transformational leadership by raziff hamsan

8/8/2019 Transformational Leadership by Raziff Hamsan

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TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP: PREPARING FOR A NEW CULTURE, ATTITUDE

AND RESPECT.

INTRODUCTION: WHY NEED ONE....AND WHO?

From the term used by modern day gurus of economic and management itself,

transformational leadership carries the definition of a leader, someone with

authority to actually transform the organization, or at least his or her department,

into a whole new and improved workforce that is able to perform miracles and turn

pressure into profit. At this point, changes will be massive, people will be removed

or brought in, the usual safe environment of not being productive will be

conversated in past tense- in short, a major paradigm shift. Unfortunately,

performing this feat is not as easy as it sounds. As any manager/leader well aware

of, there are some things in human being that is hard to remove, or at least reduce,

which among them are culture, attitude and respect. It would almost certainly take

a Midas touch in order for someone to successfully carrying out this task, even so,

not without any blood splattered.

Ronda Winans, writing for American Physical Therapy Association, announced that a

newly formed department will got off to a rocky start with varying corporate

cultures, a faulty organizational structure, and declining morale. Bare in mind the

term “new’ she used here are meant for any organizational structure undergoing

changes, it is well suited to announce with the word new, as everything will be

seemingly new. Of course, coming from a dysfunctional, unorganized structure, will

certainly leave us with a lot of different attitudes, where personality clashes with

each other, causing low work ethic, and certainly, team work will be involved in this.

With a situation that is in disarray worst than a Compton Scattering, a prolific leaderis needed here. One off player need not apply, as turning this over would need

consistency, resistance and sheer will power, and as always, a little bit of luck.

So, one might ask, what kind of leader who could perform this superhuman task?

This is where a Transformational Leader comes in.

A transformational leader is a person who is able to withstand massive load,

consistent pressure, and a very good judgment and prediction. Not every leader has

the trait to be a transformational leader, as this kind of leadership have one thing

that are uncommon in others- courage.

A transformational leader are not afraid of being axed by the board if something

goes wrong, unmoved by any threat, and are prepared to be disliked by hundreds,

maybe thousands of fellow employee.

There are numerous steps before a leader can achieve this status, yet alone using

this status to perform any drastic changes in an organization. Each one of the steps

need to be executed with carefully laid plans, well equipped with back ups and



options, and powered by loyal, fully competent task team. Improvisation is

important here, and this will be discussed later on this paper.

R.E.S.P.E.C.T

As famous as the song by Aretha Franklin in 1990, leaders are well aware of this

matter since the beginning of management. Respect is the Holy Grail in

management- obtain it, and you will be presented with undoubtful loyalty, quality

work result, and of course, smooth sailing in the organization. But all is not sugar in

gaining this. Blood and tears will be shed, sacrifices have to be made. This is where

most common leadership fail. Sentiments is the worst enemy here, as it could cause

the organization to split into several heads, and this is what we would want to avoid

here.

A transformational leader are not afraid of being the most hated person in the

organization, but on contrary, able to keep his or her relationship with their

employees in balance. Adopt an approach where people feel safe and comfortable

around their leader, but not emotionally attached. Split personality comes into one’s

mind here, but that is the transformational leader. A different approach.

Rome wasn’t built in a day, so does respect. Patience is vital here, as it is the key

where a leader would be able to keep everything in balance. A transformational

leader should have the respect from employees not only as their superior, but also

as their friend. Keeping everything close would certainly tighten the bond in the

team, and automatically work ethic and morale would be on the rise. Being

somewhat close to people who have respect for them, and several negative auras

can be deleted: backstabbing, propaganda and doubts, in which are main culprits in

the collapse of any team that experienced this previously.

Respect in this context is not a one way road, but instead the leader themselves

must have much of those in order to make this work. Most common mistakes by

leaders this day is the lack of respect towards their inferior, thinking that respect

are only for big players like them. This leads to two-faced employees, working for

the sake of the leader said so, not for the feeling of their responsibility, in which the

latter could provide a much better result, in term of productivity and quality.

The major flaw in this tactic is keeping it balanced. Respect is all about balance, but

of course, as a human, we tend to overlook a thing or two. This would certainly

cause people to start talking behind backs and spreading rumors, one ear to

another, and it would become somewhat nasty. That’s why a transformational

leader should add another trait to their resume, an approachable persona. By this, it

could lead these “overlooked” or sometimes can be announced as underachievers,



come towards the leader, instead of them waiting for the leader to come for them.

Automatically, the flaw is overwritten with another positive approach.

Potentially, by generating respect from these employees, and at the same time

paving the way for them to come closer, the first door to a change could be opened

here, leader can now easily (and most importantly, comfortably) approach theiremployees, as they will certainly be welcoming you with arms wide open.

R.E.S.P.E.C.T, indeed.

YOU ARE GODZILLA, WE ARE JAPAN

Imagine a well developed culture adopted in an organization, in which the culture

has been surrounding all the employees for ages. The strength of the culture is so

intense until it has turned into habit, a routine, unwritten things or actions taken ondaily basis. It is so strong that none can move it away even for a bit- this is what we

call a Godzilla effect- an unmovable massive figure in a destructive form. So

destructive it can tear the whole organization down.

