TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP: PREPARING FOR A NEW CULTURE, ATTITUDE

AND RESPECT.

INTRODUCTION: WHY NEED ONE....AND WHO?

From the term used by modern day gurus of economic and management itself,
transformational leadership carries the definition of a leader, someone with
authority to actually transform the organization, or at least his or her department,
into a whole new and improved workforce that is able to perform miracles and turn
pressure into profit. At this point, changes will be massive, people will be removed
or brought in, the usual safe environment of not being productive will be
conversated in past tense- in short, a major paradigm shift. Unfortunately,
performing this feat is not as easy as it sounds. As any manager/leader well aware
of, there are some things in human being that is hard to remove, or at least reduce,
which among them are culture, attitude and respect. It would almost certainly take
a Midas touch in order for someone to successfully carrying out this task, even so,
not without any blood splattered.

Ronda Winans, writing for American Physical Therapy Association, announced that a
newly formed department will got off to a rocky start with varying corporate
cultures, a faulty organizational structure, and declining morale. Bare in mind the
term “new’ she used here are meant for any organizational structure undergoing
changes, it is well suited to announce with the word new, as everything will be
seemingly new. Of course, coming from a dysfunctional, unorganized structure, will
certainly leave us with a lot of different attitudes, where personality clashes with
each other, causing low work ethic, and certainly, team work will be involved in this.

With a situation that is in disarray worst than a Compton Scattering, a prolific leader
is needed here. One off player need not apply, as turning this over would need
consistency, resistance and sheer will power, and as always, a little bit of luck.

So, one might ask, what kind of leader who could perform this superhuman task?
This is where a Transformational Leader comes in.

A transformational leader is a person who is able to withstand massive load,

consistent pressure, and a very good judgment and prediction. Not every leader has
the trait to be a transformational leader, as this kind of leadership have one thing
that are uncommon in others- courage.

A transformational leader are not afraid of being axed by the board if something
goes wrong, unmoved by any threat, and are prepared to be disliked by hundreds,
maybe thousands of fellow employee.

There are numerous steps before a leader can achieve this status, yet alone using
this status to perform any drastic changes in an organization. Each one of the steps
need to be executed with carefully laid plans, well equipped with back ups and
options, and powered by loyal, fully competent task team. Improvisation is
important here, and this will be discussed later on this paper.

R.E.S.P.E.C.T

As famous as the song by Aretha Franklin in 1990, leaders are well aware of this
matter since the beginning of management. Respect is the Holy Grail in
management- obtain it, and you will be presented with undoubtful loyalty, quality
work result, and of course, smooth sailing in the organization. But all is not sugar in
gaining this. Blood and tears will be shed, sacrifices have to be made. This is where
most common leadership fail. Sentiments is the worst enemy here, as it could cause
the organization to split into several heads, and this is what we would want to avoid
here.

A transformational leader are not afraid of being the most hated person in the
organization, but on contrary, able to keep his or her relationship with their
employees in balance. Adopt an approach where people feel safe and comfortable
around their leader, but not emotionally attached. Split personality comes into one’s
mind here, but that is the transformational leader. A different approach.

Rome wasn’t built in a day, so does respect. Patience is vital here, as it is the key
where a leader would be able to keep everything in balance. A transformational
leader should have the respect from employees not only as their superior, but also
as their friend. Keeping everything close would certainly tighten the bond in the
team, and automatically work ethic and morale would be on the rise. Being
somewhat close to people who have respect for them, and several negative auras
can be deleted: backstabbing, propaganda and doubts, in which are main culprits in
the collapse of any team that experienced this previously.

Respect in this context is not a one way road, but instead the leader themselves
must have much of those in order to make this work. Most common mistakes by
leaders this day is the lack of respect towards their inferior, thinking that respect
are only for big players like them. This leads to two-faced employees, working for
the sake of the leader said so, not for the feeling of their responsibility, in which the
latter could provide a much better result, in term of productivity and quality.

The major flaw in this tactic is keeping it balanced. Respect is all about balance, but
of course, as a human, we tend to overlook a thing or two. This would certainly
cause people to start talking behind backs and spreading rumors, one ear to
another, and it would become somewhat nasty. That’s why a transformational
leader should add another trait to their resume, an approachable persona. By this, it
could lead these “overlooked” or sometimes can be announced as underachievers,
come towards the leader, instead of them waiting for the leader to come for them.
Automatically, the flaw is overwritten with another positive approach.

Potentially, by generating respect from these employees, and at the same time
paving the way for them to come closer, the first door to a change could be opened
here, leader can now easily (and most importantly, comfortably) approach their
employees, as they will certainly be welcoming you with arms wide open.
R.E.S.P.E.C.T, indeed.

YOU ARE GODZILLA, WE ARE JAPAN

Imagine a well developed culture adopted in an organization, in which the culture

has been surrounding all the employees for ages. The strength of the culture is so
intense until it has turned into habit, a routine, unwritten things or actions taken on
daily basis. It is so strong that none can move it away even for a bit- this is what we
call a Godzilla effect- an unmovable massive figure in a destructive form. So
destructive it can tear the whole organization down.

