Transformational leadership, as defined by Bernard M. Bass, is leadership based on “stimulation and inspiration of followers to achieve both extraordinary outcomes and develop their own leadership capability” (Bass & Riggio, 2005). This is in contrast to the more traditional transactional leadership model, which relies on an exchange of one thing for another; i.e. hard work for praise and/or compensation. The transformational leader accomplishes inspiration by, “responding to individual followers’ needs by empowering them and by aligning the objectives and goals of the individual followers, the leader, the group, and the larger organization” (Bass & Riggio, 2005). In order to accomplish performance improvement and, ultimately, true innovation, the transformational leader must establish an infrastructure, or foundation, which elevates the strategic capabilities in an organization. This is increasingly relevant in healthcare, where organizations are feeling the pressure of the transformational imperative and must respond to constant change. It’s been my personal experience, and I’m sure there is research to support this, that simply rewarding an individual for their efforts results in moderate outcomes. However, when employees are empowered to make decisions and be an integral part of the change process, there is of a sense of ownership implied and the process improvement is much more rapid and efficient. For those that are versed in transactional leadership, this approach can be difficult to adopt because it is a break from the “my way or the highway” mentality. This is important, particularly in healthcare, where the emphasis now is moving to a more team-based approach driven by metrics.
References
Bass, B. M., & Riggio, R. E. (2005). Transformational leadership. Psychology Press.
