly be working and studying to improve their leadership skills. Leadership is defined as a process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent.

Also to make the right, timely and sound decisions are another quality of a leader. Setting the examples as I added before is another positive approach to good leadership. This can be practiced by teaching our people how to set their goals. The Leader should work hard to develop the sense of responsibility among his/her people. Another base for a strong leadership is to bring out all the capabilities of your people by making them enjoy the team spirit.

Effective leaders inspire those around them. They achieve this by setting goals and aiming to achieve them as efficiently as possible. A leader's passion should be contagious, and their energy should affect others around them and should change their approach. A leader's dedication, commitment, and ability should motivate others not just to do as their leaders do but also to believe that what they’ve set out to achieve is within their reach. Effective leaders use themes, mottoes, and symbols to inspire the people around them to maintain their focus and complete all necessary tasks.

As a leader, I would incorporate this style of leadership when leading project teams because it creates a level of trust between a leader and its members. In addition, this leadership style creates motivation and empowerment. When team member’s skills are acknowledged and their opinions are being valued, they see how their contributions aid in completing the final project goal and take ownership. This type of leadership also provides higher levels of motivation and better strategies and solutions because a variety of people contribute with different perspectives and ideas. Although the team leader is required to give up some control, I believe that the motivational benefits of doing so are greater than with other leadership styles.

Explain why someone would want to assume a leadership role within an organization. What are the pros and cons of being a leader? The feeling of empowerment and being in control makes a lot of people feel like they have succeeded in life. However, a leader's job is to provide vision and inspiration, which in turn will provide direction to his or her followers. Anyone who wants to assume a leadership role within an organization is doing it because they see there is an opportunity for them to take an organization and make it prosper.

Employees would like to work with transformational leader as they know the leader is a source of motivation, inspiration and build confidence. Transformational leader inspires their follower because employees feel trust, loyalty, appreciation and respect. Employees put more energy and effort for the betterment of the organization. They work beyond the established standards by meeting all the organizational goals and objective. Transformational leader arouses the awareness in the employees and change the perspective of employees.

However, Wang and Howell (2010) claim that transformational leadership is in every individual.This means an individual can develop their potential to enhance their abilities and skills to improve and overcome any weaknesses. In relation to group work transformational leadership helps to grow common values and beliefs, and to inspire group members to reach their group goals. In this type of situation, leaders treat equally towards members and to make them feel comfortable. However, on occasions problems occur during team work which puts a leader into a situation to overcome the condition. For example, if one of my team members has no belief in me to lead the group, my attitude towards the group and the member will change as they have shown a lack of confidence and interest in teamwork.

These behavioral traits are essential in being a successful leader. Organizations need leaders that can work with their employees, build team work and be open to new ideas, (Lawler, 2003). In order for progress to be made, employees need to believe in their leader, and in turn, the leader needs to believe in their employees. Trust is obtained through mutual respect, building that bond of commitment to insure organizational success, (Lawler, 2003). The employees will follow a leader that promotes a positive attitude and enjoys expressing their ideas and stories.

While working in teams, I have always emphasised on taking the lead and ensuring the implementation of innovative and creative ideas. I believe in change as it is one of the key factors that influence the success and development of organisations and individuals in this competitive and continuously growing environment. Analysing my self-assessment results, I have realised that I also possess the qualities of a charismatic leader. Selvam (2015) reported that a charismatic leader aims to transform the beliefs and values of the followers by setting examples and using the revolutionary power. They influence the followers positively by becoming their ideal (Bozer & Joo, 2015).