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According to James McGregor Burns as quoted in Jean Lipman-Blumen's book "Connective Leadership", there is an important distinction to be made between different leadership styles. My understanding is that the key difference between transactional and transformational leadership is one of vision and forethought.

Transactional leaders take the structure as given and work within it. This means that they work with the current constraints and culture of their organisation including its structure, compromising in order to meet the organisation and their followers' needs. It is a game of balancing competing demands and perspectives. Effective, but only in meeting current market demands.

Transformational leadership works to radically transform and renew the followers, the leader, and the organisation. These leaders are also able to intellectually stimulate their followers providing motivation that exceeds organisational incentives and controls. This is why I believe it is a distinction of vision and forethought.

The transformational leader thinks about "what else" is possible rather than "what is". They think through their options and their questions provoke creative thinking among their followers. Questioning the status quo inspires confidence in others to do the same within a 'safe' environment.

Although potentially challenging for some organisations, who would really want to quash this kind of approach?  Thinking creatively and considering different ways of operating provide differentiation in both the commercial and employment markets. But how do we go about developing or encouraging transformational leadership?

At Neural Networks Consulting, we believe it is about putting the people first and allowing the results to follow. Take a look at our leadership page to get a sense of our perspective. And please provide your thoughts in our comments section.

Ms Rosalinda Batson – MA, BA (Hons), NLP Master Practitioner, EQ-I Accred Rosalinda has extensive experience in Organisation Development with a focus on practical and pragmatic approaches to people development that builds a strong relationship between internal consultants and operational management. Her 20 years of work experience spans both the private and public sector including operational management and strategic roles in Human Resources, Customer Relations, Information Technology and Organisation Development. She has a passion for recruitment - creating connections and networks between people and organisations for their mutual benefit. A confident and collaborative facilitator, always learning and developing herself, seeking out the latest models and approaches, she offers clients an invaluable resource.