Introduction
Effective leadership requires skills to adapt to the demands of fresh situations. Leadership flexibility offers opportunities to hone unique approaches, as circumstances demand. Leaders can hang onto core styles while embracing principles found in harmonizing theories. Theories of particular interest are transformational leadership and servant leadership, among others. These approaches are synergistic rather than mutually exclusive. Moreover, they overlap with other beneficial leadership concepts.
Leadership of Individuals and Groups
Transformational leadership. Transformational leaders change organizations by igniting group members’ emotions and help them move beyond their own self-interests (Bass, 1990). Group members see how their efforts contribute and become willing to accomplish more than they thought possible. Wang and Howell (2010) asserted that both individuals and groups are concerns to transformational leaders. At the individual level, transformational leaders endeavor to appreciate group members’ talents while acting as coach and mentor to address weaknesses. At the group level, transformational leaders communicate and engender shared values and goals. This encourages concord in the business’ vision and group objectives.
Servant leadership. Servant leadership is a complementary approach to transformational leadership that concentrates on others’ needs (Greenleaf, 1991). The emphasis of servant leadership is that the organization is
Transformational leaders encourage group work, as they connect each follower’s identity and self to the project and collective identity of the corporation. They are role models for other staff and this inspires them and makes them
As Northouse (2015) explained, transformational leadership is a process that can change and transform the emotions, values, ethics, standard, and long term goals of the people. It also involves transforming followers to accomplish more than what is expected of them. The four factors that are closely associated with transformational leadership includes being an idealized influence or charisma leaders who act as strong role models, have a high standard of moral and ethical conduct, and deeply respected by his or her followers. A leader who can inspire and motivate their followers to be part of a shared vision of the organization. A leader who can also stimulate followers to become more creative and innovative, and provide the necessary coaches and advice to the followers (p.167).
Originating in the seminal work of Greenleaf, servant leadership is a paradoxical approach to leadership that challengers our traditional beliefs about leadership and influence. Servant leadership emphasizes that leaders should be attentive to the needs of the followers, empower them, and help them develop their full human capacities. They build strong relationships, with others, are empathic, and ethical, and lead in ways that serve the greater good of followers, organizations, and the community.
There are many models of leadership that exist across a range of fields (e.g. social work, education, psychology, business, etc.). The ability to transform an organization successfully requires a different set of attitudes and skills. Transformational leadership is an approach where a leader utilizes inspiration, charisma, individualized attention, and intellectual stimulation with their employees (Iachini, Cross, & Freedman, 2015, p. 651). Transformational leadership helps to clarify organizational vision, inspires employees to attain objectives, empowers employees, encourages employees to take risks, and advocates the seeking of alternative solutions to challenges in the workplace (Transformational Leadership, 2015). It allows the leader to engage and motivate each follower identify with the organization’s values and goals.
Finally, this paper will address how the practice of servant leadership would affect everyone from the lowest enlisted men to the most senior flag officer and everyone else in-between. Leadership goes well beyond the following definition: “Leadership is the art of influencing and directing people in such a way as to obtain their willing obedience, confidence, respect and cooperation.” In fact, when it comes right down to it, “there are no quick and easy answers to becoming an effective and efficient leader.” Leadership is difficult and enduring work. It is a lifelong process of building and molding not only your skills but also the skills of your subordinates. In a society of instant gratification, we look for the quick fix. Yet the problem is the quick fix or plug and play solution, rarely serves the long-term goals of an organization.
As I take a moment to reflect on my time here, I have learned that I have traits of a Transformational Leader but that I also have room for improvement. I have highlighted areas in where I felt I needed the most improvement to become the Transformational Leader that I aspire to be. For the next three to five years, I plan to implement these changes to improve the way that I utilize the Elements of Adaptability, The Who, Stakes and Situation, Impact on Work Center Climate, and Ethical Behavior concepts. Understanding and effectively implementing these changes will make me a better leader for my subordinates, peers, and supervisors.
Servant leadership is a theory based on Robert K Greenleaf’s belief that all men have a primary motivation to serve others and through this service they aspire to lead (Parris & Peachey, 2012). Although this leadership model has very little in common with charismatic and situational does however compare to transformational leadership in several areas. The main area of commonality between the two can be found as transformational leaders serve as stewards to change enable the followers to accept the change and move forward with the organization (Tichy & Devanna, 1990, p. 75). In essence, servant leadership becomes the long-term transformational approach to life and work.
