About Transformational Leadership...

And there is the story of this little dog, one of those that look quite common.

According to that story, his (it is a "he", after all!) masters were transferred to a wild zone of Africa. As soon as he saw the openness, the trees and all that field, he got crazy and went away from his masters' house.

After some wandering here and there, he got to a fatal conclusion: he was lost! Not only that, he reached a very creepy place, full of bones everywhere. To increase his fears, he noticed a terrible panther slowly approaching him...

What would you do in this case? Well, if you are a typical person, you would look for some help from outside, which is not available. It is in moments like that you need more than an external leader: you need to be a leader yourself.

Predictable leadership has taught us you just need a vision, a mission and values would be helpful too, to be a leader and overcome situations like this one. However, the question is: what would a vision help this little dog in this case?

Ok, you are not a little dog, but I am sure you have faced already several situations that were beyond your control, like a nasty divorce, a sever illness or the lost of a friend. And I am sure your leadership probably helped you, but I am not that certain you checked your vision and mission and kept moving...

The dog thought to himself, "what should I do?" Then, looking at the scattered bones, an idea come to him... He took a few bones and started chewing them as if they were a feast. After a while, he spitted them out and said, loud enough for the panther to hear: "Ah, that panther was fabulous! But I am still hungry, where can I get another one around?".

The panther didn't know what animal was that, an advantage for the dog, which, due to several hours watching television, knew all about panthers. The panther halted and ran away from the scene, fearing for her life.

Contemporary leadership is all about being realistic in relation to the situation we all live at present. It combines personality, skills and other aspects of a traditional (predictable) leader with a very good manager.

An example: a predictable leader, when reaching the top position of a company, will be only interested in giving the company a new route to follow, influencing everyone around, not much interested in the present route. A manager on the other hand will avoid at any costs a change in his company route.

A contemporary leader will see the process in a holistic way, by understanding the present situation and helping that company to scale up to a new route in a way that allows the leader to show his or her power, but not damaging the company as it is at present.

Any examples in your mind? Maybe you still can't sleep after being downsized or you are still angry with the post company in your country as they were not able to adapt to an Internet world.

A contemporary leader would probably try to help you in case your position wouldn't be needed any more, preparing you for some different work, and she or he will definitely think deeper to help a post company to keep their pace and work.

However, it is still not enough. Just imagine that besides you are being downsized, your child is going to college or after solving the problem and saving a post company, something else totally different emerges and all that planning is now useless...

The dog was very happy with the result of his creativity, however something awful happened: a monkey was hearing the whole exchange. Upset with that... thing... deceiving another proud resident of the forest, the monkey went towards the panther, using the branches to move faster.

After a short talk, the panther realized how foolish she was and went running after the dog, followed by the monkey. The dog now was terrified!

But after a short paralysis, another idea came to his mind. Again, he started to chew some bones and at some point, he practically yelled in a way that both, panther and monkey would hear.

"I AM STILL HUNGRY! WHERE IS THAT MONKEY THAT PROMISED ME ANOTHER PANTHER??"

A transformational leader is a new concept. In the past, it was considered to be a leader who enabled people to go through very complicated periods of crisis.

About change, we will see it later including crisis. The most important aspect of a transformation leader is that he or she will be able to help a situation to move towards its final result (transformation), preventing the effects of crisis and chaos on the way.

A real transformation leader deals with downsizing much before it happens, facilitating the process to her or his people. A transformation leader is aware of the changes that can affect the business in advance, proposing daring ways to overcome that future that will happen at some point.

For instance, a transformational leader will stimulate learning skills by the people in the company, even though those skills are not directly related to their present job; in this way, people will be more confident when downsizing comes as inevitable. At the same time, a transformational leader will be aware of the future scenarios, keeping a think tank in the company, so that the business does not go out dated or cease to exist.

How to become a Transformational Leader? Well, we can talk about that later. By now, just check your own leadership style and the different scenarios related to your business or community, and this will help you to provide solutions that will prevent the damage caused by crisis and chaos.

And after such an adventure, the little dog was able to find his way home, and he lived happily ever after, to the end of his days...