In a transformational leadership, changing the mentality and the culture developed

in employees is a feat that is uncertain in its result. Even when everything is done
according to plan, it does not guarantee a success. This is where experience and
critical judgment comes in.

Tackling a human mind and personality is not easy, as it varies from each and one
of the employees. This consumes time, but then again transforming a structure
from its previous unproductive status to a big gun takes a long way. Time is what
needed to be sacrifice here. The step that are needed here is simple, but yet a
mount to climb.

The best bet is to get the right arsenal for the job. Generally speaking, different
organization have different culture, depending on its industry, size and involvement
in economic growth. A small company does not require a lot of time or effort spend,
but those larger ones maybe reinforcement are needed. The trick is to slowly
creeping up in their routine everyday life. Please remember this is human behavior
that we are dealing with here, any sudden involvement will cause shock and this is
not good as it will increase the resistance of the “Godzilla”. Change the bits one by
one. For instance, if the usual breakfast time is after the employees clocked in to
work, try to apply a deviation towards this, say an everyday briefing during
morning. By this way, they would simply have no time to spend for breakfast after
clocking in as they need to get ready for any paperwork or presentation required, so
they have to settle with breakfast BEFORE coming in to work. But always
remember, this has to be done one at a time, and also depending on the size of the
company, and the respect level from all the employees.

Resistance level is very high in this matter, so transformational leader needs to

have the antidotes or a counter to this. Again, brute force will make matter worse,
so try to keep coolness level intact every time implementing this. Maybe employing
a psychologist for this task is a good idea, as this would allow the leader to study
the behavior and mentality of the employees before taking any further measures.
Studying allows the leader to obtain a glimpse of the enemies territory (in which the
term enemy is used as the behavior and culture of the employees, not the
employees themselves, in which we considered as victims or hostages of situation
that needed to be saved), further to layout any plans so that implementation will be
direct to the targeted are and not wobbling in the dark. If this is not the case, it
would certainly cost a huge amount of money, energy and most vitally, time. This
have to be taken carefully, as any miss steps would certainly bringing down the
credibility of the leader, and it is a major component in transforming any bad
culture from further destructing the situation and workplace, along with mentalities.
Losing repertoire early on, and say goodbye to respect, thus making any move
harder as human mentality is very stubborn, but yet fragile.

In other words, lose to Godzilla, and Japan will be reduced into ashes.

“TAKE IT AS IT COMES”

Improvisation creates optional path or an escape plan for any transformational

leader, providing the best result in creating the toughest workforce available. This is
a skill not required, but most needed in any leader, thus developing and nurturing
this skill is widely welcomed for a budding transformational leader. Most of those
who had failed underestimated the power of improvisation.

Improvisation is a power tool to be used in a situation where laid plans fail to be

executed, failure in getting the desired outcome or just simply have not put on any
plans and the situation requires implementation immediately (in which the latter
should be avoided by any leader in general, transformational leader). It can be
considered as a safe button, manipulating with the timing and situation to provide a
solution (most likely short term) in order to avoid any failure, or without bringing
down the reputation of the leader by reasoning during any failed output.

The only way for a leader to develop this skill is by increasing his or her awareness
level. Improvising requires fast, fully analytical and undoubted method of thinking,
and this certainly involves the going-on surrounding the matter or the leader during
the time of implementation or conflict. This is to be differentiated with desperate
measures, as this skill is carefully carried out, even so seemingly at prompt, the
level of understanding of the situation is highly under control. Unlike results taken
out of desperation (in which usually the decision maker are left with one option, and
usually it is somewhat causing deficit), improvising could (sometimes) hand the best
option or result, depending on the receiver and people who are involved with the
sudden situation.

Usually when it comes to crunch time, there are several decisions are made in a
haste, or in transformational leadership itself, sometimes plan made does not goes
according to plan. This is one of the main reason improvisation is severely needed
here. Plans made are not necessarily works, and amendments needs to be
prepared. Even so, the end result could vary, and this has been proven by
numerous organization such as Randy Sabourin Biz Improv and The Second City, a
specified body to provide training to major companies (most of their reputation
boasts among Fortune 500). Their findings clearly state that improvisation is not
only needed to be applied, but it has become somewhat of a requirement. In this
world of fast current of technology and economic growth faster than a light rail
transit, on top of constant pressure pilling up on them, making the right the choice
in the best interest of the whole organization.

Transformational leaders most definitely have this skill comes naturally, but in the
event that it does not, this is one skill can be developed, certainly better and faster
with the help of professionals dedicated their work in this area. The power of
improvisation are not to be taken lightly, as it is the decider of any important event
that could resulting in the transformation process, and it could be the thin line
between success and failure of the transformational leader in his or her quest to
transform their assigned organization into a major business powerhouse, thus
taking the level of their competitiveness a bar higher.