In a transformational leadership, changing the mentality and the culture developed

in employees is a feat that is uncertain in its result. Even when everything is done

according to plan, it does not guarantee a success. This is where experience and

critical judgment comes in.

Tackling a human mind and personality is not easy, as it varies from each and one

of the employees. This consumes time, but then again transforming a structurefrom its previous unproductive status to a big gun takes a long way. Time is what

needed to be sacrifice here. The step that are needed here is simple, but yet a

mount to climb.

The best bet is to get the right arsenal for the job. Generally speaking, different

organization have different culture, depending on its industry, size and involvement

in economic growth. A small company does not require a lot of time or effort spend,

but those larger ones maybe reinforcement are needed. The trick is to slowly

creeping up in their routine everyday life. Please remember this is human behavior

that we are dealing with here, any sudden involvement will cause shock and this is

not good as it will increase the resistance of the “Godzilla”. Change the bits one byone. For instance, if the usual breakfast time is after the employees clocked in to

work, try to apply a deviation towards this, say an everyday briefing during

morning. By this way, they would simply have no time to spend for breakfast after

clocking in as they need to get ready for any paperwork or presentation required, so

they have to settle with breakfast BEFORE coming in to work. But always



remember, this has to be done one at a time, and also depending on the size of the

company, and the respect level from all the employees.

Resistance level is very high in this matter, so transformational leader needs to

have the antidotes or a counter to this. Again, brute force will make matter worse,

so try to keep coolness level intact every time implementing this. Maybe employinga psychologist for this task is a good idea, as this would allow the leader to study

the behavior and mentality of the employees before taking any further measures.

Studying allows the leader to obtain a glimpse of the enemies territory (in which the

term enemy is used as the behavior and culture of the employees, not the

employees themselves, in which we considered as victims or hostages of situation

that needed to be saved), further to layout any plans so that implementation will be

direct to the targeted are and not wobbling in the dark. If this is not the case, it

would certainly cost a huge amount of money, energy and most vitally, time. This

have to be taken carefully, as any miss steps would certainly bringing down the

credibility of the leader, and it is a major component in transforming any bad

culture from further destructing the situation and workplace, along with mentalities.

Losing repertoire early on, and say goodbye to respect, thus making any move

harder as human mentality is very stubborn, but yet fragile.

In other words, lose to Godzilla, and Japan will be reduced into ashes.

“TAKE IT AS IT COMES”

Improvisation creates optional path or an escape plan for any transformational

leader, providing the best result in creating the toughest workforce available. This is

a skill not required, but most needed in any leader, thus developing and nurturing

this skill is widely welcomed for a budding transformational leader. Most of thosewho had failed underestimated the power of improvisation.

Improvisation is a power tool to be used in a situation where laid plans fail to be

executed, failure in getting the desired outcome or just simply have not put on any

plans and the situation requires implementation immediately (in which the latter

should be avoided by any leader in general, transformational leader). It can be

considered as a safe button, manipulating with the timing and situation to provide a

solution (most likely short term) in order to avoid any failure, or without bringing

down the reputation of the leader by reasoning during any failed output.

The only way for a leader to develop this skill is by increasing his or her awarenesslevel. Improvising requires fast, fully analytical and undoubted method of thinking,

and this certainly involves the going-on surrounding the matter or the leader during

the time of implementation or conflict. This is to be differentiated with desperate

measures, as this skill is carefully carried out, even so seemingly at prompt, the

level of understanding of the situation is highly under control. Unlike results taken

out of desperation (in which usually the decision maker are left with one option, and

usually it is somewhat causing deficit), improvising could (sometimes) hand the best



option or result, depending on the receiver and people who are involved with the

sudden situation.

Usually when it comes to crunch time, there are several decisions are made in a

haste, or in transformational leadership itself, sometimes plan made does not goes

according to plan. This is one of the main reason improvisation is severely neededhere. Plans made are not necessarily works, and amendments needs to be

prepared. Even so, the end result could vary, and this has been proven by

numerous organization such as Randy Sabourin Biz Improv and The Second City, a

specified body to provide training to major companies (most of their reputation

boasts among Fortune 500). Their findings clearly state that improvisation is not

only needed to be applied, but it has become somewhat of a requirement. In this

world of fast current of technology and economic growth faster than a light rail

transit, on top of constant pressure pilling up on them, making the right the choice

in the best interest of the whole organization.

Transformational leaders most definitely have this skill comes naturally, but in theevent that it does not, this is one skill can be developed, certainly better and faster

with the help of professionals dedicated their work in this area. The power of

improvisation are not to be taken lightly, as it is the decider of any important event

that could resulting in the transformation process, and it could be the thin line

between success and failure of the transformational leader in his or her quest to

transform their assigned organization into a major business powerhouse, thus

taking the level of their competitiveness a bar higher.

transformational leadership by raziff hamsan

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