Transformational Leadership

May 4, 2017

“Lead, Follow or Get Out of the Way.”

When he said it, Mitt Romney credited Thomas Paine as its author. The comment has also been attributed to Laurence Peter (Peter Principle) and General George Patton, but what does it tell us about leadership?

Leaders Establish Dynamic Relationships

Though we’re not exactly sure who first said it, the relevance of the quote is apparent inside any organization today. What the phrase really talks about is the dynamic leader-follower relationship that must exist if the organization is to be successful.

To that point, the late Peter Drucker commented, “The defining characteristic of leaders is followers.” Interestingly, without saying it directly, Drucker demonstrates the interconnectivity of the leader/follower relationship. Simply stated, you can’t have one without the other, and sometimes in that relationship (as James MacGregor Burns put it) leaders follow and followers lead.

Leaders Build Coalitions and Transform Followers by Addressing Mutual Needs

If you want to achieve anything through others; the relationships you have with followers can’t just be about your needs and priorities. It must also consider the needs and priorities of the people being led.

According to Burns attending to the needs and priorities of others helps leaders build coalitions of support. Building those coalitions is an important step both in getting things done and transforming followers into leaders.

Followers and Leaders Elevate Each Other

Burns explains, “Leadership is power governed by principle, directed toward raising people to their highest levels of personal motive and social morality. (It) occurs when one or more persons engage with others in such a way that leaders and followers raise (elevate) one another.” That elevation is key to Burns’ idea of transformational leadership.

Well, you might ask, how does that elevation occur? Sometimes it occurs as leaders empower followers to lead and the leaders themselves follow their direction. Of course, at first this may be as simple as someone taking the lead, solving a problem for which they are equipped and receiving credit when they do so.

My son has been empowered to lead several times in his corporate career, and he’s had a lot more success than failure. In fact, company leaders recently promoted him to vice president, but that wouldn’t have happened without bosses who enabled him to lead in the first place. Likewise, he realizes that he also couldn’t have solved those problems without the help of followers.

Bernard Bass explained this elevation process, expounding on Burns’ theory in Leadership and Performance Beyond Expectations. Transformational leaders:

Model integrity/fairness so others willingly trust and follow
Attend to needs and wants of followers including their need to lead
Set clear goals for groups and individuals
Encourage others in their work but also in their lives
Establish high expectations, encourage people to reach beyond perceived limitations
Provide support, recognition and appreciation for individuals and their contributions
Stir the emotions of people and build engagement
Pull together a team so they cooperate and look beyond self-interests

Others Get Out of the Way

This third part of the statement says simply that if you’re not leading or following, you’re in the way. While it seems self-explanatory, you’d be surprised how many people miss this point. When they need to get out of the way by resigning, they continue to stand in the way by resisting.

Now, I’m not suggesting that disagreements can’t occur inside organizations. They can and should occur. In fact, fighting through conflict is often the way we get to better decisions. However, for those who persistently disagree then it may be time to consider getting out of the way by finding greener pastures elsewhere.

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Transformational Leadership

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