Leadership is a crucial aspect of the corporate world that gives substance to organizational functioning. Leaders must make a call according to the situation, and sometimes, they may confuse transactional leadership vs transformational leadership. To find the one that can best guide the employees.
Leadership skills are something that only some possess, but all can develop them with proper dedication, of course. You need to know that organizational success can only come to you if you provide the appropriate guidance to your employees.
There must be clear directions for the team members to follow to deliver the tasks successfully. The leader is also responsible for investigating team members’ operational barriers.
This needs their attention as the team members may not have the right skills to handle the barriers coming their way.
Characteristics of Transactional Leadership Vs Transformational Leadership
Before deciding which one’s better, we must gather evidence to conclude. Starting with this section, we will look at the characteristics of each leadership type and find out which one’s better.
Characteristics of Transactional Leadership
- Transactional leadership believes in contingent rewards. In this leadership style, the leader motivates their team members by providing appropriate rewards. No, it isn’t just rewarding them – it is offered in exchange for meeting the required goals. These may be organizational or team-level goals, but either way, the rewards are given upon achievement.
- The primary outlook of this characteristic is an encouragement to get work done – unlike authoritative leadership. This great motivator works for most people, but some employees may not be motivated. The rewards are changed accordingly, and it may be a promotion or a bonus that the employee deserves.
- Clear expectations are guaranteed with this leadership style in transactional leadership vs transformational leadership. This makes it clear that those under the leader can achieve their targets because they have a set goal to chase.
With clear expectations, you are most likely to achieve results sooner. This is because the action plan is set with the team, and they can start working on the said deliverables as per the timeline.
- Keen management. Transactional leaders are the hawks of the corporate world because they keep a close eye on their team members. Here, their prey is the goal’s achievement.
With strict monitoring of their team’s progress, transactional leaders can ensure quick action whenever there is a deviation.
This is particularly important when corrective measures are necessary to solve a situation. The leader can also impose penalties when there is a deviation from the standards.
Characteristics of Transformational Leadership
When it comes to transformational leadership, they are more likely to motivate their team by inspiring them. In transactional leadership vs transformational leadership, there is no similarity between the two.
Transformational leadership is more about taking a transformational approach to the condition without bringing in penalties. Here are the different characteristics of transformational leadership that work best:
The Vision that Inspires the Team Members
This leadership style brings a crucial characteristic of corporate leadership that brings success – that’s vision. A leader should be a visionary to bring long-term success to their company with the right action plan.
Transformational leaders are visionaries as they inspire their team members to collaborate for the bigger goal. This helps them efficiently contribute to the collective goal, particularly motivating the team.
Individual Consideration
Transformational leaders are all about paying attention to individuals in their team. From personal development needs to professional development, they can provide. A transformational leader will help you achieve the organizational goals by supporting your developmental needs and acting as a true mentor.
Their support and encouragement help you efficiently stay on top of your corporate game.
Emotional Intelligence
This is necessary for leaders in corporations as it helps handle people effectively. When you are in a leadership position, transformational leadership is the most humane option. Transformational leaders possess high emotional intelligence, allowing them to connect well with their team.
This is necessary to form a collaborative environment where team members connect deeply, making collaborating easier. Emotional intelligence is essential to understand the needs of the team members which helps the leader ascertain the change they need to make to their leadership style
Visionaries
Transformational leaders are visionaries that help them plan for the future. This makes them influential leaders as they can imagine the company’s big picture informing their moves.
Vision is an essential characteristic in the corporate sector as it helps companies take actions that help them reach their goals.
Delegation and Empowerment
Instead of micromanaging their teams, transformational leaders trust their team members and empower the employees to reach their goals. One way in which these leaders empower their employees is through making them responsible members. Out of the 7 definitions of leadership, this leadership style focuses on recognizing before delegation.
Delegating tasks that their members can take care of independently makes their team members better equipped to handle challenges independently. By giving the members autonomy, the leaders ensure a sense of ownership in their work.
Now that you know how transactional vs. transformational leadership fares against each other, let’s help you learn more about the two leadership styles and how they compare.
Transactional vs. Transformational Leadership: How to Find the Balance
The presentation of transactional vs. Transformational leadership is in an opposing light where both styles are said to differ quite a lot. However, that’s not the case if you look at the evidence.
Influential leaders can easily incorporate both styles while applying the contingency theory of leadership. As evident from the preceding section, both leadership styles have characteristics that can benefit organizational success.
And that’s precisely how you can ensure clarity and structure in your teamwork. The hybrid approach you take for solving organizational challenges is transactional-transformational leadership. This approach will allow you to inspire, motivate, and encourage the employees to meet goals efficiently.
Like their advantages, there are disadvantages too, so you must be careful about finding the right balance to get work done. When selecting the characteristics of one leadership style over the other, consider the organization’s values, culture, and goals.
How is it Relevant?
These play an essential role in navigating through situations – this is through the different impact the two styles may have. Both leadership styles represent distinct approaches based on the organization and the members.
For instance, transactional leadership will be more appropriate in a crisis due to its focus on achieving short-term goals. On the other hand, when your company is facing a situation where innovation is a need, transformational leadership will be the right choice.
Moreover, due to the long-term vision that the latter represents, you are more likely to see the significant change that the long-term vision brings. The value of both styles is well-known by influential leaders who prioritize the characteristics they both represent.
So, if you are trying to teach your team how to develop leadership skills, you’ll have more luck when showing them how it’s done. Leadership’s primary goal is maintaining flexibility that lets you adapt to the situation.
All in all, the choice depends on a few factors where situational needs are essential. Looking at leadership from a wide angle, you will find that it cannot be fixed on one approach. It ruins the picture and blurs the image of organizational success.
This is when you need to know that one-size-fits-all does not fit into the picture of leadership. Thus, you must know all the factors before choosing one from transformational vs transactional leadership.
Now that you know the key things to keep in mind, we’re sure you’ll reach the proper decision after due consideration of all factors.
So, What’s it Gonna Be?
Now that you have seen a thorough comparison of transactional leadership vs transformational leadership, you’ll have an easier time choosing. Transactional and transformational leadership styles are unique in their approach and not absolute opposites.
This is helpful when you are in a position where a mix of both leadership styles becomes inevitable. For instance, on the one hand, you encourage your team to achieve the goals, while on the other hand, you also only reward them when they complete the task.
Whatever the case, analyze the facts before you follow a leadership style until a solution is found.
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