A transformational leader, using approaches that focus on helping followers develop into leaders themselves, acts as a role model to inspire, challenge and motivate team members. Transformational leaders encourage followers to think creatively and find new ways to solve problems. Training exercises typically enable participants to learn how to achieve a mission through influence, consideration, intellectual stimulation and motivation. By learning to master their own self-confidence and motivation, leaders develop skills to promote the development of others. Transformational leadership classes usually include role-playing simulations that help students acquire skills.
Learning how to coach and mentor others typically involves opportunities to role-play in scenarios associated with common organizational problems. Groups begin by defining transformational leadership qualities valued by their organization. Creating a checklist helps measure how frequently leaders practice these techniques during observation. For example, divide a group of participants into smaller groups consisting of three people. Assign one person the role of transformational leader, assign the second person the role of the follower and assign the role of observer to the third person. Describe a scenario, such as dealing with the tardiness, and provide 10 minutes for the conversation. The observer records how many times the leader uses valued techniques, such as listening actively, using open questions, displaying respect and recognizing individual contributions. After 10 minutes, each group should discuss the results.
Foster Intellectual Stimulation
Transformational leaders typically consider the moral and ethical consequences of decisions. To practice leading others to challenge assumptions, take risks and foster innovation, participants experiment with techniques that examine questions from another perspective. For example, divide a group of participants into pairs. Instruct one partner to play the role of an employee with a problem, such as product defects. The other partner should play the role of the transformational leader suggesting different techniques for solving the problem based on his experience. After 15 minutes, the partners should swap roles and tackle a new problem. After 15 minutes, conduct a whole group debriefing session to find out what participants learned from the experience.
Develop Skills in Motivating Employees
Transformational leaders typically use stories to communicate and articulate their vision. Learning how to tell a story requires practice. For example, ask for a volunteer to tell a story about a strong belief she has that she wants others to act on as well. For example, contributing to local charities to give back to the community. The story should last no more than 10 minutes. Distribute a checklist to the rest of the participants. The checklist should include items such as authenticity, to judge if the speaker is realistic and believable. Also include focus as an item, to judge if the speaker stays on topic. Finally, look for drama, to judge if the speaker attracts and maintains audience attention. Participant feedback helps the speaker hone her communication skills to convince followers to become optimistic about the future.
Develop Influencing Skills
To be seen as a role model for ethical behavior, gain respect and create pride in the organization requires establishing trust. For example, ask training participants to each identify one or two quotes from historic world leaders that influence them. Discuss why these leaders were able to affect others. Additionally, ask each person to prepare a one-minute speech about why the leader they chose is most influential. Take a class vote to see who was most persuasive in making a case.
- &ldquo;Leading Congregational Change: A Practical Guide for the Transformational Journey&rdquo;; Jim Herrington, Mike Bonem and James H. Furr; 2000
- &ldquo;The Leadership Training Activity Book: 50 Exercises for Building Effective Leaders&rdquo;&rsquo;; Lois B. Hart and Charlotte S. Waisman; 2004
- &ldquo;Transformational Leadership&rdquo;; Bernard M. Bass and Ronald E. Riggio; 2005
- male leadership image by Daniel Wiedemann from Fotolia.com