Do you want to become a transformational leader? While many aspire to it, success stories are hard to come by. Why? Because transformational leadership requires us to first transform ourselves. And few of us recognize that challenge, let alone show that we are ready to meet it.
Recently I began coaching a young and very talented leader as she prepared to step up to become the CEO of her company when the current leader retired. She was smart, creative, and ready to tackle all the trials she might face when she moved into the CEO position. Her passion for moving her company towards a more impactful role in society was exciting. She talked about transformation and transformational leadership every time we met for her coaching session.
Yet my concern for her grew as I realized that personal change was not on her radar. She was focused squarely on the big picture with only very fuzzy ideas of how she might accomplish organizational transformation. And she seemed to believe that the skills that had led to her success so far were perfectly adequate for transforming the company.
She had an inspiring vision. However, her plan was to present it to employees and tell them to make it happen. She felt sure that they would figure out what to do on their own without much, if any, additional assistance from her. She didn’t talk about this abdication in so many words. However, her description of what she would do when she took over the role of CEO always focused solely on telling and inspiring and never on listening and facilitating.
Certainly, communicating a clear vision is a great first step. However, a leader’s vision alone, no matter how exciting, will not get the job done. She seemed neither willing to examine her own assumptions nor to consider the depth or complexity of what she was asking the organization to take on.
This approach to leading transformational change is a recipe for failure. Transformation is radical and places us and our organizations in uncharted territory. It requires a new kind of leadership. We are unlikely to succeed merely on the strength of our will, passion, or charisma. Transformational leadership requires us to embrace unconventional thinking and unusual capabilities.
The challenge requires you to do these four things:
Develop keen self-insight.
Overcome your insecurities and examine your blind spots. We all have them. Our growth as leaders requires us to lower our defenses and acknowledge our own limitations. Believe it or not, others tend to respect us more when we are willing to concede our own shortcomings.
Stay open to varying perspectives.
Develop the ability to incorporate diverse viewpoints into a shared vision. We really don’t know everything, after all. No matter how we view our opinions and hard-won expertise, we will never accomplish transformational change if we cannot accept that others have valuable ideas to offer us. This means hearing others. Many times, when we say we are listening, we are just barely registering the other’s words while preparing our counter arguments. This is not hearing.
Give up control.
By the time we have risen through the ranks of an organization, most likely we have gotten used to being in charge. Yet true transformation requires taking risks and allowing ourselves to be vulnerable. It means sharing power. And yes, most of us will find this to be uncomfortable.
Adopt a learning mindset.
The most effective way to transform an organization is to approach it as a process of learning together.
Transformation is complex. The goals are often imprecise and the solutions to problems usually aren’t obvious. Think of yourself as a guide walking side-by-side with your fellow travelers towards a vision that all share.
As I continued to attempt to get through to my young coaching client, she experienced a drop in her effectiveness as a leader. Her ability to inspire and persuade were diminished. Employees began to openly express their concerns about her succeeding the current CEO. They were confused, exhausted and angry. This personal crisis got her attention.
She finally realized that she had to change because the behaviors that had served her well in the past were not working for her now. She experienced a moment of clarity that led to a shift in how she viewed the tasks at hand. Suddenly she was open to learning how to become the kind of person who could lead a successful transformation.
You don’t have to wait for a crisis to prepare for transformational leadership. The first and most important step is to acknowledge that you will not succeed in transforming the organization until you are ready and willing to transform yourself. Get started on the hard work!
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