3.3.3: Challenges of Transformational Leadership
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Success Factors
Transformational leadership is capable of inspiring employees to transform and sustain small and growing organizations. This is done by showing and helping workers on how to fit into the organizational vision and strategies for future survival in a human and motivating manner. Transformational leaders empower their employees through training, increased responsibility, and role modeling. Whenever businesses encounter hardship and encounter turbulent times, quite often it is transformational leaders who can assist by use of high energy, enthusiasm, and passion to inspire and motivate employees through prevailing hardships. The transformational leaders must undertake the following to be successful.
Limitations of Transformational Leadership
Several negative consequences are associated with transformational leadership style. Though transformational in the outlook, some leaders have used their qualities to bring about negative change. As examples, Adolf Hitler of Germany and Sadam Hussein of Iraq are key transformational political leaders who ended up bringing a lot of death and destruction to their followers by plunging their followers into avoidable wars. This leadership is personalized leadership, which though transforming often focuses on personal interests rather than the interests of followers as opposed to authentic leadership which is more focused on collective good of followers. The leader’s dependence syndrome is another shortcoming of transformational leadership. Transformational leaders may change the organizational environment such that they are relied on for everything in the organization. Therefore, transformational leaders should work hard to ensure sustainability even long after they exit the organizations through mentoring, training, and staff development through institutional and individualized capacity building.