Leadership is a process. The leader uses influence to inspire others toward a common goal. There are different types of leadership such as autocratic, democratic, and laissez-faire. One leadership theory is transformational leadership. A transformational leader is defined as “a leader who is committed to a vision that empowers others” (Kelly, 2012). A transactional leader is focused on day to day operations and is more task oriented. I will explore what it takes to become a transformational leader and what part they play at the organizational level. I will discuss an ethical issue, which my nurse manager assisted me with as a new registered nurse. I will research the concept of power in relation to nursing leadership. There are certain attributes a transformational leader exhibits and are required to have in order to be a successful leader. A transformational leader has many skills and attributes. They are developed through mentorship and mastered by experience. A transformational leader creates a work environment that empowers others to advance their skills and abilities. This empowerment leads to a successful and highly functioning team, that works toward a common goal for the patients, families, co-workers, and organization as a whole. To be an effective leader it is important to balance both transactional and transformational leadership styles.
Servant leadership is leadership that starts with a vision. Servant leaders are optimists with empathy for individuals (Gill, 2015). Servent leadership involves putting the needs of others at the forefront of every business, organization, department or group. For example, servant leadership addresses the accountabilities and relations between employees and customers, and its investors and shareholders. In theory, servant leadership is a set of practices that improves the lives of many individuals, develops better businesses, and overall fashions a more caring and just world (Leadership?, 2015 ).
As the newly appointed interim City Treasurer for the City of Norfolk, the rebuilding of the department would be a daunting but necessary task, which would entail: reclaiming of employee morale and the reestablishment of the public’s trust. The following outline provides proposals for the reorganization of the Office of the Treasurer; it also specifies intentions to further develop leadership, communication, accountability, transparency, and motivation. Altogether the organizational concepts will additionally demonstrate respect for the department’s organizational culture. Furthermore, as the interim City Treasurer, it would be necessary first to understand the outlined roles and duties of a City Treasurer. Furthermore, both formal and informal
I have been requested to lead a Task Force to include myself and hospital staff, community leaders, and law enforcement. With the recent death of two intoxicated inmates and jail overcrowding, law enforcement are now giving arrestees an option of being transported to our local emergency room or to be taken to jail. Prior to the two inmates’ death, our hospital’s emergency room has not been involved with the issue of overcrowding jail cells. With this new implementation, our hospital and staff members have expressed concerns that we would like addressed. To resolve this conflict, I propose that we identify and analyze the underlying factors that have caused the change, for each of us to offer ideas to modify and change the current situation,
Servant leadership is distinctive within the body of leadership theories by having evolved from a philosophical framework, which challenges generally held conceptions of power and production (Dugan, 2017). Servant leadership and transformational leadership place a similar emphasis on envisioning the future and transforming followers into leaders, however, the uniqueness of servant leadership still surfaces. For instance, servant leadership calls for more sacrifice on the part of the leader, and followers are more likely to have greater freedom under a servant leader than under a transformational leader. Furthermore, servant leadership depends on the leader’s trust in his followers rather than on the directive abilities of the leader. The principal difference between transformational and servant leadership is the leader’s focus. The servant leader’s ultimate focus is the follower, while the transformational leader’s greatest concern is to encourage followers to serve the organization diligently. The essence of transformational leadership lies on developing
Transformational leadership. Burns (1978) is recognized as one of the earliest theorist on transformational leadership, who introduced transformational leadership over 30 years ago. Transformational leaders are perceived as leaders who uplift their employee morale, subsequently uplifting the entire organizational. Transformational leaders are known by their capacity to inspire followers to forgo self-interests in achieving superior results for the organization (Clawson, 2006). Avolio and Yammarino (2002) shared Bass’s explanation of transformational leadership as leaders who act as agents of change that stimulate, and transform followers’ attitudes, beliefs, and motivate from lower to higher level of arousal.
This paper summarizes the article written by Cam Caldwell, Rolf D. Dixon, Larry A. Floyd, Joe Chaudoin, Johnathan Post, and Gaynor Cheokas regarding the need for a new type of leadership in today’s social work environment, defined as Transformative leadership. The article itself varies in the definition, however in a broad sense Transformative leadership is maintaining good moral standing and sound business ethics among employees and individuals inside and outside the workplace. However, in order to reach this theoretical level of business related moral and ethical leadership known as
Servant-leaders must reinforce these important skills by making a deep commitment to actively listening to others. Servant-leaders seek to identify and clarify the will of a group. They seek to listen receptively to what is being and said (and not said) among others. By listening with intent, followers feel understood and valued, even under pressure, the servant leader demonstrates a sense of empathy and compassion by taking the time to understand what one's body, spirit, and mind are communicating.