Change Through Transformational Leadership Practices - Essay Example

Change Through Transformational Leadership Practices Change Through Transformational Leadership Practices A transformational leader implements change in an organization by closely working with his subordinates staff. Denning (2013) contends that a leader should be an individual who instill a sense of stewardship in is employees and who makes them desire and work toward being better people. Zenger, Folkman & Edinger (2009) asserts that for a leader to implement change, it is crucial that he understand the direction that the company is taking.

Having a footprint allows members of an organization to have objectives that they work toward meeting at the end of the day (Sinek,2011). There is indeed a positive correlation between transformational leadership, organizational culture and the organizational climate. The organizational climate can be described as the environment and attitude within the workplace. A transformational leader knows that to implement any change, then it is important to understand the employee’s views on the company (Stringer, 2002).

The organization culture includes the line of communication, problem solving skills, level of innovation and even leadership. The aforementioned factors can affect workers performance in the workplace and hence should be addressed severally. According to, Stringer (2002), looking into the organizational culture also enables a leader to assess the reaction that would be met by the employees of they were to embark on making any changes in the workplace. Therefore, by studying the organization climate, a leader is able to influence the employee mindset and encourage them to work towards meeting the organizational objectives.

Organizational culture is the sum of activities that are inherent in a company and it can refer to the repetitive behaviors that describe the company. For transformation to occur, it is paramount that leaders understand the culture that seems to slow its progress (Denning, 2013). For instance, a leader may realize that time is wasted during the morning hours and this leaves some tasks unattended by evening. A manager who notes that the early meetings takes away the employee time in regards to settling down afterwards may decide to limit the meeting days to twice a week.

Organizational culture describes how people dress, talk and even work in the workplace (Denning, 2013). If the culture fails to incline towards the success of the company, then there is a need to change. For a leader to positively change the culture of a company, it would require him to study the employee’s mindset. Schein (2010) opines that a culture change may require self-evaluation for the leaders because they would be a reflection of how the employees perceive the company. The culture in any company is as a result of the traditions that have been followed over time (Sinek, 2011).

Indeed, it is possible to influence people’s culture using incentives. In this case, the incentives may be monetary rewards, and non-financial rewards like status and gifts. The organization culture enables the employees to set themselves aside and recognize the new entrants in the industry (Schein, 2010). It is upon the leaders to thereby ensure that the employee’s behaviors reflect positively to the public. Transformational leaders can therefore drive change within a company by addressing the issues that make progress halt.

As earlier on mentioned, it is critical to evaluate the organizational climate on its suitability for a positive change. Further, an organization culture can also explain the kind of resistance that a manager would meet if he was to introduce a new concept. Change therefore has to begin from a leader because he serves as a mirror to the employees. A focused leader is thereby able to influence his followers that one who simply set rules and later disregards them. References Denning, S. (2013).

 The secret language of leadership: How leaders inspire action through narrative. San Francisco, Calif: Jossey-Bass. Schein, E. H. (2010). Organizational culture and leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Sinek, S. (2011). Start with why: How great leaders inspire everyone to take action. New York: Portfolio/Penguin. Stringer, R. A. (2002). Leadership and organizational climate: The cloud chamber effect. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Prentice Hall. Zenger, J. H., Folkman, J., & Edinger, S. K. (2009).

 The inspiring leader: Unlocking the secrets of how extraordinary leaders motivate. New York: McGraw Hill.